[LIVRE D'HEURES - ENLUMINURES] Fragments recto verso des suffrages

Recto verso fragments of a manuscript book of hours on parchment with sumptuously illuminated full-page borders. This compartmentalized division of ornaments is representative of the production from Rouen and Parisian workshops at the turn of the 16th century.

Two illuminated pages on a recto verso leaf: border divided into bands and lozenges decorated with floral motifs, fruits and leafy designs, gilt initials painted in alternating red and blue, line fillers and rubrics.
The richness of the illumination characterizes these liturgical books intended for laypeople. Books of hours were at the time jewels of piety, both an instrument of religious practice and a social statement affirmed by the richness of the artists' work. A true small painting, this leaf is probably extracted from a luxurious volume where each page was carefully painted.
We find here a fragment of the suffrages which contains four prayers to the Saints: to St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist and two others "Pulchre salutationes ad xpm. videlicet in elevatione corporis ipsius" followed by "Alia salutatio. Salue sancta caro dei..."
Script called cursiva libraria on long lines. Witness to the formalization of cursive script at the dawn of the French Renaissance, this script is emblematic of the production of French scribes for laypeople during the period.