Catalog Archive
Auction 148, Lot 779

"[Illuminated Leaf]", Anon.

Subject: Medieval Manuscripts

Period: 1300 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
4 x 5.6 inches
10.2 x 14.2 cm
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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 vellum leaf is from an early Breviary written in northern France or Flanders. The text is written in a single column (21 lines) in a clear gothic book hand in black and red ink. Each side has two large initials and a lovely left border in red and blue pen work. The text is from the gospel according to St. Luke, chapter 4. Beginning on the verso near the top, the text begins with verse 38, which translates as:

And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon's house.
And Simon's wife's mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her.

References:

Condition: B

Light soiling with a number of tiny holes in the text caused by the oxidation of the black pigment.

Estimate: $200 - $230

Sold for: $200

Closed on 2/19/2014

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