Lot 36

Book of Hours illuminated by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg, in Dutch, illuminated manuscript on vellum

Estimate

3,000 - 5,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

220 leaves, 125mm. by 94mm., apparently complete, collation impracticable, written space 76mm. by 50mm., single column, 18 lines in black ink in a fine late Gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, numerous larger capitals in red, blue or gold, one 7-line initial on burnished gold on fol. 97v, two historiated initials (fols. 65v and 146v), sixteen full-page miniatures (fols. 39v, 41v, 43v, 53v, 63v, 66v, 92v, 114v, 124v, 126v, 130v, 133v, 138v, 143v, 147v and 168v) with full borders of acanthus leaves and other foliage terminating in gold buds, and some facing 7-line historiated initials with similar borders, water damaged with some leaves stuck together (fols. 32-3, 44-5, 46-7, 60-1), and ink having eaten through many pages, in somewhat fragile state, eighteenth-century binding, rebacked in last half century, remains of two clasps

Provenance

provenance

This was once a fine example of the work of the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg, a northern Netherlandish illuminator active in the area around Utrecht between 1420 and 1440. It was published in 1937 by A.W. Byvanck, La Miniature dans les Pays-Bas Septentrionaux, p. 117 and with plates xlii-xliii showing how the book looked then, as part of the collection of Rudolf Busch of Mainz (bought from J. Baer, Frankfurt in 1921: Baer's catalogue of that year, p. 17, no. 258, pl. xii). Its owner fled to America with the outbreak of the Second World War, and it is reported that the boat on which he was travelling was torpedoed, and that the book was tragically damaged. Until now it was not known to have survived.

Catalogue Note

text

It includes a calendar (fol. 1), the Hours of the Virgin (fol. 15r), a litany (fol. 154v) and the Office of the Dead fol. 169r), with each significant section opening with either a full-page miniature or a historiated initial (fols. 14v, the Annunciation to the Virgin; 35v, the Visitation of the Virgin to St. Elizabeth; 39v, the Circumcision; 41v, the Nativity; 43v, the Annunciation to the Shepherds; 53v, the Visitation of the Three Magi; 63v, the Presentation in the Temple; 66v, God the father and Christ in a mandorla with an open book; 92, Pentecost; 114v, The Kiss of Judas; 124v, the Crucifixion; 126v, Christ before Pilate; 130v, Scourging of Christ; 133v, Christ carrying the cross; 138v, Christ being laid in his tomb; 143v, the Descent from the Cross; 147v, Christ appearing in heavens; 168v, a burial; plus 65v, a 7-line initial enclosing God the father holding an orb and 146v, a 7-line initial with the Veronica).

Another Book of Hours by the Masters of Zweder van Culemborg, was sold in these rooms, 6 July 2000, lot 72, and currently holds the record price for any Dutch manuscript at auction.