Christ celebrating Mass from the Coëtivy Hours

Dunois Master, attributed to

Folio with three-quarter page miniature from a book of hours attributed to the Dunois Master, written in Latin and French in a bastarda script, made in Paris and dated 1443–1445. It was commissioned by Prigent de Coëtivy (1399?–1450) on the occasion of his marriage to Marie de Rais (1429–1457). Removed from the bound volume between 1933 and 1960. A prayer to Jesus Christ concludes on the recto, illuminated in the margin by a butterfly, pheasant and angel emerging from a flower. On the verso, beneath rubrics in red, another prayer to Jesus opens with the illuminated initial 'D' (Domine ihesu christe piissime mundi redemptor verus deus) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts Christ celebrating Mass with his apostles. Set in a church interior, Jesus presents the bread and wine as his body and blood to his eleven disciples kneeling around the altar. The scene is a direct reference to the Last Supper.