Book of Hours, Use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northern France (Paris), c.1500-10]

Estimate

20,000 - 30,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

Vellum

97 leaves (plus 1 paper endleaf at front and back), 155mm. by 97mm., complete, collation: i⁶, ii⁷, iii-vii⁸, viii⁴, ix-xiii⁸, 29 lines in brown ink (written space: 89mm. by 51mm.), capital letters touched in yellow, rubrics in blue, one-line initials and line-fillers in gold on blue, red or brown grounds with penwork in gold, brown line-fillers shaped as tree-branches, 2- to 4-line initials formed of light pink acanthus on red and gold grounds, decorated with naturalistic flowers and strawberries or light pink acanthus, bezants and flowers, nineteen small miniatures with partial borders in the outer margins (fols.8r, 9r, 10r, 10v, 90v, 91r, 91v(x2), 92r, 93r, 93v, 94r, 94v, 95r, 95v(x2), 96r, 96v, 97r), thirteen full-page miniatures divided by 6-8 lines of text into two registers, all set into architectural frames (fols.7r, 14r, 24v, 31r, 32r, 33r, 36r, 39r, 41v, 44r, 48r, 58r, 69r), one historiated border in an architectural frame, facing the beginning of the Hours of the Virgin (fol.13v),miniatures and historiated borders at the beginning of the Gospel readings (fol.7r) and the Hours of the Virgin (fols.13v-14r) with pigment losses and rubbing, small area of baby in the Presentation of the Temple scratched out (fol.41v), borders and frames sometimes slightly rubbed, else in good condition, remains of thirteenth-century vellum pastedown from a legal text discussing the seizure of church goods, sixteenth-century binding of gilt-tooled brown leather over pasteboards with central cartouches including the Crucifixion, accompanied by the names ‘Bastienne’ and ‘Mayvret’ and the date ‘1593’

Provenance

Margaret Bastienne in 1593, who was connected, perhaps through marriage, to a member of the Mayvret family: her name and the date tooled on front board and her ex libris on front endleaf, back board with ‘Mayvret’ and date.

Catalogue Note

text

The book contains: a Calendar (fol.1r); the Gospel readings according to John (fol.7r), Luke (fol.8r), Matthew (fol.9r), Mark (fol.10r); the Obsecro te (fol.10v); the O intemerata (fol.12v); the Hours of the Virgin, with Matins (fol.14r), Lauds (fol.24v), interspersed with the Hours of the Cross (fol.31r) and the Hours of the Holy Spirit (fol.32r), Prime (fol.33r), Terce (fol.36r), Sext (fol.39r), None (fol.41v), Vespers (fol.44r) and Compline (fol.48r); the Penitential Psalms (fol.58r) and a Litany (fol.64v); the Office of the Dead (fol.69r); and Suffrages to the Saints (fol.90v)

illumination

In this extra-illuminated Book of Hours, the traditional iconography is enriched by small accompanying scenes in the lower borders of the main openings. The core of the book, the Hours of the Virgin, is further decorated with corresponding border scenes which enclose the whole page. The work is related to the work of the Master of the Chronique scandaleuse who flourished in Paris between 1490 and 1510. This skilful painter is characterised by his very careful modelling and great regularity of hatching, which is especially apparent in the haloes of the saints.

The large miniatures include: (1) fol.7r, St. John boiled in Oil, with St. John on Patmos in the border; (2) fols.13v-14r, The Annunciation to the Virgin, with the Presentation of the Virgin to the Temple in the border and the Tree of Jesse in the border on the facing page; (3) fol.24v, The Visitation of the Virgin and St. Elizabeth, with the Virgin weaving in the border; (4) fol.31r, The Crucifixion, with Christ Carrying the Cross in the border; (5) fol.32r, Pentecost, with St. John the Baptist baptising Christ in the border; (6) fol.33r, the Nativity, with the Virgin and Joseph looking for Shelter in the border; (7) fol.36r, the Annunciation to the Shepherds, with the Adoration of the Shepherds in the border; (8) fol.39r, the Adoration of the Three Magi, with the Magi asking Herod about the new-born Christ in the border; (9) fol.41v, the Presentation in the Temple, with Christ among the doctors in the border; (10) fol.44r, the Flight into Egypt and the Fall of the Idols of Egypt in the background, with the Massacre of the Innocents in the border; (11) fol.48r, the Coronation of the Virgin, with the Ascension in the border; (12) fol.58r, David and Bathsheba, her husband Uriah killed in the battle in the background, with David praying to God in the border; (13) fol.69r, Lazarus at the rich man’s door holding a leper’s rattle and begging for food, and Lazarus’ death in the background, with the rich man in hell engulfed in flames and chained to a horned dog-like devil while others look on, he looking up at Abraham and Lazarus, and gesturing to his lips to beg for a drop of water.