Book of Hours, Use of Paris, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Northern France (doubtless Paris), c.1440-50]

Estimate

30,000 - 50,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

175 leaves (plus one vellum endleaf at back), 220mm. by 155mm., wanting a single leaf from the third gathering, else complete, collation: i¹², ii⁸, iii⁷ (i wanting), iv-xi⁸, xii⁵ (iii probably a cancelled blank), xiii-xxii⁸, single column, 15 lines in brown ink in an excellent late gothic hand, one- and 2-line initials in gold on blue and pink grounds heightened with white penwork, line-fillers in bars and flower-heads of same, larger initials in blue with white penwork enclosing scrolls of coloured ivy-leaf foliage, all on brightly burnished gold grounds, every text page with a decorated border panel of scrolling rinceaux foliage terminating in red and blue flowers and gold leaves, sixteen three-quarter page miniatures (fols.13r, 19v, 28r, 52r, 63v, 69v, 74r, 78r, 83r, 90r, 96r, 113r, 116v, 120r, 167r, 172v) with wide gold and coloured text borders on three sides and rinceaux as before enclosing patches of burnished gold within shapes created by intertwining stems, sprigs of coloured acanthus leaves at corners and occasional flower-pots on hillocks in bas-de-page, some flakes from miniatures in places and slight spots, else in excellent condition with wide and clean margins, contemporary blind-stamped binding of tanned leather over wooden boards, stamped in concentric rectangles with twin fleur-de-lys within shields, single fleur-de-lys within chevrons, lions, and a monogram with a small flower, small scuffs and cracks to spine, traces of original painted edges with red and blue shapes

Provenance

provenance

(1) Written and illuminated in Paris c.1440-50: the quality of the illumination indicates an origin there, and St. Geneviève (3 January), the patron of the city, appears in blue in the Calendar.

(2) Jean Hersent of Paris: his twentieth-century armorial bookplate.

Catalogue Note

text

The manuscript comprises: a Calendar (fol.1r); Gospel Readings (fol.13r); the Obsecro te (fol.19v) and O intemerata (fol.23v); the Hours of the Virgin, with Matins (fol.28r), Lauds (fol.52r), Prime (fol.63v), Terce (fol.69v), Sext (fol.74r), None (fol.78v), Vespers (fol.83r) and Compline (fol.90r); the Penitential Psalms (fol.96r) followed by a Litany; the Hours of the Cross (fol.113r) and Holy Spirit (fol.116v); the Office of the Dead (fol.120r); the Quinze joyes in French (fol.167r); prayers in French to God the Father and the Trinity (fol.172v).

illumination

This is a glittering jewel of a book, in remarkable condition. The artist is a skilled follower of the Bedford Master (fl.1415-35), whose dominance of the Parisian book-arts continued for decades after his death through the workshop of his chief associate, the Dunois Master (fl.1430-65, who may be identifiable as his son, and perhaps Jean Haicelin). The miniatures of St. John on Patmos, the Pentecost and perhaps also the Coronation of the Virgin are directly drawn from the models of the Bedford Master (cf. König, The Bedford Hours, 2007, pp.103 and 105), but the compositions here are simpler and less cluttered, and the handling of facial features softer in ways characteristic of the work of the Dunois Master (cf. the eponymous manuscript for this artist: British Library, Yates Thompson MS.3, fol.13r and 22v, where the portrait of the patron Jean, comte de Dunois, kneeling before the Virgin and Child is markedly similar to the Virgin and Child seated before a harping angel on fol.167r here).

The miniatures comprise: (1) fol.13r, St. John on Patmos with his attribute in a wide rocky landscape; (2) fol.19v, the Pietà before the Cross, an angel in attendance of the Virgin and mourners who cover their faces; (3) fol.28r, the Annunciation to the Virgin within her opulent bower; (4) fol.52r, the Visitation of the Virgin to St. Anne in a rocky landscape; (5) fol.63v, the Nativity, with the Virgin and Child in the centre of the miniature, Joseph, the ox and donkey peeking in on the right-hand side; (6) fol.69v, the Annunciation to the shepherds, one looking up as an angel appears holding a banderole; (7) fol.74r, the Adoration of the Magi; (8) fol.78r, the Presentation in the Temple; (9) fol.83r, the Flight into Egypt, Joseph leading the donkey before woody copses and towering rocks; (10) fol.90r, the Coronation of the Virgin, with her kneeling as God blesses her and an angel places the crown on her head; (11) fol.96r, King David kneeling in a wide open wooded landscape; (12) fol.113r, the Crucifixion; (13) fol.116v, Pentecost, with the Virgin seated before a red cloth embroidered with gold; (14) fol.120r, a funeral with tonsured clerics singing over the byre and mourning ecclesiastics in black; (15) fol.167r, the Virgin and Child seated, with an angel harping before them; (16) fol.172v, Judgement Day, God the Father seated on a rainbow as the dead rise from their graves.