Beschreibung:

St. Christopher, full-page miniature on a leaf from an exceptional Book of Hours, Use of Sarum, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [England (perhaps Lincolnshire or East Anglia), late fourteenth century] single leaf, 201mm. by 135mm., the miniature divided horizontally with the upper compartment with a scene of the saint wading through water holding his staff and with the Christ Child seated on his shoulders, on tessellated ground of orange and blue tiles touched with white penwork dots and circles and brilliantly burnished gold tiles, the lower compartment in the same tiles with white penwork hatching, all within a coloured border with gold framework, enclosing four coats-of-arms at the corners (i: argent a cross gules, ie. St. George; ii: sable a lion passant; iii: gules; and iv: sable and or in chief with four lozenges sable), gold initials “n, f, y, t, k, n, e” and “k, n, e, y, f, t” in compartments of border (here from top down on left side then right), hairline sprigs of foliage with coloured leaves touched in white penwork sprouting from outer border, verso with 22 lines in a fine bookhand with “memoria de sancto [Christ]oforo” and directions in bas-de-page for following “me[mori]a de s[an]cto edmundo”, rubrics in red, line fillers in blue and gold, one 2-line initial in blue, its edges sprouting leafy foliage on gold grounds which form a text border on one side and support another coat-of-ams (as iv above), some small scuffs and paint flakes, area of tape on verso from earlier framing, else excellent condition, gilt frame