Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts

Book of Hours
Belgium, Tournai, ca. 1470
MS M.251 fol. 89v

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Christ: Nativity -- Nude Christ Child, crossed nimbus, extending left hand, reclines on ground amid rays and flowers. He is flanked by angel, kneeling with joined hands, and by Virgin Mary, nimbed, with joined hands, kneeling on cloth. Joseph the Carpenter, holding hat with right hand and cord (?) attached to dove with left hand, kneels at head of Christ Child. Above left, bust of God appears in arc of Heaven.
Scene in ruined, open shed, with holes in roof supported by tree branch; landscape with trees and hills in distance.
Margins decorated with border of floreate ornament.