The Dragon Hours, Unidentified Use, in Latin and French [northern France (perhaps Therouanne), c.1420-30]

190x130mm, vellum, 147+i leaves, COMPLETE, collation: i6, ii6+1 (last blank inserted), iii6, iv-viii8, ix6, x-xiii8, xiv8+1 (vii inserted, miniature), xv-xix8, xx1, 16 lines, 100x68mm, 8 LARGE MINIATURES, three of which with full borders, 15 LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS with full borders, small illuminated initials and line-fillers throughout, vellum slightly cockled, the illumination in extremely fine condition, old red velvet over wooden boards, modern slipcase

A SISTER MANUSCRIPT OF A BOOK OF HOURS MADE FOR THE USE OF THEROUANNE, MS 188 AT THE BIBLIOTHEQUE MUNICIPALE OF DOUAI

PROVENANCE

(1) Perhaps made for a woman named Marguerite ('Vie sainte marguerite' opens with a large miniature). (2) Robert Walsingham Martin (1871-1961); by descent to his daughter Marie Martin; sold, 8 Sept. 1982 for $15,300 to (3) John F. Fleming; sold, 15 Sept.1982 to (4) Robert and Joan Cremin.

TEXT AND ILLUMINATION

Calendar (f.1r); Hours of the Virgin (f.20r); Penitential Psalms (f.77v), litany (87v); suffrages (94v); Obsecro te (f.100r); Hours of the Cross (105r); Office of the Dead (f.109r); Les xv ioyes (f.134r); Les sept requestes (f.139r); Vie sainte marguerite (f.143r); O intemerata en rommant (f.144v).

The Book of Hours in Douai was published by V. Denolf, 'Un livre d'heures de Douai', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 141 (Sept.), 1999, 75-84. Both manuscripts share some significant saints in the Calendar, most importantly Hunfroy (8 March) and Omer (9 Sept.), both bishops of Thérouanne; the Picard spelling 'chy' for 'ci' also points to the Franco-Flemish region that was part of the historical County of Flanders in present-day France  (e.g. 'Chi commenchent les heures notre dame', f.20r). The series of saints at the beginning of the present manuscript is unusual for 15th-century Books of Hours but may have been inspired by prefatory picture cycles that preceded Psalters in earlier centuries. The Dragon Hours received its nickname by its present owner because of the impressive miniature with the large dragon that swallowed St Margaret (legend has it that she prayed inside the dragon, crossed herself, and then exploded out of its side). The decoration of the manuscript is a very fine example of book illumination from French-Flanders; noteworthy is the careful treatment of figures and backgrounds, the rich colours, the luminous silver and the generously applied gold leaf.

The subject of the large miniatures are: (1) St John the Baptist (f.14r); (2) St John the Evangelist (f.15r); (3) St Nicholas (f.16r); (4) St Christopher (f.17r); (5) St Catherine (f.18r); (6) Virgin and Child (f.19v); (7) Crucifixion (f.104v); (8) St Margaret emerging from the dragon (f.142v).