"OH LORD, OPEN THOU MY LIPS AND MY MOUTH SHALL SHEW FORTH THY PRAISE": STRIKING ILLUMINATED LEAF FROM A FRENCH BOOK OF HOURS, CIRCA 1410, FEATURING A RARE IMAGE OF THE CRUCIFIXION

(ILLUMINATED LEAF). Illuminated Leaf from a Book of Hours. France, circa 1410. Single vellum leaf (4-3/4 by 6-3/4 inches), illuminated in gold, blue, red, black, green, rose, brown, and white inks. Window matted with silk front and framed, entire piece measures 11 by 13 inches.

Exquisite illuminated miniature from a French Book of Hours, circa 1410, featuring an exceptional, gilt-bordered, hand-colored image depicting the Crucifixion, with the text from the Hours of the Cross.

This beautiful illuminated miniature is from a French Book of Hours, circa 1410. This moving depiction of the Crucifixion shows Christ set against a cloisonné background and a starry blue sky, his face bearing a pained yet calm expression as his head hangs forward. His wounds have been carefully rendered, with the artist choosing to show blood and the misery of his martyrdom. Mary stands to the left in a blue cloak, her hands folded and her expression resigned. At Christ's left stands Saint John wearing a red cloak. This work is also elaborately bordered, with two gilt frames and a surrounding fruit, flower, acanthus leaf, and ivy spray border in a variety of colors as well as gilt. The recto contains five lines of text from the Hours of the Cross, a lovely large four-line floriated initial "D" rendered in blue, white, and red filigree on a burnished gold ground, forming part of the gilt border. There is also a single-line initial in gilt on a blue and white filigree ground, and a line extender. The verso features 11 lines of similar script, one two-line filigree initial in red, blue and gold, with some of the lettering in red.

This miniature is attributable to a follower of the Boucicaut Master, whose Crucifixion scene strongly recalls the model of the miniatures by Boucicaut Master (1408-1415, now recognized by some as Jacques Coene) and the Mazarine Master. The background style, St. John in a red robe with one hand on his cheek, and the other holding a book, and the color palette, featuring three basic colors such as red, blue, and malachite green, are all typical of the Parisian models of the early 1400s. In the same years (1404-05) the Limbourg brothers began working on their first masterpiece, Les Belles Heures du Duc de Berry. Text in Latin.

Fine condition.