Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Tuscany? ca. 1460] 90 x 70mm, 124 leaves, including the final blank, apparently complete. Collation: 1-4 10 , 5 4 , 6-13 10 . 12 lines, ruled in brown, justification 52 x 38mm, written in black and brown ink in a gothic rotunda, rubrics in red, two-line initials in blue, 6-line historiated initial 'D', red on gold ground with foliate extensions, contrasting the Virgin holding the Child, 2 FULL-PAGE MINIATURES, 19-century blue velvet over wooden boards, vellum spine. PROVENANCE: Owned by a man named Thobias in the 16th century, who added a prayer to the Archangel Raphael; 19th-century Italian bookplate, motto 'Excelsior'. . TEXT: This is a very shortened version of a Book of Hours, presumably made to be carried in a small pocket. It contains ff.1-43 Horae BMV Matins and Lauds; ff.45-95 Office of the Dead; ff.96-123r Penitential Psalms. A prayer to the Archangel Raphael has been added on ff.123v and 124r in the 16th century. DECORATION: On folio 44 recto, the Nativity. Virgin and Joseph before a manger, the Child lying on a red carpet. A town beyond a wattled fence. Folio 44 verso, The Adoration of the Magi. Virgin and Child with three Kings in front of a manger, palace at back. Both miniatures appear to be painted by a French artist; it seems likely that folio 44 had been left blank, and that the miniatures were added later. They are somewhat smudged.