Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 13 lines of text, ruled in red, written in Latin with dark brown ink in gothic script on animal vellum. (157 x 110 mm - 6.3 x 4.4").
France (Troyes - Use of Troyes), c. 1400-20.
One two-line illuminated initial in blue and orange with delicate white tracery, with an internal floral motif in orange, and blue on a burnished gold ground; six one-line illuminated initials and six illuminated line extenders in burnished gold on a blue and red ground with delicate white penwork; Verso has a burnished gold bar adjacent to a red and blue bar extending the length of the text and finishing into the margins in an early International Gothic style border with leaves and flowers in red, blue and burnished gold.
The one-line illuminated "B" begins Psalm 64 (King James 65) 12-14: ''Benedices...'' (Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of thy goodness: and thy fields shall be filled with plenty. The beautiful places of the wilderness shall grow fat: and the hills shall be girded about with joy. The rams of the flock are clothed, and the vales shall abound with corn: they shall shout, yea they shall sing a hymn).
The two-line illuminated ''D'' begins Psalm 62 (KJ 63) 1-3: ''Deus...'' (O God, my God, to thee do I watch at break of day. For thee my soul hath thirsted; for thee my flesh, O how many ways! In a desert land, and where there is no way, and no water: so in the sanctuary have I come before thee, to see thy power and thy glory).
The type of border represented here appears very early in the Fifteenth Century, often in work associated with the Boucicault and Bedford Masters. Reference: Ferrini Catalog One, 1987, item 76, for another similar leaf from the same parent manuscript.
Presented in an archival 14x11'' mat.
