Book of Hours Leaf (Circle of the Coetivy Master)

This is an extraordinary leaf from a manuscript Book of Hours. The text consists of 13 lines, ruled in red, written in Latin with dark brown ink and gold in gothic liturgical book hand, on animal vellum. Full illuminated borders are embellished with dense liquid gold with pink and blue acanthus sprays interspersed with ivy leaves having dots of gold decorated with pen strokes, and with flowers, strawberries and leaves executed in pink, red, blue, green, and gold with a bird un the upper section! Illuminated roundels historicated with scenes pertaining to the life of St. Alexis. Painted by an illuminator in the Circle of the Coetivy Master. It is particularly unusual to contain painted roundels of the life of St. Alexis (patron saint of the sick; lived in the 5th century) – The book from which this leaf came was likely a commission for a specific person of high rank, since it was very specific and very costly.Book of Hours are personal prayer books of a devout and status-conscious society and are not only works of art, but cultural documents of the 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.This leaf is encased within a double sided mat within a sealed plastic envelope.

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