"[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.

Superb 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. It is printed on vellum in black and red with many initials hand painted in red, blue and gold. The ornamental border depicts scenes from the Old and New Testament with captions in red, as well as some mythical animals. On the verso is a depiction of the Crucifixion, with Jerusalem in the background. At the foot of the cross, soldiers are gambling over Jesus’ clothes. The women who followed Jesus are standing to the left, and Roman soldiers are on the right. On recto are images of Samson carrying the gates of Gaza, the resurrection of Jesus, and Jonah being spewed from the whale.

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). He began printing Books of Hours in 1497 and continued until his death in 1522. His widow, Iolande Bonhomme, took over the firm, and continued to produce liturgical books until 1556. Kerver's work is much less common than that of his colleagues, Simon Vostre and the Hardouins.

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Condition: B

Light soiling with a damp stain at top.