29 - Three leaves from an exceptionally early Italian Book of Hours, one with a historiated initial, in Latin, from a manuscript on vellum, [Italy (Naples), most probably late 1360s or 1370s], three single leaves, one with a large initial ‘I’ (opening “In illo tempore recumbentibus …”, Mark 16:14) enclosing a full-length portrait of Christ within a simple blue, green and red frame on a wide burnished gold ground, all with decorated borders of coloured foliage or geometric shapes with interstitial spaces filled with gold and surrounded by large bezants (two leaves with borders on two or three sides, one with full border), these enclosing a standing human in an orange tunic, a tiny naked figure hanging from the foliage, a blue bird with an orange wing and a small cat-like creature, the leaf with the full border also with a coat-of-arms (per fess, azure and gules) in the centre of the bas-de-page and at each corner, two large initials in blue and pink shades enclosing foliage sprays on burnished gold grounds and edged in coloured frames, text in a single column of 11 lines in an angular Italian bookhand, with many ornamental pen flourishes, discoloured at edges, some scuffs, cracking and losses to gold and paint, trimmed at edges with small losses to border decoration there, darkening from previous mount around edges of reverse, overall fair and presentable condition, each leaf approximately 126 x 93mm.; mounted together on a card mount with small paper strips

Three leaves from an exceptionally early Italian Book of Hours, one with a historiated initial, in Latin, from a manuscript on vellum, [Italy (Naples), most probably late 1360s or 1370s], three single leaves, one with a large initial ‘I’ (opening “In illo tempore recumbentibus …”, Mark 16:14) enclosing a full-length portrait of Christ within a simple blue, green and red frame on a wide burnished gold ground, all with decorated borders of coloured foliage or geometric shapes with interstitial spaces filled with gold and surrounded by large bezants (two leaves with borders on two or three sides, one with full border), these enclosing a standing human in an orange tunic, a tiny naked figure hanging from the foliage, a blue bird with an orange wing and a small cat-like creature, the leaf with the full border also with a coat-of-arms (per fess, azure and gules) in the centre of the bas-de-page and at each corner, two large initials in blue and pink shades enclosing foliage sprays on burnished gold grounds and edged in coloured frames, text in a single column of 11 lines in an angular Italian bookhand, with many ornamental pen flourishes, discoloured at edges, some scuffs, cracking and losses to gold and paint, trimmed at edges with small losses to border decoration there, darkening from previous mount around edges of reverse, overall fair and presentable condition, each leaf approximately 126 x 93mm.; mounted together on a card mount with small paper strips *** Few Books of Hours date as early as the fourteenth century, and of those that do, Italian examples, or even single leaves from them, are among the rarest. The present leaves are from a group of ten leaves, including two miniatures, once in the collection of Esther Rosenbaum (d. 1980) advertising executive of Chicago; these sold together in Sotheby’s 25 April 1983, as lot 101, and another leaf from that group, with the same coat-of arms, re-emerging in our sale of 3 December 2025, lot 35. The rediscovery of the present leaves has sharpened the dating of the parent codex, and consolidated the impression that the artists here, were late followers of the influential workshop of Cristoforo Orimina, court painter to Robert of Naples (1276-1343) and Joanna I of Naples (1325-82). We thank Professor F. Manzari for kind assistance in the cataloguing of these leaves, and note her forthcoming publication of them in her important online survey of Italian Books of Hours.