Book of Hours, Use of Sarum, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

219 leaves, 131mm. by 95mm., text complete, lacking one leaf probably with miniature, possibly there were once further full-page miniatures inserted, collation: i^{14, ii2 (all before i removed when volume adapted in England), iii9 (ii a singleton), iv11 (ii, viii & xi singletons), v16 (ii & iv singletons, xi & xii inserted bifolium), vi11 (i a singleton), vii9 (ix a singleton), viii5 (iv a singleton, ix9 (ii a singleton), x8, xi-xiv8, xv7 (wanting a leaf after iii), xvi-xviii8, xix10, xx-xxii8, xxiii12 (ix & x an inserted bifolium), xxiv-xxv8, written space 84mm. by 56mm., single column, ruled in pink for 19 lines in dark brown ink in two sizes of a fine late Gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, line-fillers in red and blue, numerous 1-line initials in red or blue with penwork to contrast, numerous 2 to 5-line initials in liquid gold, infilled with either blue or pink touched with white penwork and on contrasting grounds, the larger ones with ivy-leaf sprays into margins, twenty-six 6-line initials in blue or pink heightened in white with elaborate coloured floral infill on coloured and burnished gold grounds,} twenty-one full-page miniatures within coloured rectangular frames, and with full border decoration of simple line drawn foliage terminating in small coloured flowers and gold bezants, interspersed with sprigs of acanthus-leaves, usually with border decoration on all four sides of following page of text as well (fols. 15v, 18v, 28v, 33v, 36v, 39v, 41v, 45v, 49v, 54v, 57v, 66v, 69v, 71v, 73v, 75v, 77v, 80v, 116v, 145v, 162v; with miniatures wanting after 30, 131, 183, 194, 201, but with decorated text page still present), some minor wear but overall in fresh and excellent condition with wide and clean margins, gilt edges, gauffered at edges, nineteenth-century red morocco binding over pasteboards, gilt-tooled on boards and on spine with palm trees and sunbursts

provenance

1. Written and illuminated in either Ghent or Bruges in the second quarter of the fifteenth century for an English patron (including miniatures of SS. Augustine and Etheldreda), perhaps for Rober[t] Bradford who added his name to the end of the text in a fifteenth-century hand. The calendar was then added to this volume in England in the 1440s.

2. Marie Dyer; her partially-erased sixteenth- or seventeenth-century ownership inscription on the verso of the first endleaf.

3. Monsieur de Badts of Cugnac, near Bordeaux in south-west France; his bookplate with the family arms (ecartelé: with 1 and 4 d'azur au chevron d'or accompanied with 3 trèfle du même; and 2 and 3 with gironné d'argent and in gules de huit pieces) and motto "Ingratis servire nefas"; subsequently sold in the late nineteenth- or early twentieth-century: French book-seller's ticket pasted to endleaf.

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

text

A calendar with additions of astrological tables to allow the calculation of the lunar and solar cycles, predicting an eclipse of the sun in 1448 and for the moon in 1441 (fol. 1r; added immediately after the volume came to England); Readings from the Psalms (fol. 16r); a hymn for the Holy Spirit (fol. 19r), suffrages to many saints including St. Christopher and St. George (fol. 29r); prayers to the Virgin and various virgin-martyrs including Etheldreda (fol. 58r); Hours of the Virgin with Matins (fol. 81v), Lauds (fol. 86v), Prime (fol. 101v), Terce (104v), None (fol. 108v), Vespers (fol. 110v), Compline (fol. 112v); Seven Penitential Psalms with a litany and prayers (fol. 117r); the rare Hours of the Compassion of the Virgin (fol. 131r); the Hours of the Passion (fol. 146r); Office of the Dead followed by the Commendatio Animarum (fol. 163r); the abridged Psalter of St. Jerome with prayers (fol. 201r).

 

illumination

The style is that of Ghent/Bruges, normally ascribed to the Masters of the Gold Scrolls (after the delicate liquid gold scroll-work used in the backgrounds; see M. Smeyers, Flemish Miniatures from the 8^th to the mid-16th Century, 1999, pp. 234-6), and more correctly here to an offshoot of that work ascribed to the Masters of the Beady Eyes (after the small and squinty eyes of the figures; Smeyers, pp. 240-1). In fact, neither of these was the work of a single workshop, but was a common style used by many artists in Ghent and Bruges in the second quarter of the fifteenth century. The artist here is well-accomplished and has particular skill in the portrayal of faces and wide open backgrounds. His figures with their oval faces, drooping eyelids and somewhat glum expressions closely compare to those in a Book of Hours completed c. 1420 (now Baltimore, Walters 169; L. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery III, 1997, no. 229, fig. 440) and also to another made c. 1420-30 and illuminated by the Master of Daniel Rym (Walters 166; Randall, no. 230, figs. 442, 443 & 445), who is named after a Book of Hours made for the Ghent patrician of that name (d. 1431) and his wife Elisabeth Munte. This master may have trained the Master of Guillebert de Mets, and otherwise worked on a Book of Hours for John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy from 1404 to 1419 (now Paris, BnF, ms.nouv.acq.lat.3055). Crucially, the peculiar square corner-pieces of the border-frames of the miniatures in the present manuscript are also found in W.166, and the present artist may have been the Master of Daniel Rym himself or a member of his workshop.

