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BOOK OF HOURS, use of Soissons or Laon, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Soissons or Laon, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Paris, c.1405]189 x 132mm. ii + 225 + iii leaves: 1 1 2 , 2 8 , 3 1 0 , 4 6 , 5-12 8 , 13 4 , 14-18 8 , 19 4 , 20 8 , 21 6 , 22-25 8 , 26 7 (of 6 + vii ), 27-29 8 , a few small guide catchwords left on final versos, COMPLETE, 13 lines written in black ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 14 horizontals ruled in red, justification: 88 x 55mm, prickings for horizontals and verticals remain on most leaves, rubrics in red, line endings in burnished gold on pink and blue grounds patterned in white, one-line initials in burnished gold flourished with dark blue or in blue flourished with red, numerous two- or three-line initials on gold grounds extending into partial vine leaf borders, THIRTY LARGE MINIATURES WITH FULL BORDERS of leaves in burnished gold, red and blue, some with small flowers, on painted stems or hairline tendrils, surrounding three-sided bars of burnished gold, pink and blue, some with dragon terminals (some wear to margins, slight rubbing to some borders, slight smudging to some miniatures). 15th-century tan leather over wooden boards stamped in blind with tools including a pelican, eagle, stag, fleur-de-lys and dragon, two metal studs to fasten straps, painted and gilded fore-edges (straps and metal attachments replaced, hinged sliding metal brackets applied at top and bottom of spine, joints cracked, wear with some losses to leather). Red solander box. AN EARLY WORK BY THE MAZARINE MASTER, A FOUNDING FIGURE OF THE GREAT AGE OF PARISIAN MANUSCRIPT ILLUMINATION PROVENANCE: 1. From the style of illumination, the book was made in Paris, from the texts, for a patron in or from the area to the north-east around Soissons or Laon. The Office of the Dead, with only three lessons, is found in books from various areas, excluding Paris, but seems to have been favoured particularly in northern France and into the southern Netherlands. The calendar, not Parisian, includes saints revered in the dioceses of Soissons and Laon, such as Vedast and Amand (6 February), Medard (8 June), Crispin and Crispinian (25 October), Quentin (31 October), Nicaise (14 December), but none is in gold and all were popular over a wide area of northern France and the southern Netherlands. Quentin, of St-Quentin north of Soissons and Laon, is also in the suffrages and litany; other more local saints in the litany are from further north, such as Hermes and Celestine of Ronse in eastern Flanders, Ghislain of Mons in Hainault and Servatius of Tongeren and Maastricht. The owner may have had links with the Franciscan Order: Francis, but not Dominic, is in the litany and, most unusually at this date, Our Lady of the Snow, a feast promoted by the Franciscans, is in the Calendar as Nostre dame de la noif (5 August). Prayers are in the masculine. 2. There are offsets of pilgrims' badges or holy medals on the first endleaf. A prayer to St Sebastian has been added in a 16th-century hand on the final endleaf. 3. 'Pouget prêtre donum domini Huberti': inside the front cover in an 18th-century hand. 4. Sir Thomas Wright of Leicester (1836-1905): his gift to George Munson Curtis of Meriden, Connecticut (1857-1913) and by descent until sold at Sotheby's, 23 June 1987, lot 105. CONTENT: Calendar ff.1-12; Gospel extracts ff.13-20: John f.13, Luke f.15, Matthew f.16v, Mark f.18v; Obsecro te ff.21-25v; O intemerata ff.26-30v; Mass of the Virgin ff.31-36v; Office of the Virgin ff.37-104v: matins f.37, lauds f.50v, prime f.63v, terce f.71, sext f.77, none f.81v, vespers f.88, compline f.97v; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.105-127; Hours of the Cross ff.127v-138v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.139-148; Fifteen Joys of the Virgin, in French, ff.149-156; Seven Requests to Our Lord, titled 'cinq requestes' ff.156v-161; ruled blanks ff.161v-162v; Office of the Dead with three lessons ff.163-201v; Suffrages ff.202-224v: Sts Michael f.202, John the Baptist f.203v, Peter a