Bas-de-page scene of a hound chasing a rabbit, with Bona's name 'Diva Bona' in the full border, Add MS 34294, f. 122v

The Sforza Hours was commissioned about 1490 by the Duchess of Milan Bona Sforza (d. 1503), the second wife of Galeazzo Maria Sforza. The Milanese court painter Giovan Pietro Birago (fl. 1471-1513) was contracted to embellish it with miniatures.

Detail of a full border with Bona's embelm of the phoenix and motto 'Sola fata, solum Deum sequor', Add MS 34294, f. 93r

Miniature of St Mark and his lion at the beginning of the Gospel excerpts, Add MS 34294, f. 10v

Calendar page for May, Add MS 62997

Calendar page for October, Add MS 80800

Miniature of the Adoration of the Magi, Add MS 45722

Miniature of the Visitation, from the prayers at Lauds, Add MS 34294, f. 61r

Miniature of the Presentation in the Temple, from the prayers at None, Add MS 34294, f. 104v

 Folio with a cameo bust of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Add MS 34294, f. 213r.

The Sforza Hours was eventually purchased by Sir John Charles Robinson (d. 1913), Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, in 1871, in Spain. The book subsequently passed to another art collector, John Malcolm of Poltalloch (d. 1893), who presented it to the British Museum in 1893.

(source http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk)