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 is a lovely pair of vellum leaves from a Book of Hours created in Flanders. The verso of the first leaf features a superb hand-colored image of King David in Penitence, surrounded by a frame-style border filled with leaves, flowers and fruit. The lovely border continues on the adjacent leaf, which includes initials illuminated in red, blue and burnished gold leaf on both recto and verso. The text on the leaf includes a portion of Psalm 6 translates in part as:

O Lord, do not rebuke me in your fury, nor chastise me in your anger.
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am weak. Heal me, Lord, for my bones have become disturbed,
and my soul has been very troubled. But as for you, Lord, when?
Turn to me, Lord, and rescue my soul. Save me because of your mercy.

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Condition: B

Moderate toning and soiling with some fading of the ink.