The Benfield Hours, Use of Sarum, illuminated manuscript in Latin with numerous additions in Middle English and Tudor English, on vellum [southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1390-1400, and England, fifteenth century]

130 leaves, 192mm. by 130mm., wanting a few leaves throughout and with miniatures on singletons, main text with 21 lines in brown ink in a number of late gothic hands, rubrics in red, small initials in blue or liquid gold with contrasting penwork, numerous 2-line initials in gold on blue and pink grounds, some with simple foliage and fruit extensions into borders, one larger 5-line initial in red on burnished gold ground with three-quarter text border of coloured foliage on gold (fol.11r), two 8-line initials in blue heightened with white enclosing scrolling foliage on burnished gold grounds, with extensions into two or three borders (fol.64r and 94r), fifteen full-page miniatures within rectangular coloured borders with single pen-line sprigs terminating in gold leaves in borders (some scuffing and rubbing, that on fol.44v with serious damage), each facing a decorated page with an 8-line initial in red or blue on burnished gold ground with text frame of coloured and gold foliage on three sides, short text with two detailed human faces in penwork tracery on fol.21v and last few gatherings added in England (fols.110-26), with one 6-line initial in burnished gold enclosing pink foliage (fol.110r), on four-coloured quartered ground with thin tendrils and bezants in border and a small square miniature of Veronica and her veil, 43mm. by 40mm. (fol.121r), overall somewhat rubbed and cockled, uppermost corners with rodent damage, slightly trimmed with loss to edges of border decoration, sixteenth-century gilt tooled binding of dark leather over pasteboards, skilfully repaired and rebacked, fitted case

provenance

1. Written and illuminated in Bruges c.1390-1400 for the English market; acquired soon after by John Benfield of Hangleton, Sussex: his inscription "Iste liber constat Johanni" on fol.126r and many Benfield obits in the Calendar including Emmett Benfield in 1342, "cuius corpus iacet in ecclesia de hangulton". Notes in early fifteenth-century hands of deaths of Broughton and Harris families. The volume passed, most probably by descent, to the Stanesby family (perhaps the Stanesbys of Micheldevor, Hants.), who used it to record births and deaths from 1552 to 1602. These owners struck through the prayer for St. Thomas Becket on fol.19r, and added prayers in English on fols.71v-72r and notes on the political scandals caused by the downfall of Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset in 1549 (fols. 17v-18r) and the arrest of Lord Stourton in 1556 for murder.

2. Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, 2nd Baron Hesketh (1916-55); and by descent to the present owner.

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 text comprises a calendar (fol.1r); Gospel readings (fol.9v); prayers to SS. Thomas Aquinas (fol.18r), Thomas Becket (fol.19r), George (fol. 21r), John the Baptist (fol.22r), Margaret (fol.25r); Hours of the Virgin, with Matins (fol. 27r), Lauds (fol.32r), Prime (fol.39r, opening imperfectly), Terce (fol.42r), Sext (fol.45r), None (fol.47r), Vespers (fol.50r), Compline (fol.53r); a form of the Salve Regina, attributed to Bonaventura, opening "Salve virgo virginum ..." (fol.58r); O intemerata and Obsecro te (fol. 62r); the Seven Joys attributed to Pope Clement (fol.64r); prayers to Christ, opening "Ad ymaginem domini ..." (fol.67r), with prayers and a Litany (fol.77r); Office of the Dead (fol.81r); and the Penitential Psalms (fol.103r). Apparently soon after coming to England the volume had a section of prayers to Christ and a number of saints added (fol.110r-25v), as well as divination tables and two short pieces in Middle English (on front flyleaves): the first a list of kings of Britain and their coronation years from Arthur in 516 to Henry IV in 1399; the second a list of recent curious events including an "erthe quake an hour after noon" on 4 July 1382 (which took place during the synod at Blackfriars, assembled to condemn the teachings of Wycliffe, interpreted by Lollards as divine support) and the arrival of the "grete pestilence" or Black Death in 1348.

binding

The gilt tooled binding, with a panelstamp of simple foliage around a central lozenge, most probably dates to the mid-sixteenth century.  English examples of this work are of great rarity. H.M. Nixon, 'Early English gold-tooled bookbindings', Studi di bibliografia, 1964, III, pp.283-308.

illumination

The illumination in the main body of the book is by the so-called Pink Canopies Group, who produced Books of Hours for the English market in the decade or so before 1400. Their layering of flesh-pinks with grey-greens to build up skin tones has great realism, and is offset by dark and brooding backgrounds of blacks and dark browns heightened with gold and coloured carpet-like patterns. Other examples can be found in Cambridge University Library, Ii 6, and British Library, Sloane 2683 (illustrated in E. Duffy, Marking the Hours, 2006, pp.26-7, 82-9, and M. Smeyers, Flemish Miniatures, 1999, p.203). The lion-like beast on fol.24v and the face of Jerome on 102v have been pounced, a rare practice in fifteenth-century England.

The full-page miniatures comprise:

(1) folio 20v, St George spearing the dragon, before a black sky decorated with gold and red geometric patterns; (2) folio 23v, St Christopher and the Christ Child before sky similar to previous; (3) folio 24v, St. Margaret emerging unharmed from a winged lion-like beast; (4) folio 26v, the Annunciation to the Virgin; (5) folio 31v, Christ in Gethsemane; (6) folio 39v, the Kiss of Judas, with Peter striking Malchus to the left; (7) folio 41v, Christ before Pilate seated and robed in blue and ermine; (8) folio 44v, the Scourging of Christ; (9) folio 46v, Christ carrying the Cross, led by a soldier and a man carrying three nails; (10) folio 49v, the Crucifixion; (11) folio 52v, the Descent from the Cross; (12) folio 55v, the Entombment of Christ; (13) folio 57v, the Virgin and Child seated within a mandorla in dazzling orange with a fluted blue border; (14) folio 66v, Christ as the Man of Sorrows surrounded by the objects of his Passion, within a delicate architectural canopy; (15) folio 80v, funeral scene with three mourners and a coffin within a pink canopy as in item 14 above; (16) folio 102v, St. Jerome seated among books, writing on a scroll (his face and features pounced), his cardinal's hat behind him, all within a pink canopy.