Two 15th c. Illuminated Manuscript Leaves from Books of Hours
Two beautifully illuminated manuscript pages from the 15th c. The individual leaves are from different Books of Hours--a popular prayer book that contains a sequence of prayers dedicated to the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary. These books played a key role in the late medieval and renaissance-era cult of the Virgin who served as intercessor between its readers and her son, Jesus/ God. These prayer books were owned by a wide range of people, and the prayers in them were deemed to be her favorite prayers, the quickest way to her heart, and these books served as constant companions throughout all of the hours of the day.

One leaf is labeled as from a Book of Hours from Poitiers, France, ca. 1470. Written in Latin and ornately designed, on animal parchment. 14 lines of text in Gothic bookhand (in brown ink) on both recto and verso sides. Both sides include a 3/4? left-hand vertical border that features colourful foliage and red strawberries?in blue, gold, green and red. Each side includes several ornate illuminated letters (A, O, A, O on recto; O, Q, I, H, H on verso) that are only slightly larger than the rest of the lettering on each line. The letters are made of gold on either red or blue ground.

The second leaf could be from anywhere in Europe, but possibly from France or Italy. Each side is written Gothic Latin bookhand (in dark brown ink) with 14 lines of text on both recto and verso sides. Each side features intricately drawn illuminated letters with tiny and fine tracery around each of them (recto: A, Q, D, D, S; verso: S, A, A, O, I); and the final letter on each side features a 2-inch tail of abstract design. The letters alternate: they are either painted in blue on a red ground or gold on blue ground. Illuminated line endings (extra space after certain sentences) are made with abstract gold, blue and red designs.

Good. A small part of the lower right-hand corner of the first page (that does not affect the text or illustrations) has been torn off.