AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF WITH AN EXQUISITE MINIATURE OF ST. MARK FROM AN EXTREMELY FINE BOOK OF HOURS.

TEXT FROM THE GOSPEL LESSONS.

      France, Tours or Paris, ca. 1530 - Single column 21 lines of text written in a very fine tiny upright humanistic hand. Attractively matted. Rubrics in red two paragraph marks in black or gold against a gold or white background two line fillers in black and gold (one in the shape of a knotted rope) a two-line initial in gold on a gray ground with wispy gold decoration text on both sides within a knotted ropework border in gold and red with convoluted tassels at the bottom. One side of the leaf WITH AN EXTRAORDINARILY FINE SMALL MINIATURE SHOWING MARK seated with a scroll on his knees the youthful apostle dressed in blue and maroon deep in thought his elbow resting on his knee his emblem the lion looking on with an especially charming expression of sympathy; the scene in an interior with a window at the top left above a leafy molding the whole within a plain gold frame (the miniature measuring approximately 21 x 18 mm.). IN EXTRAORDINARILY FINE CONDITION. In this miniature the painter has been remarkably successful in giving both the Evangelist and his emblematic companion clear expressions of emotion. The depiction of architectural detail like the window molding here is typical of the elegant little touches in these very small miniatures that could only have been executed convincingly by an artist with the highest degree of skill.