"[Illuminated Leaf]", Anon.

A very rare leaf from a French Book of Hours containing a 'grotesque' within the floral border decorations on the recto. A 'grotesque', or 'drollery', is a hybrid and often comic figure combining various human and animal forms. In this case, the figure is a very finely executed blue and gold bird with the head of a man. In addition to this beautifully rendered panel the leaf is further illuminated with two large foliate initials in blue, orange, red, with white tracery on a burnished gold ground. The verso is the end of the chapter containing only five lines with two decorative line fillers. The text is praise to the Virgin Mary, the Church and the Holy Cross.

References:

Condition: A

Minor soil in margins with a couple of tiny smudges.