Original leaf from a manuscript Book of Hours. 20 lines of text, ruled in red, written in Latin in angular gothic book-hand script on animal vellum. (160x110mm – 6 3/8 x 4 3/8’’)
Rubrics in red & line endings in red & blue, with liquid gold infill. One illuminated two-line initial in white & gray acanthus with floral infill on gold grounds; thirteen illuminated one-line initials and five illuminated line-extenders in gold on alternating red & blue grounds. Elaborate panel borders in acanthus & floral design (including columbines – symbol of the Holy Spirit) on a liquid gold ground.
France: Rouen; Use of Rouen, c. 1490.
The two-line “D” begins Psalm 7: 1-13: “Domine deus meus…” (O Lord my God, in thee have I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me. Lest at any time he seize upon my soul like a lion, while there is no one to redeem me, nor to save…).
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 that could both appreciate and afford them.
Presented in an archival 14 x 11'' mat
