Two leaves from an illuminated manuscript breviary, in Latin, on vellum [Austria or Czech Bohemia, first half of the fifteenth century]

two leaves, each approximately 215mm. by 150mm.: (a) one 6-line initial 'D' (opening "Deus pacis sanctificet ...") in pink with white foliate penwork, enclosing Christ holding a book, all on brightly burnished gold grounds within a pale green frame, extending at corners into pink, green and blue tendrils with curling acanthus-leaves and splashes of burnished gold in the corners of the leaves around all four sides; (b) one 8-line initial 'P' (opening "Primo tempore alleviata ...") in blue on gold grounds, enclosing the Virgin and Child, with foliate extensions reaching into two borders; both with double column, 29 lines in dark brown ink in a distinctively spiky and angular hand, capitals touched in red, rubrics in red, red and blue initials, the larger touched in contrasting penwork, excellent condition, framed

The tiny, detailed figures within the historiated initials point to Vienna (cf. the Collegium Ducale Missal in T. Kren, Illuminated Manuscripts of Germany and Central Europe, 2009, p.100 and frontispiece), but the scrolling foliage and red grounds behind the curling acanthus-tendril in the centre of the bas-de-page of (a) point to the codices of Czech Bohemia. There is a striking resemblance to the Breviarium Benedicti de Waldstein, produced in 1410 (Prague, National Library MS.VI G6: reproduced in K. Stejskal and P. Voit, Iluminované rukopisy doby husitské, 1991, no.13, pls.13-14), and these leaves may be a product of the same workshop.