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IM-3702: (160x110mm) Original leaf from a manuscript Book of Hours. 20 lines of Latin text, ruled in red with rubrics in red, line endings in red & blue, with liquid gold infill. Written in angular gothic bookhand on animal vellum. Three two-line initials in white & gray acanthus with floral infill on gold grounds. Elaborate panel border (verso) in acanthus & diverse floral motifs on liquid gold ground.

France: Rouen; Use of Rouen, c. 1490.

The exceptionally fine full-page illuminated painting depicts Job (personification of patience) outside the city, which can be seen in the background. Job is shown wearing a loincloth, with his hands together in prayer, while he studies the three men on his right.

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, which could both appreciate and afford them.