Europe, France, Normandy (Rouen), Renaissance, ca. 1480. A gorgeous hand-painted illuminated vellum page from the Book of Hours of Rouen featuring 15 lines of Latin lettre batarde script on each side in hues of glimmering gold, crimson, cobalt, and black. The left margin is skillfully adorned with an abstract motif of alternating white and gold registers; 4 white with a gold and cobalt vegetal design surrounded by dots of black and 3 gold outlined in black and containing, from top to bottom register, a pink thistle, a 4-petaled blue flower, and two heart-shaped red flowers. The capital letter of each new sentence is embellished with a light stroke of gold paint, except for the "I", which begins a new prayer and thus is decorated with a gold square and a blue phytomorphic design. Two lines of red writing indicate a prayer, song, antiphon, or psalm. Originally part of a larger corpus, this page serves as a breathtaking work of art of its own merit with a finely balanced layout, enriching use of color, masterful decoration, and painstakingly delineated calligraphic script. Size: 3.75" W x 6" H (9.5 cm x 15.2 cm); Size: 9.5" W (24.1 cm); 13.75" H (34.9 cm) on included custom matte.

The Book of Hours developed in the late medieval era and was essentially a prayer book created for individual patrons and illuminated with beautifully painted details and scenes depicting the life of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and various saints. The text of a Book of Hours usually included a calendar that delineated all the liturgical feast days as well as a series of prayers intended to be recited eight times per day. By the time of the early Renaissance, the Book of Hours was quite popular due to the increase in text circulation and literacy with Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in the mid-fifteenth century and indicating that the laity were growing more interested in communing directly with God and the saints rather than relying on the church and clergy to communicate with a higher power. These beliefs are what laid the ground work for a certain seminal text that would be nailed to the church door of Wittenberg's main cathedral on October 31, 1517; Martin Luther's "95 Theses".

The word "manuscript" literally means "written by hand" and comes from the Latin words manus (hand) and scriptus (writing). These books were the creations of several skilled individuals who devoted many hours to their respective tasks. First, the vellum or parchment was created by one person. Then the text was handwritten by a scribe who meticulously wrote every word in ink with a quill pen. Finally, an illuminator (from the Latin illuminaire meaning "lighted up") decorated these books with gold leaf and brilliant color. Such books were made by urban booksellers called libraire during this the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and were created in literary centers such as Paris, Bruges, Ghent, or Valenciennes. The production of illuminated manuscripts continued in earnest until the mass production of books was made possible by Johannes Gutenberg's invention of moveable type and the printing press. Books like these were prized objects, often given as gifts to commemorate important occasions.

Provenance: ex-Estate of Eldert Bontekoe, Pegasi Numismatics, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, acquired before 2000

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#160041

Fitted with modern matte and backing. Scratch to upper left of matte. Light wrinkling and staining commensurate with age. Slightly abraded with some orange staining on side where it was torn from book. Otherwise, intact with superb remaining pigments.