Maastricht Book of Hours, BL Stowe MS17 f190r (detail)

Detail of the Maastricht Book of Hours (BL Stowe MS17), an illuminated manuscript mainly known for its lively depictions of animals and half-animals. The book of hours was probably made for an aristocratic lady in the Liège-Maastricht area in the first quarter of the 14th century. In the 18th century it was owned by the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, who in 1849 sold it to Lord Ashburham. In 1883 it was purchased by the British Library as part of the Stowe collection.
Folios 188r-254r constitute the Office of the Dead. Apart from the double-page miniature at the beginning of the section, the historiated initials and the illustrations in the margins bear little relation to the subject. This drollery on f190r depicts a woman with a distaff and a spindle tending a cradle. From the cradle emerges a tail.