St. Clare of Assisi holding a monstrance before the Virgin and Child, miniature from a devotional manuscript on parchment [France (perhaps Bourges), late fifteenth century]

St. Clare of Assisi holding a monstrance before the Virgin and Child, miniature from a devotional manuscript on parchment [France (perhaps Bourges), late fifteenth century]

Rectangular miniature set within a wide gold frame with blue and red jewels mounted in its body and the inscription ave maria gratia plena dominus tecum benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus in red ink over the gold, enclosing a smaller blue frame and a scene of the saint kneeling with a blue book tucked under her arm and clasping a monstrance between her hands as she prays, the Virgin enthroned and holding the Christ Child as he aims a white arrow at the saint, all on a deep red ground with the Holy Monogram in liquid gold and beneath a blue bower, miniature trimmed to edges and mounted in glass with old collection label Annexe No. 487 on reverse, slight cockling to edges, excellent condition, 100 by 65mm.

The pale countenances and drooping eyes of the figures here, as well as the overlaying of text and gemstones on the frame of the miniature, show the influence of the work of the celebrated Jean Colombe (c. 1430-c. 1493).