THE NATIVITY, historiated initial 'P' on a leaf from a Breviary, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, [southern Netherlands, likely Sint-Truiden, late 14th century]. 440 x 327mm. The initial in burnished gold with red penwork extending into a three-sided bar border of red and burnished gold, 26 lines of text in two columns (some creasing and loss of gold). Framed.

THE NATIVITY, historiated initial 'P' on a leaf from a Breviary, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, [southern Netherlands, likely Sint-Truiden, late 14th century]. 440 x 327mm. The initial in burnished gold with red penwork extending into a three-sided bar border of red and burnished gold, 26 lines of text in two columns (some creasing and loss of gold). Framed.

The initial opens the feast of the Nativity: 'Primo tempore alleuiata est terra Zabulon' (Isaiah 9:1). A handsome leaf with striking borders of gold and red, an intriguing and original feature of mid- to late-14th-century manuscript illumination in the important and flourishing economic centre of Sint-Truiden (see, for example, the Missal of Arnold Rummen, Brussels, Royal Library, Ms. 9217).