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

61 leaves, 190mm. by 135mm., wanting a number of leaves, paginated 1-122, written space 122mm. by 80mm., 25 lines of black ink in a fine gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, numerous small initials in burnished gold on blue or pink grounds, twenty-one large initials, 5- to 7-lines in height, in blue or pink with white penwork tracery and foliate or diapered infill, all on burnished gold grounds (pp. 13, 15, 19, 23, 27, 29, 37, 43, 47, 49, 53, 55, 57, 65, 75, 81, 87, 103, 113, 117, 121), extending into burnished gold border frames edged in blue and white and scrolling single-penline foliage terminating in flowers and bezants in two or three borders, seven full page miniatures within rectangular frames, enclosed within scrolling foliage terminating in trumpet-like and three-petalled flowers, some trimming to edges, discolouration, minor ink smudging and damage throughout, with large cuts to inner edges of pp. 18, 22, 33, 46, 69 & 91 (with early modern repairs using paper), but overall fair condition, in late eighteenth-century binding of brown leather over pasteboards (somewhat battered with spine cracked in places), '7' in pencil inside front board, two-page index of contents and short list of common Latin abbreviations at back in same early modern hand as pagination

provenance

1. Written and illuminated in Bruges, and almost certainly intended for the English market; with additions of Latin prayers in an English secretarial hand on pp. 62, 73-4 & 120 perhaps for (or by) the original owner.

 

2. Jonas Smorden, who signs his name in a late sixteenth century hand on p. 25 (perhaps a member of the Smerdon family, who commonly appear in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century records of the parishes around Dartmoor).

 

3. In the library of the Earls of Devon, and already missing some leaves, by the seventeenth or eighteenth century, when it was paginated and given an index by the same hand which paginated the Courtenay Compendium (sold in these rooms 3 December 2008, lot 31); and by descent to the present owner, the 18^th Earl of Devon.

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

The volume contains a calendar (p.1); prayers to the Trinity (p.13); prayers to SS. George (p.15), John the Evangelist (p.19), Anna (p.23), Catherine (p.27); the Hours of the Blessed Virgin, with Matins (p.29), Lauds (p.37), Prime (p.43), Terce (p.47), Sext (p.49), Nones (p.53), Vespers (p.55) and Compline (57); prayers to the Virgin (p.65); the Seven Hymns for the Virgin, here attributed to Pope Clement (p.75); prayers to the Virgin and St. John the Evangelist (p.79); Bede's prayer, De septem verbis domini (p.81); the Seven Penitential Psalms (p.87); a Litany (p.97); the Office of the Dead (p.103); the Beati immaculati in via (p.113); readings on the Passion (p.117); the Psalter of St. Jerome (p.121).

illumination

The miniatures here are recognisable as those of the Bruges workshop of Otto van Moerdrecht, and have the characteristic oval faces with greenish shadow, mushroom trees and tiled floors in black and silver (see Pächt & Alexander, I, pl. XV, figs. 211a-b; L.M.J. Delaissé, A Century of Dutch Manuscript Illumination, 1968, fig. 128, J.J.G. Alexander, Medieval and Early Renaissance Treasures of the North West, 1976, fig.9a; the group used to be ascribed to the Master of Nicolas Brouwer). Another book from the same workshop and bearing its distinctive trade stamps (on which see Farquhar, 'Identity in an anonymous age: Bruges Manuscript Illuminators and their Signs', Viator 11, 1980) was sold in these rooms 6 December 2001, lot 87. It is interesting that the present manuscript also shares one of its compositions with that in a Book of Hours produced in a related Bruges workshop (the Streeter-Picard Hours; Pennsylvania, Bryn Mawr College Library, MS. 27, fol.77v, illustrated in Leaves of Gold, 2001, item 40, p.121): the Commendation of the Souls to Heaven, in which two angels left a group of souls heavenward in a white cloth held between them.

 

The miniatures here include: (1) p. 19, St. John the Evangelist seated in a grassy landscape populated with sheep (one an Agnus Dei), holding an open book and a banderole, the sky a deep burgundy heightened with scrolling gold penwork, some flaking of paint from three sheep and his foot, large repaired cut up inner border; (2) p. 22, the Virgin holding the Christ Child, and receiving an open book, all within a pink and blue gothic interior with a tiled floor in silver and black and windows with silver glass, some rubbing, flaking and fading (with some features of the Virgin's face retouched in pencil), large repaired split across page; (3) St. Catherine in a gold smock heightened with red dots and a blue cloak, holding her sword and wheel and trampling her pagan husband underfoot, all within a grassy landscape with sheep, trees, a windmill and a walled city, some flaking and a large repaired cut up inner border; (4) p. 42, Christ before Pilate, with Christ between three soldiers standing before a seated Pilate within a gothic interior with a tiled floor and windows as in item (2) above, some smudging and damage to faces, repaired cut up inner border; (5) p. 46, the Scourging of Christ, within a gothic interior similar to (2) above, with Christ tied to a pole between torturers, one in a striking gold tunic, the floor stained red with blood, some smudging to background and with repaired cut up inner border; (6) p. 52, the Crucifixion, some flaking , smudging and fading, with facial features retouched in pencil; (7) p. 122, the Commendation of Souls to Heaven, with two angels with gold wings and cloaks lifting a white cloth between them up to Heaven, containing four naked child-like souls in prayer, as God the father appears above them and the dead rise from their graves below, some rubbing and loss of detail from body of one angel.