Two bifolia from a Breviary, Cistercian Use, in Latin [France, Picardy (perhaps Amiens), c.1290s]

two bifolia (four leaves), each c.159x103mm, vellum, 2 columns, 25 lines, c.108x71mm, paginated 145-46, 155-56, and 149-152, one 4-line initial including a dragon's head and 16 smaller illuminated initials with TWO BIRDS PERCHED ON TOP, margins slightly stained

Leaves from this very attractive Breviary have appeared on the market since at least as early as 1995: Maggs, Bulletin, 20, nos.42-43; another was Maggs, Cat.1262, 1998, no.13; two more were sold in our rooms on 19 June (lot 10) and 6 December (lot 2), 2001, two on 6 December 2005, lot 10, six on 29 June 2007, lot 4, and most recently 3 December 2013, lot 13, and 7 July 2015, lot 14. A substantial part of the parent volume consisting of 128 leaves, very imperfect and bound out of order, was sold in our rooms, 5 July 2005, lot 90, and from this it was possible to determine that the book was Cistercian, and had an office of 12 lessons for St Firminus, which suggests a possible origin in the area of Amiens. Inscriptions in 18th- and 19th-century hands suggest that by that time it was at Vouvray, east of Tours in the Loire valley.

For images of all four leaves see SOTHEBYS.COM