Catalog Archive
Auction 142, Lot 734

"[Illuminated Leaf]", Anon.

Subject: Medieval Manuscripts

Period: 1360 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
3.5 x 4.8 inches
8.9 x 12.2 cm
Download High Resolution Image
(or just click on image to launch the Zoom viewer)

Book of Hours were prayer books designed for the laity, but modeled on the Divine Office, a cycle of daily devotions, prayers and readings, performed by members of religious orders and the clergy. Its central text is the Hours of the Virgin. There are eight hours (times for prayer ): Matins, Lauds. Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers and Compline. During the Middle Ages, the leaves making up a Book of Hours 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, and masterful binders to complete the process.

This tiny vellum leaf is from an early French Book of Hours with decoration typical of the scriptoria of Northern France in the second half of the 14th century. Both sides have several small initials painted and line fillers in blue and red pen work.

References:

Condition: B+

Lightly toned with soiling along edges.

Estimate: $110 - $140

Sold for: $160

Closed on 11/28/2012

Archived