Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines of red-ruled, French text, written with dark brown ink in gothic book-hand script on animal vellum. (127 x 92mm).
One four-line illuminated initial in pink on a burnished gold ground with a floral interior design in red, orange and blue extending down the leaf with a bar of burnished gold and blue and into the margins with a delicate rinceaux design in burnished gold, green, blue and red; one one-line illuminated initial in deep blue with delicate red penwork extending into the margin; one illuminated line extender in red, blue and burnished gold.
Northern France (Paris), c. 1420-30.
This leaf begins one of the most popular 15th century prayers: the Fifteen Joys of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ''Doulce dame de misericorde...'' (Sweet lady of mercy, mother of mercy, fountain of all that is good...). The prayer celebrates the joyous moments of the Virgin Mary's life (The Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity...ending with the Assumption into Heaven).
Provenance: Sotheby's - ex G. Barilla of Geneva, and formerly Frederick Fowler collection (England c. 1820's)
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.
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat.
