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 features a superb hand-colored image of the Adoration of the Magi, in which the three Magi (kings) offer gifts to the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. Both Mary and Jesus are nimbed. Below the image is text that translates as:

At the sixth hour
O God, reach out to help me. O Lord, hasten to assist me.
Glory to the Father as it was

Surrounding the image is a delicate border of leaves, flowers and berries. There is additional text with initials illuminated in red, blue and burnished gold leaf on recto.

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Condition: B+

Light soiling with one small worm hole in the decorative border with no loss of image.