AN ILLUMINATED VELLUM MANUSCRIPT LEAF WITH TWO CHARMING H...

      Paris, ca. 1480 124 x 108 mm. (4 7/8 x 4 1/4"). Single column, 15 lines of text in a fine gothic book hand. Attractively matted. Recto with seven and verso with five one-line initials in colors and burnished gold, recto with five and verso with six heavily burnished gold line fillers decorated with blue and pink flowers, BOTH SIDES WITH A THREE-QUARTER BAR BORDER of pink and blue flowering vines on a ground of burnished gold AND A QUARTER PANEL BORDER with trefoil-shaped sections of gold featuring pink and blue flowers on leafy stems alternating with blue and gold acanthus leaves on a white background, EACH SIDE WITH A TWO-LINE HISTORIATED INITIAL "L," the recto showing a man in prayer, and the verso a monk, his head surrounded by a nimbus. Trivial loss of gold from bar border, very small remnants of mounting tape, otherwise a fine and pretty leaf, with paint and gold especially bright and fresh. This immensely pleasing little leaf contains the brief and moving Psalm 120, which begins "I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence comes my salvation," as well as the final lines of Psalm 119 and the opening lines of Psalm 121. The small yet individualized figures depicted in the two initials, surrounded by sprays of gold leaves, give an elegant touch to what is already a charming leaf. $ 950