GB-777095 Adoration of the Magi - a miniature from the Isabella Breviary

This beautiful postcard came from Rasa (15 June 2016) Postcrossing.

This is a miniature of the Adoration of the Magi from the Isabella Breviary. The Isabella Breviary is a late 15th century illuminated manuscript housed in the British Library, London. Queen Isabella I was given this manuscript shortly before 1497 to commemorate the double marriage of her children and the children of Emperor Maximilian of Austria and Duchess Mary of Burgundy.

What is a breviary?

A breviary contains the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, monks, and deacons in the Divine Office.  The core of the breviaries as they were in use in medieval times was the Psalter with the 150 psalms attributed to King David. 

What is shown in this miniature?

This framed miniature is over both columns of text and shows the Adoration of the Magi (Mt 2 vv. 1-12), which is the Gospel for the day in the Dominican Missal. The three magi, all having taken off their caps, come before the Christ Child held by Mother Mary. Two are kneeling, but the black magus is beginning to genuflect to join them in the Adoration of the Child, and behind them are their servants and a distant landscape. The foremost kneeling king has laid his gift, a golden hanap, on the ground. This miniature may be by Gerard David and, except for the position of Joseph placed behind the Virgin and Child, the iconography is almost identical to David’s Adoration in Munich, Alte Pinakothek. There is a full border of the first category with silver-white acanthus leaves and flowers on a gold ground