IM-13522:  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. 

Embellished with two two-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on a red and blue 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. 

This leaf continues the section of Suffrages - prayers to saints who were considered the protectors, helpers and guardians of medieval people.  The rubrics announce the prayer to Saint Peter of Verona. The two-line illuminated “P” begins the prayer to Saint Peter:  “Praesta…” (We beseech thee God, that with fitting devotion we may follow the faith of blessed Peter, Thy martyr, who in the spreading of that same faith, was found worthy to win the palm of martyrdom). 

Peter of Verona (or Peter Martyr) was a Dominican friar slain by heretics outside Milan on Easter Saturday, 6 April 1252. He was canonized less than a year after his death by Pope Innocent IV on 9 March 1253, the fastest canonization in Papal history. 

Provenance:   ex-collection of Brooklyn Museum of Art, acquired in 1919.  Deaccessioned and sold to support the museum collection.

This Book of Hours leaf was scribed circa 1500. This is a beautiful and highly ornamental original, more than 500 years old, not a reproduction. It is in fine antiquarian condition as seen in the photos - some rippling to the vellum. -  It comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.