MINIATURE OF SAINT CLAUDE OF BESANÇON AND SAINT ANTHONY THE GREAT.

Illuminated manuscript on vellum, [probably Paris, c. 1460].

Illuminated manuscript on vellum, [probably Paris, c. 1460]. Two leaves with small miniatures, from a book of hours, gothic book hand, 130 x 98 mm single column, 14 lines of text. The first: Single column, 14 lines in a fine gothic book hand. The text decorated with the panel border on the verso inhabited by a leaping dog, the same side with a gold-framed miniature (measuring 35 x 33 mm) of Saint Claude of Besançon attired in his bishop's regalia, standing in a hallway between two arch-topped doors, reading a book. Some very minor soiling. The second: The text decorated with the panel border on the verso inhabited by a long-necked hybrid beast, the same side with a fine, small miniature (measuring 35 x 33 mm.) of Saint Anthony The Great, the Desert Father seated on a broad wooden bench beneath a red and gold canopy, one hand upraised in blessing, the other holding an open book, the saint flanked on either side by a fierce demon, one raising a stick with which to beat him, and in the foreground, a pig sniffing around the saint's feet. Minor loss of paint in a small spot on the miniature, affecting the head of one demon, one initial faintly blurred.