Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Breviary. 31 lines written in Latin in double columns with dark brown and red ink. (183 x 135mm – 7 3/8 x 5 ¼’’)
Seven two-line illuminated initials alternating in red and white or blue and white, with a floral interior - all on a burnished gold ground, and six extending into the margin with a delicate rinceaux border in red, blue, green, yellow burnished gold. France, c. 1475.
This leaf continues the section on Homilies by Saint John Chrysostom. St. Chrysostom (349-407) was Archbishop of Constantinople. He is known as an important early Church Doctor in the West, and in the East as one of the three Holy Hierarchs and Universal Teachers. Patron saint of preachers.
A Breviary is composed of many books (prayers, hymns, psalms...) painstakingly but carefully written by hand, and used by monks and priests to conduct their daily services. The painted and illuminated manuscript is among the greatest artistic triumphs of the Middle Ages, demonstrating social, intellectual, religious and cultural attitudes of medieval life.
Presented in an archival 14 x 11'' mat
