Throne of Mercy 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 blue, a prayer to the Trinity opens with the illuminated initial ‘B’ (Benedicta sit sancta trinitas) painted with white, red, blue and gold ivy-leaf ornament (most of the gold is lost). It is one of an unusually large series of forty-seven suffrages, or short prayers dedicated to the saints, arranged hierarchically. The section opens with prayers to the Trinity, Virgin Mary, Archangel Michael and John the Baptist, followed by the Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins. The miniature is painted in demi-grisaille with pigments and gold and depicts the Throne of Mercy. God, seated on a throne supported by red seraphim, wears a dome-shaped crown with openwork arches. He supports Christ, who wears the crown and thorns. Jesus’ wounds, and therefore his sacrifice, are on prominent display. The Holy Spirit hovers between them in the form of a dove. The blue cornflowers in the right margin may have been included as a sign of death and resurrection. The Trinity appears again in the Baptism of Christ below. When Jesus was baptised in the river Jordan by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and God spoke from heaven, proclaiming his Son. The two scenes highlight the relationship of the Trinity and the redemption of mankind through the sacrifice of the Son.