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IM-8501: (112x64 mm) Single leaf from a manuscript Book of Hours - from the 1520’s Hours Workshop.  21 lines of Latin text, in dark brown ink on animal vellum. One two-line illuminated initial in gold on an ivory ground with gold tracery. Line extensions in black with gold scrolling. A gold cord-like border outlined in black surrounds the text. France, Tours or Paris, circa 1525-30.

Magnificent five-line miniature painting by the Doheny Master of St. Matthew reading his gospel, held by an angel (his attribute). This leaf begins with text from Luke 1:35-38: “Ideoque…” (And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God…). The miniature painting begins Matthew 2:1-8: “Cum natus…” (When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Judah…).

1520’s Hours Workshop manuscripts are the ultimate statements of the reception of Italianate & classical culture into French court. They were evidently made for women of the royal court, thus the knotted rope of the “Cordelieres” as an emblematic frame for the leaf. Four leaves from this manuscript were first described by Myra Orth in “An Exhibition of European Drawings and Manuscripts 1480-1880”, and cited in the J. Paul Getty Museum  Journal, vol. 16 (1988). The incomplete parent manuscript was offered in Fogg cat. 14 (1991), subsequently dispersed. Sister leaves appear in Cleveland Museum, Blackburn Collection, nrs. 70-71.     Rare and Beautiful  !