Original leaf from a manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines of hand-ruled text written in Latin on animal vellum in brown ink. (184 x 125mm – 7 ¼ x 4 7/8’’)
Eleven one-line illuminated initials and seven line extender in burnished gold on red and blue ground with delicate white penwork. The panel borders contain a highly decorative floral design with flowers, berries, and acanthus leaves in blue, red, green, pink, and burnished gold.
France (Anjou), Use of Angers, c. 1450-75.
A charming ink drawing (doodle) of a bearded man’s head extends from the last line of text into the margin!
The one-line illuminated “A” begins Psalm 101 (King James 102) 6-16: “A voce…” (Through the voice of my groaning my bone hath cleaved to my flesh. I am become like to a pelican of the wilderness: I am like a night raven in the house….But thou, O Lord, endures forever: and thy memorial to all generations. Thou shalt arise and have mercy on Sion: for it is time to have mercy on it, for the time is come. For the stones thereof have pleased thy servants: and thy shall have pity on the earth thereof…).
Angers was the cradle of the Plantagenet dynasty and one of the intellectual centers of Europe during the reign of Rene of Anjou, (1434-80). When this leaf was scribed the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty, House of Lancaster & House of York, were engaged in the War of the Roses.
Presented in an archival 14 x 11'' mat
