Book of Hours, Use of Dol, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [western France (Brittany, perhaps Tréguier), c.1420-40]

Estimate

8,000 - 12,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

112 leaves, 182mm. by 138mm., wanting single leaves after fols.13, 14, 22, 94 and 2 leaves after fol.42, else complete, collation: i^{8 (i-ii pastedown and flyleaf), ii^{7 (last a singleton), iii^{8, iv^{7 (wanting i), v^{8, vi^{6 (of 8, vi-vii wanting), vii^{8, viii^{7 (vi a singleton), ix-xii^{8, xiii^{7 (iv wanting), xiv^{8, xv^{8 (the last the pastedown), single column, 14 lines in black ink in a late gothic bookhand, capitals touched in red or yellow, rubrics in red, one-line initials in burnished gold on blue or pink grounds, 2-line initials in thick burnished gold on coloured grounds touched with white penwork, terminating in single-line sprays of foliage with small golden bezant-like fruit, linefillers to match, two pages with larger initials in blue on pink and burnished gold grounds enclosing scrolling coloured ivy-leaf foliage with three-quarter borders of single-line foliate sprays terminating in gold leaves and coloured flowers (fols.68v and 71v),}}}}}}}}}}}} six large arch-topped miniatures (fols.32v, 43v, 49v, 56v, 60v and 64r) above 4-line initials and within richly decorated borders of foliage-sprays with gold buds and fruit, occasional intertwined acanthus-leaf sprays with gold infill between shoots (in style of Bedford Master's work), a seventh arch-topped miniature with historiated border, the miniature showing King David kneeling in prayer wearing a turban-like headdress (fol.75r) with eight people in the foliage of the border, and a lakeside garden scene in the bas-de-page, including a kneeling woman with her hands clasped in prayer, two monkeys within the initial letter, some small scuffs and areas of flaking (serious smudge to single figure of one of Christ's torturers on fol.49v), else good and presentable condition, mid sixteenth-century leather over pasteboards with the Cross adorned with the instruments of the Passion gilt-tooled on covers, rebacked with spine laid on, splitting at edges

Provenance

provenance

1. Produced for a female patron shown on fol.75r, from Tréguier, Brittany: note rare local saints, Yves of Tréguier (d.1303) in red in May in the Calendar, and Tugdual in June (a sixth-century Irish hermit who travelled to Léon in Brittany and founded the monastery of Val Trechor at Tréguier, finally becoming the bishop of the town), as well as many other Irish saints ('Sant Brendam' in April, 'Columbam' in June and 'Mande' or Mandez in November).

2. Erased notes from the 1440s on first vellum flyleaf; and later notes of the Legros family.

3. Acquired by the present owner from Berès, cat.66 (1974), no.7.

Catalogue Note

text

A Calendar (fol.2r); prayers in French to the Virgin (fol.14r); Hours of the Virgin, with Matins (fol.23r), Lauds (fol.32v), Prime (fol.43v), Terce (fol.49v), Sext (fol.56r), None (fol.56v) with the Hours of the Cross for the same hour on fol.58v, Vespers (fol.60v) and Compline (fol.64r); the Passion sequence from the Gospel of John (fol.69v); prayers and the Obsecro te (fol.71v); Seven Penitential Psalms (fol.75r) with a Litany and prayers.

illumination

This is an appealing example of Breton illumination. The borderwork shows the influence of Paris, where the artist presumably trained, but he has his own clearly developed style of figure painting with angular faces fleshed out with dark skintones made up from numerous hairline strokes. The miniature of David here on fol.75r stands quite apart, with the king dressed in a turban and robes resembling an eastern potentate with a large and pronounced hooked nose (perhaps a visual signal of his ethnicity), kneeling in a wooded landscape with broccoli-like trees with leaves and fruit picked out in tiny light green brush-strokes. The borders are filled with people, all of whom gesture or gaze upward, mirroring David himself, with the exception of the kneeling female reader who stares at her prayerbook and must be a visual reference to the original owner of the volume.

The miniatures comprise:

1. fol.32v, the Kiss of Judas; within a full border of rinceaux-foliage terminating in coloured flowers and fruit.

2. fol.43v, Christ before Pilate, who wears a large pointed hat with an ermine trim, washing his hands in a bowl; within a full border as above.

3. fol.49v, the Scourging of Christ on a tessellated background; within a full border as above.

4. fol.56v, the Crucifixion; within a full border as above.

5. fol.60v, the Deposition from the Cross, before a tessellated background formed of liquid gold tiles with cross-designs on a black ground; within a full border as above.

6. fol.64r, the Dormition of Christ, before a background similar to previous but with scrolling liquid gold fronds; within a full border as above.

7. fol.75r, David kneeling in a detailed landscape within a full border of foliage enclosing 8 people; two monkeys in red coifs in the initial.