Description
This tiny manuscript written for a lady served as a pretty pendant as well as a prayer book. The gold cover is enameled and set with rubies. During the Renaissance, miniature books were valued as works of virtuosity as well as devotional aids. The chain allowed it to be hung as a pendant, possibly from a girdle or a rosary. The text inside--the seven penitential psalms associated with King David’s penance for his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba--is perfectly legible. The manuscript also contains two tiny and beautifully painted illuminations, one of the Virgin Mary and the other of Christ. The scribe who copied the text signed his work as Jacobus Romanus.
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