MINIATURIST, French
(active c. 1500 in northern France)

Book of Hours

c. 1500
Manuscript (Ms. W. 294)
Walters Art Museum, Baltimore

A Book of Hours is a layperson's prayer-book, which would be read at home or carried about on special occasions. This example, made in northern France about 1500, survives in its attached chemise cover of red velvet with its edges sewn in silver thread. The velvet would wrap around the manuscript when the book was closed up.