ILLUMINATED LEAF – BOOK OF CONDUCT FOR SERVANTS. Northern France or Flanders, c.1475-1525.

A handsome illuminated vellum leaf from a late-medieval courtesy book, written in French in a fine bâtarde hand. The recto is enriched with a large miniature (c140 x 190mm.) framed glazed, showing a noble household at table with richly costumed attendants, a knight in armour, and a crowned sovereign. Flames painted at the feet of the figures serve as a moral allegory of the dangers of arrogance, pride, and insolence. The text above the image and on verso admonishes servants against vanity, loose speech, and over-familiarity with their masters, while praising loyalty, humility, and discretion. These courtesy texts were popular among the nobility, but few survive with such vivid illumination.
This is a leaf of real presence and display quality: the colours remain vibrant, the gold is still bright, and the composition evokes the refined interiors of Burgundian and French courts. Comparable illuminated courtesy books are preserved in major institutional collections (e.g. the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and the British Library), but leaves on the market are extremely scarce. With strong colour and minimal wear, condition is excellent.
An attractive and highly desirable example of late fifteenth-century moralising literature in the vernacular, combining vivid imagery with secular instruction.
The miniature, with its compartmentalised interior, strong outlines, and use of gilding, is characteristic of Franco-Flemish illumination in the final decades of the 15th century, produced for the educated bourgeois or lesser nobility. Costumes, particularly the fur-lined gowns and chaperons, are consistent with that period.

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