Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 18 lines of red ruled text, written in Latin, with dark brown ink in gothic script on animal vellum. (178 x 110mm – 7 x 4 5/8’’)
One illuminated two-line initial, thirteen illuminated one-line initials, & nine illuminated line-extenders in burnished gold on blue and red grounds with delicate white tracery. Quarter-page panel-borders contain an intricate floral motif with acanthus leaves, berries and flowers in temperas and brushed gold.
Paris, c. 1450-60.
The one-line “Q” continues Psalm 37 (King James 38) 19-23: “Quoniam…” (For I will declare my iniquity: and I will think for my sin…Forsake me not, O Lord my God: do not thou depart from me. Attend unto my help, O Lord, the God of my salvation).
The two-line illuminated “M” begins Psalm 50 (KJ 51) 1-9: “Miserere…” (Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. And according to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity. Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me…For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me…).
Books of Hours are personal prayer books of a devout and status-conscious society and are not only works of art, but cultural documents of their time. They reveal a unique combination of sacred and secular imagery - made of the finest materials, by the best craftsmen, for a small audience, which could both appreciate and afford them.
Presented in an archival 14 x 11;; mat
