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IM-3016: (162x112mm) Original leaf from a medieval Book of Hours. 12 lines of ruled text, written in Latin with dark brown ink in gothic script on animal vellum. Border surrounding text is a burnished gold bar with acanthus swirls, ivy tendrils & burnished gold bezants with colors of pink, green, and blue.   

England (probably Glastonbury), c. 1450.

Ex-collection Otto Ege (1888-1951: Dean of the Cleveland Institute of Art and Lecturer on History of the Book at Western Reserve University and Northwestern University. Ege increased awareness of the history of the book through the dissemination of individual pages to schools, libraries, calligraphers, and printers).

The five-line historiated initial “D” is in colors of blue and white, contains a miniature painting of Saints Mary and Anne in colors of red, blue, black, green, white, and gold on a gold ground. Mary is seen holding a book, with her mother standing behind and teaching her to read (very popular portrayal in Medieval England).

The historiated initial begins: “Deus qui…” (O God, who vouchsafed to grant to blessed Anne such grace that she deserved to bear thy most blessed mother in her most glorious womb…).