God enthroned 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. Beneath rubrics in red, the Litany of St Peter of Luxemburg, a series of petitions and responses, opens with the illuminated initial 'D' (Deus pater, qui creasti mundum et illuminasti. Suscipe me) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts God the Father wearing the papal tiara and seated on a golden throne. The chair floats in a sea of blue, supported and surrounded by red seraphim with scrolls that read ‘san[c]tus’ and a choir of angels singing from a music sheet and playing instruments including a lute and pipe. Other angels in the margins play viol, portative and harp. On the verso, the number of angels is reduced to two.