Title: Leaf From an Illuminated Book of Hours with a Historiated Initial, Northern France, Circa 1470. Illuminated Manuscript on Vellum. Psalms 122-123, with a Large Border
Condition: Very Good
A manuscript leaf from a late 15th century illuminated Book of Hours, produced in France.
The leaf in written in Latin, and in brown ink using a gothic script.
There are four one-line initials against red and blue backgrounds, and a two-line Historiated Initial featuring an unknown figure. There is also an elaborate diagonal bar border with compressed acanthus leaves and other stylized foliage, accented with liquid gold.
This leaf contains excerpts from Psalms 122–123, part of Sext from the Hours of the Virgin.
This leaf bears the provenance of having been sold by Maggs Bros in 1962, later ending up in the Marvin L. Colker Collection, and finally a private California collection.
Some companion leaves from the same manuscript were dispersed in the Maggs Brothers sale (1962), but their current locations are unknown. A sister leaf is illustrated (Plate II) in R. Lister’s The Miniature Defined (Cambridge, 1963). Another leaf was also recently sold at Galerie Bassenge in Paris in Auktion 123, Lot 2902, on 17 April 2024.
This manuscript is written in a 15-line format.
One illuminated manuscript on vellum, 12.8 x 10.7 cm
This manuscript is in very good shape, with some of the text having faded, but the illumination remaining bright and shining.