The subjects of the miniatures are:

1. Folio 15v. God the father holding, enthroned in an elaborate green chair and wearing the triple-tiered papal crown, holding Christ on the Cross, which itself rests on a burnished gold globe, all before a burgundy-red background with delicate scrolling liquid gold designs (those gold designs in centre of picture now flaked away), all within a rectangular blue border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

2. Folio 18v. Pentecost, the Virgin seated among her followers with an open book in her lap, within a Gothic interior scene of pink arches and leaded windows, as the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove with a small red flower in its beak, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

3. Folio 28v. St. Veronica standing face forward in a long blue robe, holding her handkerchief open and showing Christ's face to the reader, within a Gothic interior scene with a burgundy-red background with delicate scrolling liquid gold designs, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

4. Folio 33v. St. Christopher standing midstream carrying the Child over the river towards a bank with a tree, hills topped by a medieval city and woods with a small monk with a lantern in background, all within a rectangular pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

5. Folio 36v. St. John the Baptist holding a book and standing before an agnus dei in a grassy landscape before a river and a medieval city, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

6. Folio 39v. St. John the Evangelist with a pink cloak lined with ermine, seated in a grassy landscape writing in a book in his lap, medieval city in background, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

7. Folio 41v. St. George in armour on horseback spearing the Dragon as his horse tramples it underfoot, a princess in prayer behind him, all before a grassy hill and medieval castle from which a king and queen peer (slight flaking from faces of king and queen, and small smudges to border), all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

8. Folio 45v. St. Nicolas in bishop's mitre and holding a crozier, before burgundy-red background with delicate scrolling liquid gold designs, all within a rectangular blue border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

9. Folio 49v. St. Augustine in bishop's mitre and holding a crozier and a heart, before burgundy-red background with delicate scrolling liquid gold designs, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

10. Folio 54v. St. Michael in a rocky landscape spearing the Devil, before hills topped by medieval buildings, all within a rectangular pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

11. Folio 57v. The Virgin seated on a large embroidered pink cushion, holding the Child, an angel kneeling before them offering a single flower, before burgundy-red background with delicate scrolling liquid gold designs, all within a rectangular blue border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

12. Folio 66v. The Virgin and Child seated on the lap of St. Anne on a green throne,

before burgundy-red background with delicate scrolling liquid gold designs, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

13. Folio 69v. St. Mary Magdalene holding a liquid gold ointment jar, before a hilly landscape with trees and a medieval city, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

14. Folio 71v. St. Catherine holding a sword and before the wheel on which she was martyred, trampling the Roman Emperor who condemned her to death, all before hills with a medieval city in the distance, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

15. Folio 73v. St Margaret of Antioch, being swallowed by the Devil in the form of a green dragon (the last of her cloak disappearing into his mouth), and emerging from his side holding a Cross and gazing at God who appears in the upper left-hand corner, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

16. Folio 75v. St. Etheldreda who stands holding a palm frond and a book before a grassy landscape, a medieval city in the background, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

17. Folio 77v. St Ursula standing holding the arrows with which she was shot, and opening her ermine-lined cloak to shelter six other virgin-martyrs who pray or hold books (slight smudging to two of the faces of the virgin-martyrs), before burgundy-red background with delicate scrolling liquid gold designs, all within a rectangular blue border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

18. Folio 80v. The Annunciation, with the Virgin kneeling and reading her prayers from a book, as an angel kneels before her with a banderole "Ave gratia plenia. dominus tecum", while God appears above the scene, before burgundy-red background with delicate scrolling liquid gold designs, all within a rectangular blue border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold (some flaking), and within a full decorated border (some wear).

19. Folio 116v. The Last Judgement, with a male and a female saint kneeling as Christ descends his wounds exposed, angels either side of him blowing the last trump, the dead rising from their graves, before burgundy-red background with delicate scrolling liquid gold designs, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

20. Folio 145v. The scourging of Christ, with Christ blind-folded, bound and enthroned within an interior Gothic scene as three men place a crown of thorns on his head and offer him a stick as a sceptre, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.

21. Folio 162v. The Mass of the Dead, three tonsured monks sing from a choirbook over a coffin draped in blue material, two seated men in black robes in foreground, all within a rectangular blue and pink border frame with lobed corner-pieces in liquid gold, and within a full decorated border.