Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Bruges, c.1460] 134 x 90mm. 267 leaves: 1 6(of 8, i & ii cancelled blanks), 2-3 6, 4 1 0, 5-11 8, 12 6, 13 8, 14 6(of 8, lacking vi & vii), 15 8, 16 3(3 final leaves of ?), 17 7(of 8, lacking iii), 18 8, 19 6, 20 4, 21-26 8, 27 6, 28 4, 29 7(possibly of 8, lacking vi), 30 5(possibly of 6, lacking iii), 31 7(probably of 8, lacking vi), 32 7(i a singleton), 33-35 8, 36 5(i a singleton), 37 1 0, 38 4, at least three of the missing leaves with miniatures, 16 lines written in brown ink in lettre bâtarde between two verticals and 17 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 74 x 48mm, rubrics in red, versals alternately of blue and burnished gold respectively flourished red and blue, line-endings of one diagonal saw-tooth of pink and one of blue, two-line initials of burnished gold against grounds and infills of pink and blue patterned in white, three-line initials with staves of pink or blue against a ground on the other colour and with a flowerhead of that colour on burnished gold in the infill, THIRTY-SIX ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES FRAMED WITH GOLD AND ACCOMPANIED BY FULL-PAGE BORDERS with sprays of blue and gold acanthus and naturalistic fruit and flowers interspersed with gold disks, the inner border with hairline tendrils with golden disks and stylised flowerhead terminals of gold with pink or blue (a few miniatures with some small losses of pigment, usually to blue drapery, or smudges, the face of the darker-skinned magus abraded on ff.114 and 199). 17th-century brown leather, spine gilt, with ?18th-century silver filigree clasp and catch, gilt edges (worn, joints restored). Black morocco box. PROVENANCE: 1. The manuscript was made for a man called Florencius, perhaps a priest, who is named in the prayers to the Cross on f.164: 'ego florencius famulus dei' (f.164). The use of the Office of the Virgin is unidentified and the Office of the Dead is too abbreviated to be precisely localisable, but the style of illumination points to the origin of the manuscript in Bruges, and this is confirmed by the presence in red in the Calendar of the feasts of St Basil (14 June), whose relics are in the Chapel of the Holy Blood, and St Donatian (14 October), principal patron of the city. 2. Margreta van Vossen: her name engraved inside silver filigree clasp. 3. Entries from booksellers' catalogues, two French and one English, pasted inside upper cover. CONTENT: Calendar ff.1-12; Gospel Extracts ff.13-18v; Stabat mater ff.19-21v; Obsecro te ff.22-25v; O Intemerata 26-28v; Hours of the Trinity for Sunday ff.29-37v; Hours of the Dead for Monday ff.38-47v; Hours of All Saints for Wednesday ff.48-55v; Hours of the Holy Spirit for Tuesday ff.56-63v; Hours of the Sacrament for Thursday ff.64-72v; Hours of the Cross for Friday ff.73-81v; Hours of the Blessed Virgin for Saturday ff.82-90v; Office of the Virgin ff.91-140: matins f.91, lauds (lacking opening) f.104, prime (final leaf only) f.113, terce f.114, sext (lacking opening) f.118, none f.122, vespers f.127, compline f.135; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.141-163; Prayers to the Cross ff.163v-164v; Office of the Dead ff.165-197v; Suffrages to Saints ff.199-220v: Three Magi f.199, James the Lesser f.200, James the Great f.201, George f.202, Lawrence f.203, Sebastian f.204, Erasmus f.206, Anthony f.207, Martin f.208, Christopher f.209, Jodocus f.210, Leonard f.211, Catherine f.212, Drogo f.213, Barbara f.215, Mary Magdalene f.216, Agnes (lacking opening) f.217, Apollonia f.217, Gertrude f.218, for peace f.219, All saints f.220; Prayer of St Augustine opening Dulcissime domine ihesu criste ff.222-231; Mass to the Wounds of Christ ff.231-244v; Psalms to be read after Mass ff.244v-263v; Daily prayer 'moult agreable a dieu nostre seigneur', opening Gracias ago tibi dominie ihesu criste salvator mundi ff.264-265. Folios 198r&v, 205v, 266r&v and 267r&v ruled otherwise blank. This Book of Hours is as rich in textual as in il