The Hours of Marie-Antoinette of Naples, Use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum

Estimate

12,000 - 18,000 GBP

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Description

198 leaves (3 blank), 192mm. by 128mm., complete, collation: i-ii^{6 [with a blank but foliated bifolium wrapped around both quires], iii-xi^{8, xii^{12, xiii-xxv^{8, xxvi^{4, with a few traces of horizontal catchwords, 15 lines, ruled in red ink, written-space 98mm. by 63mm., written in dark brown ink in two sizes of a skilful gothic liturgical hand, rubrics in red, capitals touched in yellow, one- and 2-line initials throughout in burnished gold on red and blue grounds with white tracery,}}}}} panel borders throughout on every page with a 2-line initial, the borders formed of coloured flowers and acanthus leaves infilled with tiny black dots, fourteen large miniatures within elaborate architectural borders enclosing panels with 2 to 3 lines of text and large initials in colours and liquid gold, the borders including many smaller vignettes, a 6-line poem in French added on fol.1r in a sixteenth-century italic hand, miniature on fol.34r slightly rubbed, in some borders the blue pigment rather abraded, some minor offsetting and other spots of wear, upper extremities of some full architectural borders just cropped, overall in fine condition with wide margins, nineteenth-century dark blue velvet, elaborate pierced silver floral corner-pieces and clasps and catches, upper cover fitted with the initials ‘M.A.’ below a crown, lower cover fitted with a coat-of-arms below a crown, vellum endleaves, yellow and white silk markers, edges gilt and gauffered, skilfully rebacked with spine laid on, in a cloth case, title gilt

Provenance

provenance

(1) The manuscript can be dated by a prayer for the king, “famulum tuum karolum” (fol.197v), which is Charles VIII, king of France 1483-98. The text draws extreme attention to Saint Fursey, who is singled out three times in the Calendar (16 January, 9 February and 17 September); he appears also in the Litany and is the only saint commemorated with a full-page miniature. Fursey was an Irish saint and visionary. He founded the abbey at Lagny-sur-Marne, near Paris, and he died c.648. His relics, however, were translated to Péronne, east of Amiens in Picardy, in 654, and were re-translated into ever greater pilgrim shrines there in 1056 and again by Saint Louis in 1256. The manuscript was doubtless made for a patron from Péronne or for a pilgrim who had benefited from the saint’s miraculous cures. She was apparently the woman shown receiving a book from the saint on fol.187r. The prayer on fol.173r is for female use. Shields on fols.34r and 63r contain the initials ‘IG’ or ‘JG’.

(2) Apparently bound for Marie-Antoinette of Naples (1814-1898), Grand Duchess of Tuscany, daughter of Francesco I, king of the Two Sicilies, and Isabella, infanta of Spain, after her marriage in 1833 to Leopold II (1797-1870), last duke of Tuscany; with her crowned initials on the upper cover and her arms on the lower cover, those of Lorraine, Austria and Tuscany en tierce. Sold in our rooms, 26 July 1907, lot 417.

(3) Sold in these rooms, 9 December 1974, lot 66, to Traylen; and again in these rooms, 17 December 1991, lot 83, to Quaritch, for the present owner.

Catalogue Note

text

A Calendar, in French (fol.2r); the Hours of the Virgin [Use of Rome], with Matins (fol.15r), Lauds (fol.34r), Prime (fol.45r), Terce (fol.50r), Sext (fol.55r), None (fol.59r), Vespers (fol.63r) and Compline (fol.90v), followed by the Advent and other seasonal offices; the Hours of the Cross (fol.91r) and of the Holy Ghost (fol.95r); the Penitential Psalms (fol.99r) and Litany; the Office of the Dead [Use of Rome] (fol.120r); prayers to various saints (fol.166v); the Obsecro te (fol.170v) and O intemerata; and Suffrages (fol.178r) with other short prayers.

illumination

The miniatures, with a magnificent disregard for human proportions and perspective, are perhaps by the same painter as the Trivulzio Hours, sold in our rooms, 29 November 1990, lot 152 (afterwards Fogg, cat.14 1991, at £150,000), and related to Bodleian MS. Douce 152, both probably attributable to Amiens, the principal centre of book production near Péronne. Figures are shown with long noses, hooded eyes and short foreheads, with a strong sense of drama, often as if set on a medieval stage. A rather similar style is found in the exterior panels of St-Riquier altarpiece, now divided between Amiens (Musée de Picardie) and the Centre culturel de l’abbaye de St-Riquier, also showing the half-closed, heavily lidded eyes. An engaging anachronism in the present manuscript is the row of mortars firing canon balls in the war between the Israelites and the Philistines on fol.99r. Canons were a relative novelty in fifteenth-century warfare, and probably a prominent one in Picardy, on the much fought-over frontier between France and the dominions of the dukes of Burgundy. The miniatures are:

1. Folio 15r, The Annunciation, 168mm. by 103mm., set within an elaborate architectural fantasy, enclosing vignettes of (a) the Visitation, (b) the Nativity, and (c) the Annunciation to the Shepherds.

2. Folio 34r, The Visitation, 157mm. by 104mm., landscape background, within a border including (a) the Coronation of the Virgin, (b) cherubim with the initials ‘IG’, and (c) a standing figure of Saint Francis.

3. Folio 45r, The Nativity of Christ, 162mm. by 110mm., in a ruined stable with Joseph sheltering a candle from the wind, within an architectural border partly entwined with leaves (perhaps also to convey a ruined state) with vignettes of (a) shepherds in prayer, and (b) Saint Mark writing.

4. Folio 50r, The Annunciation to the Shepherds, 167mm. by 110mm., one a shepherdess with a distaff, one with bagpipes, within a border including standing figures of (a) Saint Peter, and (b) Saint John the Baptist.

5. Folio 55r, The Adoration of the Magi, 166mm. by 108mm., a huge crowd of retainers behind, within a border including (a) the three kings pointing to a star, and (b) Saint Barbara.

6. Folio 59r, The Presentation in the Temple, 167mm. by 110mm., golden rays pouring from the window onto the Child, within a fantastic architectural border including (a) Christ among the doctors, and (b) a standing prophet, presumably Isaiah.

7. Folio 63r, The Massacre of the Innocents under the direction of Herod, 159mm. by 108mm., the Flight into Egypt visible through the window, within a border including (a) two angels with the initials ‘JG’, (b) Saint John the Evangelist, and (c) a soldier killing a baby.

8. Folio 71r, The Assumption of the Virgin, 170mm. by 108mm., the Apostles watching below and Saint Thomas receiving the Virgin’s girdle, within a border including (a) the Virgin attended by angels, and (b) being crowned by God.

9. Folio 91r, The Crucifixion, 162mm. by 107mm., set between the two thieves, soldiers on the right and the Virgin with Saint John on the left, within a border including (a) the scourging, and (b) the mocking of Christ.

10. Folio 95r, The Trinity enthroned, 162mm. by 106mm., within a border including (a) Saint Laurence, and (b) Saint Margaret.

11. Folio 99r, David and Goliath, 171mm. by 110mm., the boy cutting off the giant’s head as a battle rages between the Israelites and the Philistines, within a border including (a) the coronation of David, (b) David in penance, and (c) David watching Bathsheba in a stream.

12. Folio 120r, The Three Living and the Three Dead, 167mm. by 108mm., a hawk escaping, starry sky, within a border including (a) a man dying in bed, (b) a burial scene, (c) murderers setting upon two travellers in a wood.

13. Folio 175r, The Pietà, 170mm. by 107mm., in a landscape with the Holy Women behind, within a border including (a) an angel with the hammer and nails, and (b) an angel with the pillar and scourges.

14. Folio 187r, Saint Fursey, 157mm. by 106mm., a bishop standing on two ox heads, holding out a book to a kneeling laywoman, within a border including (a) an evangelist, and (b) Saint Bartholomew.