Catalog Archive
Auction 107, Lot 607

"[Illuminated Leaf]", Anon.

Subject: Medieval Manuscripts

Period: 1300 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
3.6 x 4.5 inches
9.1 x 11.4 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

A Breviary is liturgical book used for the celebration of the Divine Office. All members of monastic orders and the clergy are committed to the daily recitation prayers, devotions and reading contained in the breviary. During the Middle Ages, the leaves making up a Breviary were written by hand on expensive parchment and beautifully illuminated with jewel-like pigments and gold leaf. These illuminated manuscripts combined the collaborative efforts of an array of highly skilled craftspeople; requiring the joint labors of the parchmenter, professional scribes to write the text in Gothic script, artists to illuminate the pages with decorations in a laborious manner with handmade paints and gold leaf, and masterful binders to complete the process.

Vellum leaf from a breviary written in Flanders, probably Bruges, by Dominican or Franciscan monks, who traveled throughout Europe. Every breviary begins with a Psalter and this leaf is from Psalms 118 (119 KJV). Both sides are illuminated with two striking initials extending into the margin in blue, mauve and gold leaf and each verse begins with a small initial alternating in blue and gold.

References:

Condition: B

Moderate soil.

Estimate: $200 - $250

Unsold

Closed on 6/9/2004

Archived