A group of leaves from French devotional manuscripts spanning two centuries of book production, including a colourful 16th-century miniature with the Presentation in the Temple from a Book of Hours, produced at a time when there was reciprocal influence between manuscript and printed editions.

The Presentation in the Temple is reminiscent of the style of the Master of Girard Acarie, an illuminator active in Rouen and so-called from his work in the splendid copy of the Roman de la Rose that Acarie presented to François I around 1525 (see Margareta Friesen, Der Rosenroman für Francois I. New York, Pierpont Morgan Library M.948, 1993). The influence of other illuminators who were involved as designers for illustrations in printed Books of Hours, such as the Parisian Jean Pichore, is also evident.

[With]: five other leaves from French devotional manuscripts.

Physical description:
The Presentation in the Temple, opening None from the Hours of the Virgin, with accompanying leaf [France, possibly Rouen, c.1520]: 222 x 108mm (8⅝ x 4¼ in.), 32 lines, ruled space: 168 x 75mm (6½ x 3 in.); a leaf from the Office of the Dead in a Book of Hours [France, mid-14th century]: 154 x 110mm, 16 lines, ruled space: 90 x 58mm (3½ x 2¼ in.); a leaf from a Breviary [France, 14th century]: 158 x 114mm (6¼ x 4½), 30 lines in two columns, ruled space: 107 x 35mm (4¼ x 1¼ in.); a leaf from the Seven Penitential Psalms in a Book of Hours [France, mid-14th century]: 128 x 89mm (5 x 3½ in.), 16 lines, ruled space: 70 x 50mm (2⅝ x 2 in.); a leaf from the Gospel Extracts in a Book of Hours [France, end of 14th century]: 140 x 94mm, 14 lines, ruled space: 75 x 44mm (3 x 1⅝ in.).

Please note this lot is the property of a private consignor.