Illuminated Manuscript Leaf from a Book of Hours Book of Hours Illuminated Manuscripts

Illuminated Manuscript Leaf from a Book of Hours, in Latin. Flanders (Likely Bruges or Ghent), circa 1490-1510. Single leaf on vellum (190 mm x 130 mm), written in two colums of 25 lines in a fine Gothic textura script, ruled in red ink. Text from Psalm 114 (Vulgate numbering): "Dilexi quonian exaudiet Dominus vocern orationis meae." (the "Dilexi quoniam" psalm, traditionally included in the Office of the Dead. Illumination: A slendid full border of arcanthus leaves and flowering tendrils on a burnished gold ground, inhabited by a brightly plumed bird and a whimsical hybrid beast among foliage and berries. Large illuminated initials in blue and liquid gold with contrasting red penwork; smaller initials alternately in gold on blue or red grounds. Condition: Vellum exceptionally clean and bright; gold leaft fresh and well preserved, minor traces of mounting along margin. Provenance: From a disbound Flemish Book of Hours likely produced for the export market in Bruges of Ghent around 1500. The richly illumnated leaf exemplifies the exuberant naturalism of the Ghent-Bruges school of manuscript illumination, whose artists combined refined calligraphy with lavish marginal decoration. Verso of leaf with text and illumination. Ships unframed and unmounted