TEXT IN LATIN

Paris: Nicolas Vivien(?), early 16th century. 197 x 130 mm. (7 3/4 x 5 1/8"). Single column, 28 lines, gothic typeface.
Ruled in red, each leaf with several one- to three-line initials painted gold on red or blue ground, and A LOVELY, ANIMATED FULL BORDER DONE IN MANUSCRIPT, with trompe-l'oeil flowers, a moth, a fly, and a bird, on painted gold ground. Light soiling and a couple small stains to vellum, one initial a bit smudged, but in excellent condition overall.

This beautifully embellished leaf from a printed Book of Hours demonstrates the enduring demand for manuscript illumination in the incunabular period and beyond. While the text here was completed on a printing press, the initials and border were done entirely by hand, adding luxury and luster to an otherwise unadorned page. Although this leaf likely belonged to a Book of Hours printed in Paris (possibly an edition printed for Nicolas Vivien in or around 1503), the trompe-l'oeil style seen in the border was particularly popular among Flemish and Netherlandish illuminators of the period. The large blossoms and acanthus here seem to pop off the page because of the artist's use of subtle shading to indicate shadows, and there is additional pleasure to be found in the small creatures--a bird carrying a small flower, a moth, and a housefly--that share the space..