Weaving Virgin 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. Following the Litany of St Peter of Luxemburg is a series of twenty-six prayers and devotions to the Virgin Mary. The great many devotions and miniatures dedicated to her is rather unusual, even for books of hours. Beneath rubrics in red, the prayer opens with the illuminated initial 'A’ (Ave maria gracia plena dominus tecum martir cum martiribus) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts the Weaving Madonna. The Virgin Mary sits at a horizontal loom holding cards, or a patterning device. On her right is a baton or shuttle held between the warp threads. She is aided by an angel unwinding yarn from a hank winder onto a bobbin and watched over by God wearing the papal tiara. He is surrounded by red seraphim and blue angels (perhaps cherubim) playing viol and psaltery. According to the Protoevangelium of James (and the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew), Mary was spinning the purple (here depicted with ultramarine) for the Veil of the Temple when an angel arrived to announce her conception (Annunciation). The colour purple is a hint to her royal ancestry as well as the blood of the Passion. An angel in the margin holds a basket, probably for wool, and a pitcher. The apocryphal story also records Mary filling a pitcher from a well which evokes her role as the chosen vessel of the Incarnate (vas electrum). Two additional angels inhabit the lower margin. Only a single angel remains on the verso, playing a pipe.