Wednesday, July 20, 2011

15th Century BOOK OF HOURS - Heart-Shaped When Opened

The little book of hours of Amiens Nicolas Blairie, carefully written on a thin Ruling rose, but modestly decorated with some original illuminations in ink (folio 29), has the curious shape of an almond when it is closed. When it opens, the two halves of the almond bloom to fit the contours of a heart, concrete evocation of the heart of the person praying the prayer that opens.

The Book of Hours was a devotional book popular in the later Middle Ages. It is the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript. Like every manuscript, each manuscript book of hours is unique in one way or another, but most contain a similar collection of texts, prayers and psalms, often with appropriate decorations, for Christian devotion. Illumination or decoration is minimal in many examples, often restricted to decorated capital letters at the start of psalms and other prayers, but books made for wealthy patrons may be extremely lavish, with full-page miniatures. BNF - L'Aventures des écritures. Matières et formes : Livre d’heures à l’usage d’Amiens

6 comments:

JT said...

I love illuminated books whether they are modern or medieval. The hand lettering, the colorful miniature paintings; so pretty.

Thanks for sharing this one.

Buttonchief7 said...

What an honor to view such a special book. Just amazed at what mankind has created through the years.

Karen said...

I love this book. How pretty and unexpected.
Karen

Vanessa Hancock said...

This is absolutely perfect for a story I'm writing! It just gave me a perfect twist that even I wasn't expecting!

Content in a Cottage said...

Vanessa...

How exciting!!

Rosemary

adrienne montes said...

I am also including it my story x good luck