A single leaf on parchment, c.108 x 70 mm, from a fine miniature Book of Hours, with delicate initial pen trails. The leaf is ruled in red ink, c. 61 x 36 mm (ruled), written on fifteen lines in brown ink in a neat and consistent gothic script, rubrics in red, with two one-line initials, one in blue with red pen trails and the other in gold with blue pen trails.  The text contains The Hours of the Virgin at Laudes as said during the Christmas season with the rubric opening the the office before advent.
 
A very good and crisp example. The parchment quality is high, and the script is neat and consistent which suggests it once came from a wonderful personal Book of Hours. There is some slight discolouration to the parchment with a mount mark, parchment cropped which impacts some of the pen trail decorations, two mounting tab remains to the verso.
 
This leaf is the from one of the most cherished sections of the Book of Hours in a medieval mind - The Office of the Virgin Mary. With this leaf in particular being the opening Hour within this prayer cycle. It is considered to be the heart of the Book of Hours, and it is split across different sections called ’Hours’ to be recited at different hours within the day. This prayer cycle helped bring the Church into the medieval home.