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.
Twenty-one one-line illuminated initials and twenty line extenders in burnished gold on a red and blue ground with delicate white penwork.
Origin: Paris, France circa 1500.
Size: 110 x 75mm – 4.25 x 2.9 inches, from a diminutive manuscript likely written for a lady.
The one-line illuminated “S” continues the Litany of the Saints (first prescribed by Pope Gregory in 590 for a public thanksgiving following a plague that ravaged Rome): Names of saints are listed with each invocation followed by the abbreviation for “ora pro nobis” (Pray for us).
Among the saints listed are: Archangel Gabriel (patron of messengers), Archangel Raphael (patron of travelers), St John the Baptist, St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Andrew, St. James, St. John, St. Thomas, St. Matthew and St. Luke).
Provenance: ex-collection of Brooklyn Museum of Art, acquired in 1919. Deaccessioned and sold to support the museum collection.
Shipped unmatted
