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IM-10511: (127 x 92mm) Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 15 lines of red-ruled, Latin text, written with dark brown ink in gothic book-hand script on animal vellum. One three-line illuminated initial in blue on a burnished gold ground with a floral interior design in pink and blue; one two-line illuminated initial in burnished gold on blue and pink ground extending into the margin with a delicate rinceaux design in  burnished gold and blue.  Northern France (Paris), c. 1420-30.

Miniature painting (68x45mm) illuminated by a master of the Boucicaut School depicting  St. Mary Magdalene meeting Christ:  St. Mary Magdalene kneels in prayer at the sight of the resurrected Christ. Her attribute, the ointment jar, is on front of her. The scene is set in within a rocky landscape with a colored and gold tessellated background.  The miniature is surrounded by text-frame bars on three sides in blue, pink and burnished gold with full borders of foliage with multi-colored acanthus-leaf sprays at corners.

The text begins a prayer celebrating St. Mary Magdalene.  The two-line illuminated "L" begins:   ''Largire...'' (Grant to us, most merciful Father, that just as the blessed Mary Magdalene obtained pardon for her sins by loving our Lord Jesus Christ above all things, so she may obtain for us in the presence of thine eternal mercy a blessing).

Provenance:  Sotheby's - ex G. Barilla of Geneva, and formerly Frederick Fowler collection (England c. 1820's)