Illuminated Manuscript Book of Hours Leaf, France, c. 1500
Litany of the Saints
IM-13549: 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.
Lavishly
embellished with
Twenty-one one-line illuminated initials
and sixteen 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: All ye Holy
Apostles & Evangelists, All ye holy disciples of Our Lord, All Holy
Innocents, St Stephen, St Fabian, St
Sebastian, St Thomas, St Dionysius, St
Maurice, St George and St Quentin.
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 excellent antiquarian condition as seen in the photos. - It comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
Books of Hours are personal prayer books of a devout and status-conscious society and are not only works of art, but cultural documents of 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 that could both appreciate and afford them. | ||