FROM A BOOK OF HOURS IN LATIN by ESPECIALLY PRETTY SMALL ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAVES, OFFERED INDIVIDUALLY - ca. 1440

Paris, ca. 1440. 121 x 89 mm. (4 3/4 x 3 1/2"). Single column, 15 lines of text in a very fine gothic book hand. Rubrics in red, all leaves with multiple one-line initials and line fillers, all in blue, maroon, and burnished gold, many leaves with one or more two-line initials in the same colors and gold but also enclosing charming flowers on scrolling stems, a number of these two-line initials with marginal extension in the form of gilt ivy leaves on sinuous stems, and EACH LEAF WITH A FINE SWIRLING PANEL BORDER ON EACH SIDE featuring flowers, leaves, strawberries, and many burnished gold ivy leaves on hairline stems. IN FINE CONDITION, with the paint and gold bright, fresh, and entirely intact. These are lovely little leaves from a fragment of a Book of Hours that obviously was produced for a client of considerable means by skilled craftsmen in a Parisian studio probably a little before the middle of the 15th century. The diminutive leaves were clearly intended to be put into a book that could be carried easily on one's person, and part of what makes them so charming is this portable size.