Book of Hours, Office of the Dead- Med MS 15A

Book of Hours (Office of the Dead). Conjugate bifolium on vellum. France, ca 1480: 146 by 103 mm, written area 71 x 47 mm. Single column, 13 lines. Provenance: simply based on the dimensions and number of lines, this bifolium probably comes from a horae sold at Sotheby’s London, 6 July 1964 lot 246. Decoration: two two-line brown initials on rich blue grounds with liquid gold highlights; fourteen initials alternating blue and gold with elaborate contrasting penwork details; thirteen line-fillers in red and blue with liquid gold highlights; four borders with a profusion of feathers, blossoms, and leaves in green, pink, blue, and liquid gold. Condition: well worn, and browned along one inch of the lower margin and up the sides. The corners are discolored as well, from being taped, though there is no tape residue. Text: Psalms 120, 129, and 137 from Vespers in the Office of the Dead.

A book of hours is a Christian devotional book that was popular during the Middle Ages and is the most common type of illuminated manuscript surviving to the modern age. The Office of the Dead within a book of hours contains prayers to be said for the repose of the soul of a deceased person usually composed of psalms, scripture, prayers and other readings.