Book of Hours Leaf - c 1420-30 - Elegant Rinceaux borders

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Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours, with illuminations by a Master of the Boucicaut School. 15 lines of red-ruled, Latin text, written with dark brown ink in gothic book-hand script on animal vellum. (127 x 92mm) 

 Three two-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on blue and pink ground extending into the margin with a delicate rinceaux design in burnished gold, red and blue; one illuminated line-extender in blue, pink and burnished gold.        Northern France (Paris), c. 1420-30.

The two-line illuminated ''D'' begins:  ''Domine ihesu...'' (O Lord, Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross for us...). 

The second two-line illuminated ''D'' begins the same:  ''Domine...'' (O Lord, Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross for us...). 

The third two-line illuminated ''D'' again repeats the prayer: ''Domine...'' (O Lord, Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross for us...). 

Provenance:  Sotheby's - ex G. Barilla of Geneva, and formerly Frederick Fowler collection (England c. 1820's).

This leaf was written and illuminated in France at a pivotal point in the Hundred Year’s War - England defeated France decisively in Agincourt in 1415 and took Paris in 1420.  Not until Joan of Arc’s heroism (1428-29) could France regain hope of restoring its capital.  The book from which this came was likely in daily use at that time

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

  • Inventory# IM-11163
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