Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 21 lines, ruled in red, written in Dutch with dark brown ink on animal vellum. (175 x 125mm)
Versal initial in red. One two-line illuminated initial in red surrounded by elaborate and intricate blue penwork extending into the margin beyond the text in red and blue. (For sister leaf, see Cleveland Museum of Art, Blackburn Collection, #55).
The Netherlands: Delft, c. 1475.
The two-line illuminated ''D'' begins Lesson III - Job 10:8-12 (The nine lessons from Job contain moving readings from Job detailing the trials he endured in his struggle for God’s blessings): ''Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me wholly round about, and dost thou thus cast me down headlong on a sudden? Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay, and thou wilt bring me into dust again...).
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.
Shipped in archival 14x11'' mat.
