French Book of Hours illuminated leaf c.1480: Panels of delicate rinceaux illuminations on both sides.

Recto: 14 lines of text in Latin written on vellum in black ink in a high quality gothic bookhand. An intricate panel of illuminations runs the length of the text in a style known as rinceaux.

Verso: As Recto, with an equally fine panel of illuminations.

Source: Northern France, probably Paris

Date: c.1480.

Content: The text on both sides of the leaf is a section of the prayer Obsecro te. Recto reads:

...[quem] habuisti, quando filium tuum Dominum nostrum Iesum Christum ante crucem nudatum, et in illa levatum vidisti pendentem, crucifixum, vulneratum; sitientem hely clamantem audisti. Et per quinque vulnera Filii tui, per contractionem viscerum suorum, prae nimio dolore vulnerum. et per dolorem quem habuisti, quando vidisti eum vulnerari. Et per fontes lacrymarum tuarum: et cum omnibus sanctis per omnem passionem eius, et dolorem cordis tui, et per fontes , ut cum omnibus sanctis et electis Dei. Venias, et festines in auxilium meum,in omnibus orationibus, et requestis meis tribulationibus necessitatibus...

...[which] thou didst have when thou didst see our Lord Jesus Christ nude, lifted upon the cross, hanging, crucified, wounded, thirsty, heard Him cry out Eli.

And through the five wounds of thy Son, through the contraction of His flesh because of the great pain of His wounds, through the sorrow thou didst have when thou didst see Him wounded, through the fountains of His blood, through all His passion, through all the sorrow of thy heart, and through the fountains of thy tears, I beseech thee along with all the saints and elect of God. Come and hasten to my aid and counsel, in all my prayers and requests, in all my difficulties and necessities...

Condition: The leaf is in very good/fine condition, on clean vellum with just the expected edge browning which is masked off by the mat. The very pretty illuminations retain their original bright colours and lustrous burnished gold. The leaf is unconditionally guaranteed genuine.

Size: Size of leaf: approx. 185x130 mm. Text and illuminated area : approx. 100x100 mm. Presented in a museum quality mat, ready for framing. Please note that postage is invoiced separately.

Notes: "There are two special prayers to the Virgin that appear in nearly all Books of Hours. They are known by their incipits (opening words): "Obsecro te" (I beseech you) and "O intemerata" (O immaculate Virgin). Written in the first person singular, the prayers address the Virgin directly in especially plaintive, urgent tones. They are among the most moving of all prayers in the Books of Hours and encapsulate the essence of late medieval spirituality, especially as it relates to the cult of the Virgin…" Roger S. Wieck, Painted Prayers.