Jean Wauquelin presenting his 'Chroniques de Hainaut' to Philip the Good

The decorative border of the presentation miniature includes the arms of the various territories ruled by Philip, which he had considerably expanded, interspersed with his personal emblem of sparks being struck from a flint.

From the court accounts the progress of the translation (though not the decoration of the manuscript) can be traced, and the miniature is presumed to date from around the time of the actual presentation to Philip in March 1448.

The text of Philip's book is a French translation made c 1446-50 by Jean Wauquelin, from the Annales historiae illustrium principum Hannoniæ, a three-volume Latin work produced by Jacques de Guyse c 1390–96.

Broadly the miniature can be divided into three horizontal sections, with four clerics positioned to the left, two members of royalty and Wauquelin at the center, and eight advisers and courtiers to the right.

The main figures are dressed in finely tailored gowns, with pipe folds extending from the shoulders, that become tightly girdled at the waist, before they spread out into the skirt.

Apart from the Bishop of Tournai, standing next to Rolin, all the other men are bare-headed, even Philip's young heir, despite the fact that several of them are high-ranking intimates who, like the Duke, wear the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Philip stands in front of his throne positioned under a golden or salmon coloured canopy or baldachin, lined with what appears to be green satin.

[4] Jean Wauquelin kneels before Philip, presenting a large book bound in brown leather; his translation of the Chroniques de Hainaut which he had completed in 1446.

Van der Weyden some took artistic licence here, probably to vary the tonality of the dark colours; the surviving Chroniques bound in black satin.

[6] Philip's preference for black is imitated by a number of the other men to the right, particularly the older nobleman at the head of the group, who is generally identified as Antoine I de Croÿ, first chamberlain of the ducal household.

[10] There are no extant examples of manuscript miniatures by Van der Weyden, excepting a single tapestry, all of the attributed works are panel painting.