Detail of miniature and portion of border

English, 1524. Very interesting illuminated document granting the use of and rent from several properties. Sealed with the seal of Henry VIII. Illumination consists of a troempe l'oiel border of floral decoration and Tudor heraldic badges (the porticullis and rose, et cetera). Most interesting is the portrait miniature in the initial; the illumination and miniature is thought to be by Lucas Hornebolte, the important painter of the early Tudor court and the man who taught Hans Holbein the Younger the art of the miniature portrait. This is an unusually finely decorated document. The calligraphy is difficult to make out in the original (and hence, in the scan), but the text is sufficently clear to allow the writing to be described as in Latin and, for the most part, in a very even bastarda; particular words have been written in textura quadrata and several of the initials are gold versals on painted grounds. Document measures aproximately 13 by 24 inches.

Appears in The English Renaissance at Sotheby's: Pictures, Manuscripts, and Works of Art from the Collections of The Lord Astor of Hever and Other Owners. Sotheby's Auction Catalog, sale date 11 July 1983.