Two leaves from illuminated manuscripts in Latin, on vellum [France, first half of the fourteenth century]

2 leaves: (a) leaf from an early Book of Hours, 130mm. by 94mm., with a 9-line historiated initial ‘D’ enclosing the Presentation in the Temple (for Compline in the Hours of the Virgin), with a full text frame terminating in foliage and ivy leaves in orange, light pink and blue and gold bezants, enclosing a running hare and a bird, 17 lines in black ink in an early gothic bookhand (written space: 84mm. by 60mm.), rubrics in red, capitals touched in red, one-line initials in gold on coloured grounds, 2-line initials in pink or blue on contrasting grounds, one including the head of a clean-shaven knight in his chainmail coif, trimmed at edges with losses to borders, script and borders scuffed in places, however the historiated scene in good condition, paper offset on back from once being laid down, eastern France (Metz), c.1340; (b) leaf from an illuminated Breviary, 159mm. by 103mm., two columns, 25 lines in black ink in an early gothic bookhand (written space: 109mm. by 73mm.), capital letters touched in red, rubrics in red, 2-line initials in pink or blue enclosing acanthus leaves or the heads of a crowned king and a monk on burnished gold and coloured grounds, human-headed winged drollery creatures perched on some initials, small damp stain affecting one lower corner, else in excellent condition, northern France or Picardy (perhaps Amiens), c.1300; both framed

Item (a) comes from an early Book of Hours which was produced in Metz in the 1340s. It was illuminated by the workshop of the Master of the Boethius of Montpellier (see Avril, Les Fastes du Gothique, 1981, no.256, and Plotzek, Andachtsbücher des Mittelalters aus Privatbesitz, 1987, no.11). A leaf from the same parent volume, with Christ before Pontius Pilate, also decorated with a leaping hare and a bird, was sold in our rooms, 5 July 2011, lot 14. Item (b) belonged to an imperfect Breviary for Cistercian Use which was most probably made in Picardy around 1300. The main body of 128 leaves of the book was sold in our rooms, 5 July 2005, lot 90, and other single leaves have appeared in Maggs Bulletin 20, 1995, nos.42-43 and cat.1262, 1998, no.13, and in our rooms, 19 June 2001, lot 10, 6 December the same year, lot 2, and 29 June 2007, lot 4.