This vellum leaf is from a Book of Hours printed in Paris in 1502 by Phillipe Pigouchet for Simon Vostre. Pigouchet’s intricate and lively metal cuts, known as criblé, are some of the finest historiated borders printed in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century.
The text is a portion of the Litany of the Saints. It consists of the hypnotic invocation of a list of saints to whom the medieval reader prayed. Each invocation of a saint's name is followed by the plea "Ora pro nobis" ("Pray for us”), abbreviated on the leaf to ‘or’. It is among the most ancient and emotional Christian liturgical texts, dating in the West to at least the 5th century AD. Saints served as earthly guardians, helpers, and nurses. More approachable than God, they could intercede in Heaven on behalf of humans. Medieval believers appealed to them for both spiritual and daily assistance, especially in dangerous situations: sickness, travel, and childbirth. The list of saints in the litany varies between different Books of Hours. Although some saints are ubiquitous, the inclusion of others who are lesser-known usually indicates a particular locale or the personal devotion of the individual who commissioned the book.
Content: The text is printed in a lettre bâtarde typeface. Some Saints mentioned are Matthew, Stephen, Vincent, Sebastian, Christopher, Damian, Lawrence, Luke, Mark and many more.
The large metal cut at the bottom of Verso illustrates the Last Judgement; the dead rising from tombs. The captions above the two side panels on Verso read:
[H]ii qui se abscöderūt qu[i in caver]nis exibūt. (Those who had hidden themselves will come out from the caverns.)
Ossa in monumentis existentia super sepulcra apparebunt. (The bones lying in the tombs will appear above the sepulchres).
On Recto the captions read:
lapides inter se pugnabunt maximum sonum dabunt. (stones will fight one another and make a great noise.)
fremitus erit magnus... homines se abscondent (there will be a great roaring, and men will hide themselves.)
The large bottom metalcut has the caption: "omnis vallis implebitur: et omnis mons et collis humiliabitur" (every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill made low.)
The images derive from “The Fifteen Signs before Doomsday”; a medieval apocryphal text listing fifteen days of cosmic upheaval before the Last Judgement . It was circulated widely in vernacular and Latin poems, sermons, and Books of Hours from the 12th century onward.
Size: Leaf approx. 170x110 mm.
Condition: Overall very good condition with sharp impressions of the metal cuts, original untrimmed margins and with the decorated initials in fine condition. Some darkening of the vellum at the edges and light cockling in the upper outside corner. Unconditionally guaranteed genuine.
Item No: PSA220
