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Book of Hours, Use of Paris, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Northern France (Rouen or perhaps Paris), c.1510]
Description
- vellum
Provenance
Inscription at end of text, dated 26 March 1605, recording that it was carried to Paris by Jehan Bouquet to be given to the writer’s son, Pierre de Ponthieu, who was in the service of Monseigneur Jeannin, advocat en court de Parlement.
Catalogue Note
This is a charming Book of Hours with an impressive array of miniatures. The book contains: a Calendar (fol.1r); the Gospel Sequences (fol.13r); the Obsecro te (fol.19r), the O intemerata (fol.22v) and Stabat Mater (fol.24v); the Passion from the Gospel of John (fol.27r); the Hours of the Virgin (fol.36r), interspersed with the Hours of the Cross and the Holy Spirit, with Lauds (fol.53r), Matins (fol.63r), Prime (fol.65r), Terce (fol.72r), Sext (fol.78r), None (fol.83r), Vespers (fol.87r) and Compline (fol.95r); the Hours of the Conception (fol.103r) followed by prayers (wanting opening) and a Litany; the Office of the Dead (fol.122r); and Suffrages to the Saints (fol.158r).
illumination
The miniatures here are by a close follower of Jean Pichore (attested from 1502-23 in Paris), and share the stock figures, decoration and muted palette of his workshop. The use of elaborate ornamental gold columns containing arch-topped panels to frame the miniatures is notably close to another Book of Hours produced by him in 1503 (Musée Condé, MS.72 /XIV B.20: L’Art du Manuscrit de la Renaissance en France, 2001, no.3, pp.16-17), and while that book has miniatures of prophets in the bas-de-page, this here has the far rarer images of the Sibyllic oracles. In the Middle Ages twelve of these pre-Christian oracles were reinterpreted as having predicted the coming of Christ (mirroring the twelve Jewish prophets who predicted the coming of the Messiah), and were given new roles within Christian imagery.
The larger illuminations include: (1) fol.13r, St. John on Patmos, with St. John blessing the poisoned chalice in the bas-de-page; (2) fol.27r, the garden of Gethsemane, with the Kiss of Judas in the bas-de-page; (3) fol.36r, the Annunciation to the Virgin, with her weaving in the bas-de-page; (4) fol.53r, the Visitation of the Virgin to St. Anne, with the angel appearing to Joseph in the bas-de-page; (5) fol.63r, Pentecost, with the Libyan Sibyl “sibila lybica” in the bas-de-page as a woman against a blue sky with gold stars; (6) fol.65r, the Nativity, with the Persian Sibyl “sibila persica” in the bas-de-page as a woman holding the Crown of Thorns; (7) fol.72r, the Annunciation to the shepherds, with the Delphic Sibyl “sibila delphi” in the bas-de-page; (8) fol.78r, the Adoration of the Magi, with the Agrippine Sibyl “sibila agripa” in the bas-de-page as a woman with a golden rod on a burgundy background; (9) fol.83r, the Presentation, with the Phrygian Sibyl “sibila frigea” in the bas-de-page holding a cross; (10) fol.87r, the Flight into Egypt, with the Tirbutine Sibyl in the bas-de-page as a woman holding a flail; (11) fol.95r, the Coronation of the Virgin; (12) fol.103r, the Meeting at the Golden Gate, with the angel appearing to Zechariah; (13) fol.122r, Job in his dungheap, with Job tormented by a demon in the bas-de-page; (14) fol.128r, God the Father seated in Judgement in the heavens with the soul of a man on his lap, a sinner in chains being pulled at by a green and a horned demon in the bas-de-page.