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IM-7874: (133 x 93mm) Original leaf from a medieval manuscript Book of Hours. 16 lines of text, ruled in red, written in Latin with dark brown ink in letter batarde script on animal vellum. One three-line illuminated initials in pink with an internal floral design in burnished gold and deep blue and on a deep blue ground with white tracery.. Large miniature painting of the Flight into Egypt  - surrounded by a colorful floral border with acanthus leaves, berries and violets in blue, red, gold, green and yellow. 

This beautiful miniature painting is the opening for the Hours of the Virgin, Hour of Compline. Mary is seated upon a donkey and holds the Christ child in her arms.  Joseph walks beside them as they make their journey into Egypt. The faces are exceptionally well executed! The text begins: “Converte nos…” (Convert us O God our Savior…).France, c. 1460-80.

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 that could both appreciate and afford them.