Book of Hours, Use of Evreux, in Latin and French [northern France (probably Evreux), early 15th century and 1460s]

182x134mm, vellum, ii+105+ii leaves, complete, all miniatures added on singletons to 13 quires mostly of 8 leaves except i-ii6, vi6, and xiii3 (last blank cancelled),16 lines, 100x68mm, 12 large miniatures with full borders, often historiated with highly unusual and attractive scenes, all text pages with panel borders, borders around miniatures slightly cropped in outer margins, face of the Virgin and blue backdrop on f.47r smudged, vellum occasionally stained, bound in red calf over pasteboards, covers frame with gilt roll, spine densely gilt, burgundy speckled endpapers, edges gilt

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing where appropriate.
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Exceptionally charming, high quality, provincial illumination, in an interesting hybrid manuscript of two different dates

provenance

The original volume was produced in the first decade or two of the 15th century, presumably at Evreux: the Use of the Hours of the Virgin and Office of the Dead are both Evreux; the calendar includes St Taurinus of Evreux (11 August), and the extremely rare Sts Maximus (Mauxe) and Venerandus, who were martyred near Evreux and venerated there (25 May), in gold; and the litany includes a sequence of four Evreux saints: Taurinus, Aquilinus, Landulf, Gaudus, high among the list of confessors. Some decades later, in the 1460s, however, the manuscript was upgraded by the addition of borders on every page, and by the replacement of the original miniatures with the present ones, all of which are on inserted leaves but with text on verso. It seems likely that the miniatures were added in a more provincial centre such as Evreux as they deviate from the norm especially in terms of style and narrative details.

text and illumination

Calendar in French, very sparse, mostly feasts in gold or blue (f.1r); Hours of the Virgin, Use of Evreux, with Matins (f.13r), Lauds (f.22r), Prime (f.31r), Terce (f.36r), Sext (f.39r), None (f.42r), Vespers (f.45r), Compline (f.47r); Penitential Psalms (f.51r), litany (f.60v); Hours of the Cross (f.66r); Hours of the Holy Spirit (f.69r); Office of the Dead, Use of Evreux (f.72r).

The large miniatures and the most notable border scenes are: (1) f.13r, Annunciation; the lower border with two blank gold disks, perhaps intended for heraldic arms; (2) f.22r, Visitation; the lower border with young men and women apparently playing an amorous game of ‘hide and seek’ among bushes; (3) f.31r, Nativity; the lower border with two large rabbits; (4) f.36r, Annunciation to the Shepherds; the lower border with an archer shooting a duck-dragon hybrid; the side border with a man exposing his buttocks; (5) f.39r, Adoration of the Magi; the lower border with a jester spying on three young naked women bathing in a pond; (6) f.42r, Circumcision of Christ; the lower border with a woman milking a cow into a basket(!) and a man churning butter; (7) f.45r, Flight into Egypt and the Miracle of the Cornfield; the lower border with two brown bears; (8) f.47r, Coronation of the Virgin, enthroned between the Trinity and musician-angels; the lower margin with men playing a ball-game(?); (9) f.51r, David in Penitence; the lower margin with the boy David’s triumph over Goliath; (10) f.66r, Crucifixion; the lower margin with a man approaching a woman with a distaff; (11) f.69r, Pentecost; the lower border with a well-dressed layman giving a coin from his purse to a friar seated on the ground holding an open book; (12) f.72r, The Three Living and the Three Dead; the borders with two naked boys and a hybrid figure, each with a scroll, inscribed ‘Laudate pueri dominum’, ‘Laudate nomen domini’ (Psalm 112:1), and ‘Senex cum iunioribus’.