Framed Italian 15th Century Book of Hours Medieval Manuscript Page on Vellum. Beautifully designed, framed and matted, with the other side of the page visible through a matted back to the frame. A small label at the bottom on the back gives an in-depth explanation of the work.
Overall Size: 11 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.
Sight Size: 3 1/2 x 2 3/4 in.
Vellum is prepared animal skin or membrane, typically used as writing material. It is often distinguished from parchment, either by being made from calfskin (rather than the skin of other animals), or simply by being of a higher quality. Vellum is prepared for writing and printing on single pages, scrolls, and codices (books). Vellum is generally smooth and durable, but there are great variations in its texture which are affected by the way it is made and the quality of the skin. The making involves the cleaning, bleaching, stretching on a frame (a “herse”), and scraping of the skin with a crescent-shaped knife (a “lunarium” or “lunellum”). To create tension, the process goes back and forth between scraping, wetting and drying. Scratching the surface with pumice, and treating with lime or chalk to make it suitable for writing or printing ink can create a final look. The word “vellum” is borrowed from Old French vélin (calfskin), derived in turn from the Latin word vitulinum (made from calf). However, in Europe, from Roman times, the word was used for the best quality of prepared skin, regardless of the animal from which the hide was obtained. Calf, sheep, and goat were all commonly used, and other animals, including pig, deer, donkey, horse, or camel were used on occasion. Most of the finer sort of medieval manuscripts, whether illuminated or not, were written on vellum. Some Gandhāran Buddhist texts were written on vellum, and all Sifrei Torah are written on kosher klaf or vellum. A quarter of the 180-copy edition of Johannes Gutenberg’s first Bible printed in 1455 with movable type was also printed on vellum, presumably because his market expected this for a high-quality book. Paper was used for most book-printing, as it was cheaper and easier to process through a printing press and to bind. In art, vellum was used for paintings, especially if they needed to be sent long distances, before canvas became widely used in about 1500 AD, and continued to be used for drawings and watercolors for nearly two centuries after. Old master prints were sometimes printed on vellum, especially for presentation copies, until at least the 17th Century. In later centuries vellum has been more commonly used like leather, that is, as the covering for stiff board bindings. Vellum can be stained virtually any color but seldom is, as a great part of its beauty and appeal rests in its faint grain and hair markings, as well as its warmth and simplicity. Properly cared for, vellum can last over a thousand years, as with the Pastoral Care image from Troyes’ Bibliothèque Municipale dating from roughly 600 AD that is still in excellent condition. For this reason many important documents are written on animal vellum, such as diplomas and international treaties, and what little can be gleaned by historians from the Dark Ages has come almost exclusively from rugged, decently stored vellum tomes. In modern times, “paper vellum” exists, made of plant cellulose fibers and used for a variety of purposes including tracing, technical drawings, plans, and blueprints.
