Lot 28

Book of Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

Estimate

5,000 - 7,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

133 leaves, 147mm. by 109mm., wanting a few leaves from the main text, collation: i-ii^{8, iii^{6, iv-vi^{8, vii^{7 (vii a singleton), viii^{8, ix^{7 (i wanting), x^{1 (ii wanting), xi^{1 (ii wanting), xii^{4, xiii^{6, xiv^{6, xv^{7 (ii a singleton), xvi-xx^{8, horizontal catchwords, written space 80mm. by 54mm., single column, ruled in pink ink for 12 lines in brown ink in an excellent Gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, numerous one-line initials in burnished gold on coloured grounds heightened with white penwork, numerous 2-line initials in pink, blue and red with white penwork and coloured leafy infill (or occasional animals or animal-masks, see fols. 69v & 71v for examples), all on burnished gold grounds, and with coloured or gold ivy-leaf extensions into borders,}}}}}}}}}}}}}seven large initials in same (fols. 35r, 51v, 54v, 58r, 61r, 64r and 71v) with elaborate coloured leafy infill on burnished gold grounds, all on coloured grounds with burnished gold frame and extensive border frames on all sides with ivy-leaves, dragons, numerous other animals (including dogs, rabbits, a stag and a monkey), birds, drolleries and other decorative features, first leaf slightly discoloured, small stains to initial leaves, a few additions in an early-modern hand throughout, slight trimming to upper and vertical edges, else in excellent condition with wide and clean margins, nineteenth-century straight-grain red morocco over pasteboards with "Roman Miscell MSS" gilt tooled on spine, and an emblem of an eagle holding a shield and a scroll with the motto "Nemo Sine Vitiis" on front board, blue edges

Provenance

provenance

Edgar Osborne (d. 1978), chief librarian of Derbyshire and antiquary; acquired 1947, and by descent to the present owner.

Catalogue Note

text

The text includes a Calendar (fol. 1r) with numerous southern French, and in particular Poitiers, saints in red: SS. Lazarus (17 December) and Hilary of Poitiers (14 January), and his translation at the end of June; Gospel sequences (fol 13r); Hours of the Virgin mostly according to the Use of Chartres with some features adapted for Poitiers use, with Matins (fol. 17r, wanting a leaf from beginning), Lauds (fol. 35r), Prime (fol. 47r, wanting a leaf from beginning), Terce (fol. 51v), Sext (fol. 54v), None (fol. 58r), Vespers (fol. 61r), Compline (fol. 64r); Hours of the Holy Spirit (fol. 69r, wanting a leaf from beginning); Hours of the Holy Ghost (fol. 71v); a Litany (fol. 87v); Office of the Dead (fol. 93r); additions of prayers in Latin in an early modern hand to last leaf (those on the recto erased).

illumination

Some of the decoration of this book is characteristic of mainstream French manuscript art of the late fourteenth century, and details such as the scrolling coloured foliage terminating in tiny sharp-petalled flowers with a gold centre (as behind the initials on fols. 35r and 51v) and the little pots and gold baguettes mounted within the ivy-leaf shoots, can be found in the productions of Paris in the period (see for example L.M.C. Randell, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery, I, item 76, especially fig. 155, a Book of Hours produced in Paris at the very end of the century, which has near identical foliage sprigs in its borders; and a Book of Hours of similar date and origin, sold in our rooms 23 June 1998, lot 65, illustration on p. 99, for similar gold baguettes). However, the simplicity and the style of the foliage here suggest an origin outside of Paris, and the animals and drolleries provide a striking comparison to the illumination of a fragment of a Choir Breviary from the first half of the fourteenth century, now also in the Walters Art Museum, W. 130 (Randell, item 60, fig. 124). The margin of fol. 1r of that manuscript contains a long necked bird in its lower part which shares much with the stork on fol. 35r here, and a hunting scene with dogs chasing a rabbit and a stag which offers extremely close comparisons to the animals in the border frame of fol. 64r here. On the basis of the appearance of a number of saints such as SS. Exuperius, bishop of Toulouse, Clarus, whose relics were in part at Auch, and Orientus, bishop of Auch, that fragment was identified as coming from south-western France, and it seems very likely that the present manuscript has a nearby origin.

The significant illuminations are as follows:

1. Folio 35r, 5-line initial (slightly smudged) with full border frame of ivy-leaf foliage with small gold baguettes mounted within the shoots, terminating in a dragon and a drollery-man with wings and a hood who trims the foliage with a knife (somewhat trimmed at top with loss to the top of his and the dragons' heads), a woodpecker and a stork elsewhere in the foliage.

2. Folio 51v, 5-line initial with full border frame of ivy-leaf foliage with small ornamental pots in alternate red and blue mounted within the shoots.

3. Folio 54v, 4-line initial with full border frame of ivy-leaf foliage terminating in a dragon, and enclosing a small line-drawn lap-dog and a rabbit sitting facing each other either side of a bush.

4. Folio 58r, 5-line initial with full border frame of ivy-leaf foliage, enclosing a white stag (the outermost part of his face and body lost through trimming).

5. Folio 61r, 4-line initial with full border frame of ivy-leaf foliage terminating in a dragon and enclosing a drollery creature with cloven hooves, a horse's tail and a bearded human head with a long white hood.

6. Folio 64r, 4-line initial with full border frame of ivy-leaf foliage terminating in a dragon and enclosing a crowned drollery creature with animal's feet, wings and a human face, and a brown rabbit being chased by a white dog wearing a studded collar with a red ring at the front.

7. Folio 71v, 5-line initial enclosing coloured foliage and an animal mask, with full border frame of ivy-leaf foliage with a small bird and a monkey, who wears a hood around his shoulders and holds up a piece of fruit to his nose.