This elegant latin manuscript is known today as the gotha missal after its eighteenth-century owners, the german dukes of gotha. The volume was originally copied and illuminated in paris around 1375—a commission of the valois king, charles v "the wise" (reigned 1364–80), one of the great bibliophiles of the 1400s and brother of dukes philip the bold of burgundy and jean de berry. Manuscript missals were not intended for the lay user; the present volume was used by the king's private chaplain and was probably housed in charles's private chapel, possibly in his principle residence, the palace of the louvre (demolished in the 1500s). The main decorative body of the missal consists of two full-page miniatures comprising the canon of the mass and 23 small miniatures. The style and high quality of the decoration points to its inclusion within a select group of manuscripts accepted today by the hand of jean bondol. Bondol was active at the court of charles v from 1368 until 1381, where he was head of the court workshop and also served as the king's valet de chambre. The blind-tooled leather binding dates to the 1400s. Object Type: missal, book. Date: 1370. Place of creation: France, Paris, 14th century. Dimensions: Codex: 27.1 x 19.5 cm (10 11/16 x 7 11/16 in.). Medium: gold, ink, leather, tempera, vellum. Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art.
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