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Last updated 13/3/2024

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'The Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves' is an illustrated manuscript which dates to around c1440.

An incidental illustration in the margin at the foot of a page devoted to St Agatha shows a stacked pair of boxes made, by cutting, slitting and folding a square of either parchment or paper. It isn’t possible to say which, although I lean towards paper simply because the folding is so complex. Paper folds far more easily, and takes a crease far better, than parchment does. The lower box bears the words 'St Agatha' The outer illustrations show the boxes opened to reveal the jewels within.

A full copy of the work can be accessed here. The page devoted to St Agatha is no 306.

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1440

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