AN ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT LEAF WITH A SMALL MINIATURE DEPICTING THE TRINITY FROM A BOOK OF HOURS IN LATIN.

TEXT FROM THE SUFFRAGES.

      Paris, ca. 1460 - Single column 15 lines of text on verso 12 lines on recto in a fine regular gothic book hand. Attractively matted. Rubrics in red recto with one one-line initial as well as two 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 verso with a three-quarter panel border of similar design though more lavish (and with a vertical bar border of red blue and burnished gold between the text and the border in the fore margin); the same side of the leaf with two handsome two-line initials in several colors and burnished gold and WITH A SMALL EXTREMELY CHARMING MINIATURE OF THE TRINITY shown in a contemporary interior (the miniature measuring approximately 25 x 32 mm.) the scene showing Christ and God the Father seated on a bench Christ in blue carrying a cross over his shoulder God the Father in blue and red robes and a triple tiara the dove of the Holy Spirit radiating golden rays between them the scene set in a room with a tessellated green floor a wooden plank ceiling and a red tapestry screen elaborately decorated in gold located behind the figures and partially obscuring five windows at the back. IN FAULTLESS CONDITION--with excellent margins and with vellum paint and gold fresh clean and bright. The artist has chosen to place the Trinity in a contemporary room such as the owner of a 15th century Book of Hours might inhabit rather than in a more exalted celestial environment. At the very least we might expect a throne rather than a humble bench but this ordinary setting would remind the reader that the Trinity is always and everywhere present. The connection between faith and scripture is emphasized here by the fact that a book (probably a Bible or Book of Hours) is opened on the bench between God the Father and God the Son and both of them gesture toward it.