Book of Hours Leaf (Unusual Illumination)

This is an original leaf from a medieval Book of Hours. The text consists of 17 lines of text, ruled in red, written in Latin with dark brown and red ink in Gothic script on animal vellum. One two-line initial is illuminated in burnished gold with blue internal penwork and surrounded by a deep blue color and delicate red penwork. Beautiful three-quarter-panel border of burnished gold, deep blue and delicate red and blue pen flourishes. The large illuminated initial M” begins Job 10:8-12: “Manus tue Domine?” (Thy hands have made me Lord, and fashioned me wholly round about?Thou hast granted me life and mercy, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit).This leaf was most likely made for a patron residing in Provence, along the stretch between Aix and Marseilles – a region host to scribes and artists from all over Europe. 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.

Out of stock