PARIS ILLUMINATED BOOK OF HOURS LEAF, ON VELLUM - PSALMS, c 1532 FRANCE

Description

Original Illuminated Book of Hours Leaf on vellum
Paris, France c 1532
PSALM 64: "
A hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion...
"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IM-12978
:  Original leaf from a printed & beautifully hand-illuminated
Book of Hours
.
Ruled for twenty-six lines of Latin text and printed in black on animal vellum.
(Size 163 x 108mm – 6 3/8 x 4 1/4’’)
The leaf is embellished with an elaborate illuminated border on each side -
hand-painted with tempera colors in a floral motif with acanthus leaves,  red roses (symbol of Christ's Passion), and columbines (symbol of the Holy Spirit)
on liquid gold ground.
Initials are illuminated by hand in gold with delicate gold penwork on blue or red grounds.
Printed and hand-painted
with
rich sumptuous colors
in the workshop of
Germain Hardouyn
- printer and highly skilled illuminator.
Paris, c.
1532.
This leaf contains text from two well-known Bible Passages
.
The
two-line illuminated “T” begins Psalm 64:
complete
: “
Te decet
…” (A hymn, O God, becometh thee in Sion: and a vow shall be paid to thee in Jerusalem.
O hear my prayer: all flesh shall come to thee…). The
two-line illuminated “E” begins
The Canticle of Ezechias -
Isaiah 38: 10-14:
“
Ego dixi
…” (I said: In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of hell: I sought for the residue of my years.
I said: I shall not see the Lord God in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more, nor the inhabitant of rest.
My generation is at an end, and it is rolled away from me, as a shepherd’s tent…).
Medieval Books of Hours
are personal prayer books of a devout and status-conscious society and are not only works of art, but cultural documents of their time.  They reveal a unique combination of sacred and secular imagery - made of the finest materials, by the best craftsmen, for a small audience that could both appreciate and afford them. In purpose and format, printed
Books of Hours
followed the older manuscript examples. The more luxurious were printed on vellum.
This is an original, almost 500 years old, not a reproduction. It is in excellent condition as shown in the photos, very clean with stunning bright colors and gold.
This leaf comes with a Certificate of Authenticity.
We have been full-time dealers in Illuminated Manuscripts, Maps, Prints and Antiquities since 1980.