Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Paris, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Paris, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Paris, 1450s and c.1490]216 x 153mm, ii + 191 + ii leaves: 1-7 8, 8 6, 9-12 8, 13 7(of 8 lacking i), 14-16 8, 17 6, 18-21 8, 22 4, 23-24 8, 25 8(added c.1490), tops of catchwords in lower margins of some final versos, TEXT COMPLETE but probably lacking an opening gathering with calendar, 15 lines written in black ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 16 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 111 x 72mm, rubrics in red, one-line initials and line-endings in burnished gold on grounds of blue and pink patterned with white, two-line initials with staves of blue and white with foliate infills on grounds of burnished gold, A SIDE BORDER ON EVERY PAGE of flower, fruit and acanthus sprays in shell gold and colours with infills of gold disks and black penwork, eight pages with borders in an earlier style with small flowers, fruit and burnished gold leaves on hairline tendrils, thirteen large initials with infills of flower, fruit or animals on liquid gold grounds below THIRTEEN LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES WITH FULL BORDERS, two borders earlier in style and the remainder with fruit, flower and acanthus sprays mostly on liquid gold or divided grounds enlivened with animals, birds and grotesques (slight wear to border f.1, water damage to blue in bar f.47, small losses from pink mantle of Magdalen f.168), Modern crimson velvet over wooden boards, fore edges gilt stamped with lozenges enclosing leaves (wear to joints). PROVENANCE: The texts and decoration indicate that the manuscript was produced in Paris. In addition to the Parisian Use of the Office of the Virgin and the Office of the Dead, the Litany invokes Sts Germain, Fiacre and Genevieve and Sts Maur and Fiacre are petitioned in the Memorials. The text was copied and illumination begun in the 1450s. The final gathering of prayers was probably added when the illumination was completed c.1490. Their subjects suggest that the patron came from further south, since Sts Martial and Valeria of Limoges and Eutropius of Saintes are all invoked; Valeria's cult was not widespread. CONTENT: Office of the Virgin, use of Paris, ff.1-78v: matins f.1, lauds f.27, prime f.40, terce f.47, sext f.52v, none f.58, vespers f.63, compline f.71v; Penitential Psalms ff.79-92v; Litany ff.92v-100; Hours of the Cross, with most rubrics in French, ff.100v-108; Hours of the Holy Spirit 108v-114v; Office of the Dead, use of Paris, followed by prayers, ff.115-167v; Stabat mater ff.168-170; prayers to Sts George, Bartholomew, Matthew, Michael, Sebastian, the Seven Verses of St Bernard, to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Maur, Fiacre, the Vernicle, Sts Catherine and Barbara ff.170-183v; added prayers to Sts John the Baptist, Peter and Paul, Peter, Andrew, James, Martial, Stephen, on relics, to Sts Nicholas, Mary Magdalen, Valeria, several virgins, martyrs, All Saints, for peace, to St Eutropius ff.184-191v. ILLUMINATION: The manuscript appears to have been illuminated in two phases. Borders of hairline tendrils were executed on the two outer bifolia of gatherings 6 (ff and 42/47) and 18 (ff.132/139 and 133/138). At this point, in the 1450s, borders occur not on every page but only where there is a two-line initial and then in the left margins of both rectos and versos. The border to the Annunciation to the Shepherds, f.42, consists of the same delicate hairline tendrils and burnished gold motifs; the large initial is on burnished gold and there is a bar of blue, pink and gold. The Lamentation miniature with its distinctive border and bar on burnished gold, f.168, probably dates from soon afterwards; the incomplete initial on the other leaf of its bifolium, f.175v, supports the idea of an interruption of work in this gathering. When decoration was resumed, a border was placed on every page in the outer margin, left on versos, right on rectos. The remaining miniature borders were painted in the same style with the addition