Manuscript Cutting: Leaf from a Book of Hours with an Miniature of the Adoration of the Magi

Physical devotion was a personal act, depicted here (top-right image) by the Magi kneeling to kiss Christ’s feet. In medieval art, kissing feet reflected a Christian theology where Mary Magdalene washes and kisses Jesus’s feet as an act of devotion, as recounted in Luke’s Gospel. The biblical story details how Jesus forgives Mary Magdalene of her sins after her physical act of service. Kissing became a popular motif in illuminated manuscripts and commonly symbolised respect.   

However, kissing the manuscript was also a physical reaction to the holy authority and power of the Book of Hours in medieval times. This was known as ‘devotional osculation’ otherwise known as the act of kissing. Believers kissed images in their prayer books that often lead to wear and smudged images. Interacting with the manuscript in this physical way embodied their religiosity and continual devotion to prayer.

The cuttings here were ordered into scrapbooks in the Victorian era, which severed the images from their corresponding text of prayers and psalms. The illuminations that remain convey just a snippet of these physical religious actions.