Leaf with prayers that follow a Litany, from a Book of Hours with border scenes most probably from the life of St. Alexius, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [France, mid-fifteenth century]

Single leaf, with full borders of acanthus leaves and other coloured foliage terminating in gold ivyleaves and seedpods, these borders with roundels in the vertical margins with small miniatures, the figures identified by hairline white inscriptions in French within the miniatures, single birds in the bas-de-page of both sides, 2-line initials in red or blue on coloured grounds heightened with liquid gold penwork (these enclosing delicately painted human faces), line-fillers in same, text block enclosed on three sides by gold and coloured bars, rubrics in gold, single column of 13 lines of a late gothic bookhand, small spots, else excellent condition, 185 by 145mm.

This leaf is from the same parent-manuscript as a leaf with a scene from the life of St. Alexius that was sold in Sotheby's, 6 July 2000, lot 27, and identified there as in the style of the Coëtivy Master. Other leaves can be found in Ferrini, cat. 1 (1987), nos. 83-5; Maggs Bros., Bulletin 21 (1997), no. 47; at least three leaves sold by C.E. Puckett; and the Jeanne Miles Blackburn collection (see exhibition catalogue of Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999, no. 49, p. 52, that leaf with scenes from life of St. Catherine of Alexandria). The parent manuscript was owned by E. Clark Stillman (1907-95), university professor and cultural attaché of the United States in Belgium, later fellow of the Pierpont Morgan Museum and a partner in the dealership of Lathrop C. Harper. From the collection of Roger Martin (1939-2020) of Grimsby.