The Missal of Jan de Broedere, abbot of Grammont, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum

189 leaves, 335mm. by 230mm., lacking single leaves after fols. 39, 53, 93, 133 and probably at end, else complete, collation: i-iv^{8, v7 [of 8, lacking viii], vi8, vii7 [of 8, lacking vii], viii-xi8, xii7 [of 8, lacking viii], xiii-xvii8, xviii7 [of 8, lacking i], xix-xxiv8, xxv1 [probably of 2, probably lacking ii], double column, mostly 23 lines, written-space 238 mm. by 156mm., written in a gothic liturgical hand, rubrics in red, music on a 4-line black stave, capitals touched in red, large and small decorated initials throughout (up to 4 lines high) in red or blue with elaborate decorative penwork in the contrasting colour,} eight large illuminated initials (four of them historiated) with full-length or full scatter borders in the Ghent/Bruges style, three very large miniatures (half- to three-quarter page) with full borders, negligible wear and rubbing, generally in excellent condition, early nineteenth-century French or Belgian green morocco gilt, marbled endleaves, gilt edges

The hitherto unrecognised missing volume of the Grammont Abbey Missal, now Glasgow University Library MS Euing 29

provenance

(1) Written and illuminated for Jan de Broedere (d. 1526), abbot from 1506 of Grammont, or Geraardsbergen, in eastern Flanders, near Brussels, with his arms on fols. 1r and 89r, quarterly 1 and 4, azure a cross gules, 2 and 3, vert three escalopes argent, as also in the Glasgow volume.  Around 1510-15 Jan de Broedere commissioned the great Adoration of the Magi altarpiece by Jan Gossaert (d. 1523) for the Lady Chapel at Grammont, now in the National Gallery in London (NG2790), in which the kneeling figure of Caspar is assumed to be a portrait of de Broedere himself.  The two-volume Missal was perhaps intended for the same altar. Grammont was suppressed in 1797 and the buildings were demolished in 1798.  Manuscripts from the great Benedictine abbey of Grammont include a 4-volume Breviary in the abbey of Maredsous (cf. most recently, D. Vanwijnsberghe in Medieval Mastery, Louvain, 2002, pp.288-93, no.75), prayerbooks in St Petersburg and Cambridge ((Hermitage, N.60, and Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 244) and sales in these rooms, 25 March 1975, lot 2943, 24 June 1986, lot 78, 1 December 1987, lot 39, and 2 December 2003, lot 76.

(2) Beriah Botfield (1807-1863), bought from Thomas Thorpe, Catalogue part ii, 1830, no.7223.  The Glasgow volume was acquired around the same time by William Euing (1788-1874).  Botfield bequeathed his collection to the library of the Marquesses of Bath and Longleat, and it was transferred to the ownership of Lord Alexander Thynne, son of the fourth Marquess in 1911.

(3) By descent to the seventh Marquess of Bath, Longleat House, MS 343; their sale, Christie's, 13 June 2002, lot 3.

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

This is the summer volume of a Missal, from Easter to the weeks following Pentecost.  The Glasgow manuscript continues with the Masses for the autumn from where the present volume concludes (cf. N.R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, II, 1977, pp.877-78, and N. Thorp, The Glory of the Page, 1987, pp.192-3, no.127).  The text here comprises the Temporal, Easter to the 10th week after Pentecost (fols. 1r-88v); the prefaces and the Canon of the Mass (fols. 89r-101r); collects, secrets and postcommunions for 28 votive Masses (fols. 102r-111v), including the prayer De sanctis ecclesie (fol. 104r) naming the relics of Saint Adrian as first among those which "in presenti continentur ecclesie" (cf. Ker, p.877; the relics were transferred to Grammont in 1100); Masses for the Trinity and various saints, including Saint Adrian, Masses for the dead, the dedication of a church, etc. (fols. 111v-133v); and the Sanctoral from the Annunciation (25 March) to the feast of Saint Germanus (31 July).

illumination

The manuscript is by the same illuminator as the Glasgow volume, in the style of Master of Antoine Rolin, who worked in Mons for Philip the Fair (d.1506; cf. A-M. Legaré in Margaret of York, Simon Marmion and the Visions of Tondal, ed. T. Kren, 1992, pp.209-22).   "The colours of the figures and backgrounds ... complement those of the border decoration in the tradition established by the Master of Mary of Burgundy and the Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximilian.  The bright colour combination, the rather flat drawing and the general atmosphere of the painting, however, suggest a painter who is more concerned with surface appeal...  [The borders] are of architectural framework in an Italian manner, based on designs by artists such as the Master of the London Pliny and the Master of the Vatican Homer.  Prominent also in their influence on French Books of Hours, these architectural borders came to be used in the Netherlands from around the turn of the century" (Thorp, p. 193).  The images are complex, filled with multiple scenes and tiny background details.  The scene on fol. 56r is doubtless set in Grammont Abbey itself, including lay families at Mass, a beggar woman at the door, and the organist and his assistant looking down from their organ loft.  The naturalistic Ghent/Bruges borders include jays, flies, snails, caterpillars, butterflies, strawberries, thistles, roses, cornflowers, irises, red currants, etc.

The three principal pictures are: (1) fol.1r, the Resurrection, 180mm. by 158mm., including the sleeping soldiers, the Harrowing of Hell, the Noli me Tangere, the meetings with Saints Thomas and Peter, the supper at Emmaus, and the Ascension; classical border; (2) fol. 29r, the Ascension, 120mm. by 156mm.; Ghent/Bruges border; and (3) fol.56r, the veneration of the Host, set in a church interior, with typological border vignettes including Melchisedech giving bread and wine to the army, manna falling from heaven in Sinai, Elijah being fed by an angel, and the Last Supper.

Lesser illumination includes: (1) fol.28v, initial 'I', classical border, with vases and a naked putto; (2) fol. 56v, initial 'E', Ghent/Bruges border; (3) fol. 89r, initial with the arms of Jan de Broedere, geometric border; (4) fol. 94r, historiated initial with the Mass of Saint Gregory, 65mm. by 70mm., full border in the Ghent/Bruges style; (5) fol. 102r, initial 'O', acanthus border on a pink ground; (6) fol. 131v, historiated initial with Jacob's dream, 42mm. by 45mm., Ghent/Bruges border; (7) fol. 165v, historiated initial with Saint John the Baptist and the Lamb of God in a pastoral landscape, 50 mm. by 53mm., Ghent/Bruges border; and (8) fol. 170r, historiated initial with Saints Peter and Paul, 50mm. by 50mm., Ghent/Bruges border.