The Nativity, miniature from a Book of Hours, [France, 15th century]

The Nativity

miniature on a leaf from a Book of Hours in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum. [France, 15th century (3rd quarter), and 19th century]

One leaf, c.125×85mm, ruled for up to 15 lines, written in a fine bâtarde script, the text comprising the end of Lauds and start of Prime, ILLUMINATED WITH A LARGE MINIATURE AND FULL BORDER and three-line illuminated initial; the decoration slightly cropped at the upper and fore-edge, the figures in the miniature possibly somewhat retouched but their palette is consistent with the border angels. In a card mount.

The composition is based on a vision of St Bridget (d. 1373): she described seeing ‘The Virgin … with her beautiful golden hair falling loosely over her shoulders … [and] the glorious infant lying on the ground … [he] radiated such ineffable light and splendour that the sun was not comparable to it while the divine light totally annihilated the material light of St Joseph's candle. … I heard the singing of the angels [here shown in the border]’.

The leaf and the script are undoubtedly 15th-century, and at first sight the miniature also appears genuine, albeit difficult to localise; in particular the green used in the bar borders is very unusual, as is the shape of the illuminated letter ‘D’. Closer examination suggests that the mininatue and border were in fact added very skillfully in the 19th or early 20th century, to a leaf from an unfinished medieval manuscript. For an analogous situation, see the leaf with an added miniature in our sale on 3 December 2019, lot 10.