Book of Hours Leaf, Netherlands, circa 1500

Book of Hours are personal prayer books of a devout and status-conscious society, and reveal a unique combination of sacred and secular imagery. This original Renaissance Book of Hours leaf has 15 lines of text, written in Latin with dark brown ink and blue ink, an unusual color, on animal vellum. One-line illuminated initial in gold on green ground; two-line initial in gold on red ground. The text is surrounded with an exceptional inhabited trompe l’oeil floral border. The seven-line miniature painting depicts the Pieta.