Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

Attractive leaf typical of North French illumination in the third quarter of the fifteenth century.

160 x 118 mm (framed). Single leaf, ruled in light brown for one column of 17 lines (written space: 105 x 80 mm), written in dark brown ink in a formal gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, one-line initials in burnished gold on alternately red and blue grounds with white tracery, line-fillers in same, two two-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on blue ground with white tracery (slight cockling of the parchment, else in very good condition).

This leaf comes from an as-yet unidentified Book of Hours. The text reads from Psalm 119:5 on the recto, “Heu mihi, quia incolatus,” followed with Psalm 120, continued on the verso, and followed with Psalm 121, with the verso ending on Psalm 121:2, “Stantes erant pedes nostri in atriis tuis, Jerusalem.” This sequence of Gradual Psalms indicates that the present leaf was part of the Terce Hour of the Virgin, where Psalms 119, 120, and 121 usually followed hymns and antiphons. Albeit common, the style of the initials and the reddish color of the burnished gold both suggest that the parent manuscript might have been illuminated in Northern France in the years 1460 to 1480.

Provenance
Kenneth W. Rendell, Massachusetts.

Freeman’s | Hindman thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Elliott Adam for their assistance in preparing this sale.