This illuminated leaf, likely from a 15th‑century German Gradual, contains music from both a Proper chant and the Ordinary of the Mass. The front preserves part of the Alleluia verse Salve virga in honor of the Virgin, followed immediately by the opening of Kyrie. On the reverse appears the text of Gloria. The large historiated initial K, which introduces the Kyrie, depicts a winged angel with blond curls and a green‑and‑yellow robe, holding a black shield charged with a red saltire on white, surrounded by dark grey fleur‑de‑lis, likely heraldic in nature. Just beside the angel’s wing is the faint inscription “ANN,” painted in the same pale pink as the wings; this may allude to the Annunciation or another Marian context, though the exact meaning remains uncertain. The letter is further adorned with curling red foliate ornament, and at its base a small grotesque face emerges from the decoration, possibly an animated flourish characteristic of late Gothic manuscript illumination.

• Yunji Li, 2025
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