AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF WITH A FINE MINIATURE DEPICTING A BURIAL SCENE FROM A BOOK OF HOURS IN LATIN.

TEXT FROM THE OPENING OF THE OFFICE OF THE DEAD.

      Paris, ca. 1460 - Single column four lines of text on recto 15 on verso in a fine regular gothic book hand. Attractively matted. Rubrics in red verso with five one-line initials as well as three line fillers all in colors and burnished gold the same side with a swirling quarter panel border featuring flowers leaves strawberries and many burnished gold ivy leaves on hairline stems the recto with a large three-line D in blue and white with enclosed scrolling flowered stems the whole on a burnished gold ground; the recto WITH A FULL INHABITED BORDER featuring much acanthus other vegetation and fruit as well as two birds with raised wings the border FRAMING A RICHLY DETAILED ARCH-TOPPED ILLUMINATED MINIATURE OF A BURIAL (measuring approximately 65 x 42 mm.) the scene showing a thin shrouded corpse being lowered into a grave by two sturdy gravediggers a priest in a blue cloak ornamented with a gold fleur-de-lys sprinkling holy water with a golden aspergillum on the left a white-gowned monk with a sorrowful face in attendance behind these figures (on the right) a large crowd of mourners the two foremost draped and hooded in velvety black and (on the left) a pretty white gothic church replete with architectural detail including a sparkling gold roof the tree behind it and the bright blue sky above dotted with gold. Minor losses of paint from the white portions of the garments of the priest and monk otherwise very fine with good margins bright paint and gold and smooth fresh vellum. Apart from those relatively few copies with illustrated calendars the miniatures found in Books of Hours are almost entirely devoted to retrospective Bible scenes that are obviously outside the experience of the illuminator; it is only in the present kind of funeral scene at the beginning of the Office of the Dead that we can see a contemporaneous rendering of a scene from the daily life of the Middle Ages. More often than not this scene is set indoors and the constraints placed on the artist as a result are significant often making for a depiction that contains little more than a draped coffin and perfunctory mourners (who were as a matter of historical fact frequently professionals with no connection to the deceased). Here we see a much more dynamic scene where the artist has an opportunity to present a more imaginative narrative. The result--with considerable detail and movement as well as an expansive feeling of space--is very satisfying.