Beschreibung:

The Flight into Egypt, miniature on a leaf from a large illuminated Book of Hours in Latin, on parchment [probably southern Netherlands (perhaps Bruges), c. 1420-40] Single leaf, with a large arch-topped miniature: Flight into Egypt with Joseph with a staff over his shoulder, leading the Virgin and Child on a donkey through a grassy landscape, and before a background of two conical hills topped with trees, one with a figure ascending the side, above a 3-line initial in blue enclosing sprays of vividly coloured foliage, and 4 lines of text in a fine late gothic bookhand, the miniatures and text enclosed by thick text frames formed of scrolling coloured foliage over brightly burnished gold, full borders of acanthus leaf sprays and fine rinceaux terminating in gold leaves and brightly coloured flowers, 14 lines of text with further elaborately illuminated initials on reverses, nineteenth-century pen fol. no. ‘111’ at head of recto, a few tiny chips, else in outstanding and fresh condition, 181 mm. by 135 mm., framed so both sides of leaves visible While much of the decoration here is dependent on the opulent illumination of Paris in the early fifteenth century, there are hints that this is not French in the spiky red tongued plant at the corner of the miniature, and the use of black as a background colour. The rotund faces with soft but fine features are closest to those produced in the southern Netherlands in the mid-fifteenth century (see Flemish Miniatures 1404-1482 , 2011, no. 9 for a contemporary Book of Hours with similar border).