Fourteen full-page miniatures on either side of seven illuminated leaves, on vellum

These leaves are fine examples of the industry which emerged in the nineteenth century in response to collectors' demands for manuscript leaves and cuttings. They were evidently produced by a skilled craftsman with access to a variety of manuscript-templates. They may well be by Ernesto Sprega, restorer of the Raphael frescoes in the Vatican, or another facsimilist in his circle (cf. Manuscript Illumination in the Modern Age, ed. S. Hindman et al., 2001, pp. 120-22). The borders and the frames of the miniatures are overwhelmingly drawn from ornate Italian models of the late fifteenth- or early sixteenth-century, perhaps even recalling the lavish and gaudy borders strewn with gold and brightly-coloured, fleshy foliage produced by Liberale da Verona (c. 1445-1530).

It is of interest that the artist offset the miniatures to one side of the leaf, leaving a blank space (approximately 10mm. wide) on one vertical edge, giving the impression to the casual observer that these are singletons, taken from a book, while in fact the vellum shows no signs of having ever been bound into a volume.

The subjects of the miniatures are:

Leaf 1: recto, Christ entering Jerusalem on a donkey; verso, Christ seated in a hilly landscape surrounded by children, one of whom sits on his lap, and another holds a lamb.

Leaf 2: recto, Christ surrounded by the Apostles in a wooded landscape; verso, Christ before his followers accepting a golden ring from a richly dressed Jew and a young man (some rubbing to young man's face on verso and scratch through corner of miniature).

Leaf 3: recto, The Last Supper; verso, Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (some small flakes of paint missing from both miniatures).

Leaf 4: recto, Christ before Pilate; verso, a mounted battle scene, with a number of knights in armour and foot-soldiers, a pikeman in a green tunic in the foreground spearing a king in gold armour.

Leaf 5: recto, The Scourging of Christ (some minor paint flaking to base of miniature); verso, St. Paul cutting off Malchus' ear in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Leaf 6: recto, Christ before followers exposing his wound to Thomas; verso, the Descent from the Cross (small scratch to latter).

Leaf 7: recto, bearded man with followers kneels as God appears as a bearded face in upper left-hand corner of miniature; verso, the same man standing before a medieval town gate surrounded by townspeople.