Book of Hours, Use of Coutances, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northern France (probably Paris), early sixteenth century]

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

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Description

Vellum

146 leaves, 170mm. by 115mm., wanting first gathering and single leaves before fols.38 and 45, some gatherings misbound at end, else apparently complete, 20 lines in black ink in a late gothic bookhand, rubrics in red, one-line initials in liquid gold on blue or burgundy grounds, 2-line initials in blue heightened with white scrollwork on burgundy grounds touched with liquid gold, line-fillers in same, one half-page miniature with coat-of-arms: three crescents or on azure, two full landscape borders with scenes from lives of SS. John and Christopher, eighteen large miniatures (either three-quarter or full-page with 5 lines of text overlaid in lower part), within full borders of foliage and fleur-de-lis in liquid gold over blue grounds, some flaking and thumbing to some miniatures, trimmed at upper and outer edges, nineteenth-century cathedral binding in brown leather over pasteboards, cracking at spine

Catalogue Note

text

The text comprises: Gospel readings (fol.1r); Obsecro te and O intemerata (fol.5v); the Hours of the Virgin , with Matins (fol.11r), Lauds (fol.9r), with Matins from the Hours of the Cross (fol.27r), Prime (fol.29v), Terce (fol.34v), Sext (fol.38r), None (fol.41v), Vespers (fol.45r), Compline (fol.50v); the Seven Penitential Psalms (fol.56r) with a Litany; the Office of the Dead (fol.69v); Suffrages to the Saints (fol.109r); readings from Gospel of John (fol.130r).

illumination

The manuscript is a grand example of early French renaissance illumination in the style of the Parisian miniaturist Jean Pichore. Although Pichore probably also worked in Rouen (and the present Book of Hours follows the use of a diocese in Normandy), everything about the text points to Paris, including verses to St. Geneviève and prayers to the Crown of Thorns kept in the Sainte-Chapelle.

The miniatures comprise:

1. fol.1v, three-quarter arch-topped miniature of Luke writing; floral border on dull-gold.

2. fol.3r, three-quarter arch-topped miniature of Matthew writing as an angel holds up an open book for him to read from; border as before.

3. fol.4v, three-quarter arch-topped miniature of Mark writing; border as before.

4. fol.5v, full-page miniature of the Meeting at the Golden Gate within architectural columns, with 5 lines of text suspended in lower part.

5. fol.8v, full-page miniature of the Virgin with John the Evangelist, as before.

6. fol.10v, half-page miniature of a coat-of-arms supported by two white dogs; floral border of acanthus-leaves and fruit.

7. fol.11r, three-quarter page miniature of the Annunciation to the Virgin, within coloured marble columns; all within a blue and red border overlaid with fleur de lis and flowers in liquid gold.

8. fol.19, full-page miniature of the Visitation of the Virgin to St. Anne, within architectural columns, with 5 lines of text suspended in lower part.

9. fol.27r, three-quarter page miniature of the bust of Christ, hands clasped to reveal wounds, with a single-goldline halo, as the Man of Sorrows before a black background; border of fleur-de-lis within chevrons on blue and 4 scrolls.

10. fol.28v, three-quarter arch-topped miniature of Pentecost; floral border on dull-gold rectangles, a single long-beaked drollery creature.

11. fol.29v, three-quarter arch-topped miniature of the Nativity; border in similar style to before.

12. fol.34v, full-page miniature of the Annunciation to the Shepherds, within architectural columns, with 5 lines of text suspended in lower part.

13. fol.41v, three-quarter page miniature of the Presentation in the Temple; border of fleur-de-lis within chevrons on blue and 4 scrolls.

14. fol.50v, three-quarter page miniature of the Virgin and Child within a yellow and orange mandorla, surrounded by angels; border of fleur-de-lis within chevrons on blue and 4 scrolls.

15. fol.56r, full-page miniature of Samuel anointing David as a young man in a grassy landscape before a medieval half-timber building, within architectural columns, with 5 lines of text suspended in lower part. This is a rare subject for the Penitential Psalms.

16. fol.69v, full-page miniature of Job in his dungheap, within architectural columns, with 5 lines of text suspended in lower part.

17. fol.108v, three-quarter rectangular miniature of a saint-bishop, presumably St. Martin.

18. fols.109r-112r, one single border panel with St. Sebastian, two full borders containing landscapes with Ss. John and Christopher.

19. fol.128r, full-page miniature of the Cross surrounded by the Instruments of the Passion, within architectural columns.

20. fol.129v, John kneeling before a Cross in the wilderness, a book on the ground before him; within architectural columns.