Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines, of red-ruled Latin text written in dark brown ink, in fine gothic script on animal vellum. (170 x 120mm – 6 ¾ x 4 7/8’’)
Twenty-six one-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on a blue and red ground with delicate white penwork; twenty-four illuminated line-extenders in blue, red, white and burnished gold. A thin burnished gold bar runs the length of text on one side, next to a beautiful rinceaux border in red, blue, green, pink and burnished gold
France, Loire Valley (Angers?), c. 1440-50.
The one-line illuminated “S” continues the Litany of the Saints (first prescribed by Pope Gregory in 590 for a public thanksgiving following a plague that ravaged Rome). Names of saints are listed with each invocation followed by the abbreviation for “ora pro nobis” (Pray for us).
Among the saints listed are: Sts. Katherine (patron of philosophers), Margaret (patron of expectant mothers), Agatha (patron of bell-founders), Apollonia (patron of dentists), and Barbara (patron of architects).
The one-line illuminated “A” begins the section of “Abs”(Deliver us from…): “Ab omni malo…” (From all evil, O Lord deliver us. From all sin, O Lord deliver us…).
The one-line illuminated “P” begins the section of “Pers” (Through) followed by an abbreviation for “O Lord Deliver us”: “Per nativitatem…” (Through Thy Nativity, O Lord deliver us…).
Presented in an archival 14 x 11'' mat
