"[Book of Hours Leaf]", Kerver, Thielman

Striking vellum leaf from this important transitional period when books began to be printed from movable type, decorated with metal-cut illustrations and combined with hand-painted illuminated initials. The verso shows the Crucifixion as a crowded scene with many figures, including the two thieves, one with his soul being taken by an angel, the other being taken by a demon. The Virgin Mary mourns and Roman soldiers fill the right of the page. Next to the text on the recto are two metal cuts depicting scenes from the Danse Macabre, a popular subject of the medieval artists.

Thielman Kerver was a printer in Paris, who worked "in vico sancti Iacobi ad signum Vnicornis & ibidem venales habent" (in Saint Jacob's lane under the sign of the Unicorn where they are also for sale). Kerver's work is much less common than that of his colleague, Simon Vostre.

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Condition: A

A couple minor smudges, still a fine vellum sheet.