Original leaf from a French medieval illuminated manuscript Book of Hours. 13 lines of hand-ruled text written in Latin with dark brown ink in fine lettre bâtarde script on animal vellum with rubrics in red. One two-line illuminated initial in burnished gold on a red and blue ground; ¼ border (verso) in a colorful floral design on liquid gold ground.
Origin: Paris, France circa 1500.
Size: 110 x 75mm – 4.25 x 2.9 inches, from a diminutive manuscript likely written for a lady.
End of line one, the text, recto, concludes the popular medieval hymn Stabat Mater Dolorosa: “Fac me plagis…” (Wounded with His every wound, steep my soul till it hath swooned, in His very Blood away…). The two-line illuminated “I” begins the prayer: “Interveniat…” (O Lord Jesus Christ, we beseech Thee that the blessed Virgin Mary, Thy Mother, whose most holy soul was pierced by the sword of sorrow in the hour of thy passion, may appeal for us to Thy clemency, now and at the hour of our death).
Provenance: ex-collection of Brooklyn Museum of Art, acquired in 1919. Deaccessioned and sold to support the museum collection.
Shipped unmatted
