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

This leaf is from the brief transitional period when the new technology of printing with movable type was combined with the more labor intensive methods of hand painting. The earliest printers were trained in the manuscript tradition and incorporated the conventions of historiated initials and illustrations into their early work. At first they left those spaces blank for the illuminator to complete entirely by hand. Later they developed printing methods (using woodcuts or iron engravings) to decorate the leaves.

This fine leaf is printed on vellum in black and red with many initials hand painted in red, blue and gold. The illustrations surrounding the text depict scenes from the Apocalypse with the red captions in French. These illustrations include numerous dragons and demons. The verso contains the litany of many saints.

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Condition: A