Lot Description

HORAE, use of Rome, in Latin and French -- Ces presentes heures a lusaige de Romme. Paris: Philippe Pigouchet for Simon Vostre, 16 September, 1498.

PRINTED ON VELLUM. 4° (225 x 148mm). Collation: a-l⁸ A⁸ (a1r title with Pigouchet device, a1v anatomical man [4 small cuts], a2r almanac in French for 1488-1508, a2v benediction beginning 'Benedictio dei patris cum angelis suis sit super me' [Grail], a3r-8v calendar with French verses, b1r-3r Gospel sequence [Martyrdom of St. John, 3 small cuts], b3v-7r Passion according to St. John [Betrayal], b7v-d2v Hours of the Virgin: Matins-Lauds [Tree of Jesse, Annunciation, Visitation], d3r-4v Hours of the Cross and of the Holy Ghost [Crucifixion, Pentecost, one small cut], d5r-f6r Hours of the Virgin: Prime-Compline [Nativity, Annunciation to the Shepherds, Adoration of the Shepherds, Adoration of the Magi, Presentation in the Temple, Flight into Egypt, Death of the Virgin, three small cuts], f6v-g7r Seven Penitential Psalms [Death of Uriah, Bathsheba], g7v-i2v Office of the Dead [Last Judgement, Dives and Lazarus], i3r-k7v Suffrages [The Church, Deposition, 25 small cuts], k8r-l4v prayer of St. Boniface, various prayers in French and Latin, including prayer of St. Boniface, Missus est Gabriel [Mass of St. Gregory, 2 small cuts], l5r-8v Office of the Immaculate Conception [one small cut], A1-8 Seven Penitential Psalms in French and seven prayers of St Gregory [one small cut]). 96 leaves. 27 lines. Type: 4:130G, 1:98B, 3:81B, 2:65G. 23 large metalcuts by the Master of the Apocalypse-Rose, 40 small metalcuts, large Pigouchet device, multiple-piece metalcut ornamental and historiated border to each page. All cuts (except the anatomical man) and 20 borders FINELY ILLUMINATED IN GOLD AND COLOURS by a contemporary artist at Paris for Calixtus of Croton, every page ruled in red and with narrow border of gold on red ground, liquid-gold initials, paragraph marks and line-filler alternating on red or blue ground, yellow capital strokes. Purple velvet over wooden boards by James Hayday (d.1872), silver fore-edge clasps engraved "Ave" and "Maria", gilt edges, vellum endleaves (front hinge split); early 19th-century green morocco box gilt and lettered "per uso di S.M. La Regina delle Due Sicilie Carolina Bonaparte", lined with long-pile velvet, gold brocade at inner edge (lightly rubbed); modern green morocco-backed folding box.

Provenance: Callisto da Crotone (inscription of c.1500 at end in red: "Scritto e miniato i franza nella citta de pariggi p Calixto Crot.") -- Giuseppe Capecelatro, Archbishop of Taranto (1734-1826; an inscription recording his presentation of the volume in c.1812 as a name-day gift to:) -- Maria Annunciata Caroline Bonaparte, Queen of Naples, youngest sister of Napoleon I, wife of Joachim Murat (1782-1839; MS label, box) -- Countess of Ashburton (pencil inscription) -- Osler (bought at Sotheby's, 8 April 1914, lot 689, £170) -- Countess Estelle Doheny (sale Christie's New York, 22 October 1987, lot 127).

A FINELY ILLUMINATED COPY by a contemporary Parisian artist for Callisto da Crotone, as attested by an inscription in Italian on the last page. It appears to have remained in Magna Graeca for the next 3 centuries. In about 1812 Giuseppe Capecelatro, Archbishop of Taranto, presented the volume to Caroline Buonaparte, Queen of Naples. Sister of Napoleon, Caroline married one of her brother's most celebrated marshals, Joachim Murat in 1800, becoming Queen Consort when he was named King of Naples and Sicily in 1808. Their reign ended in his defeat at the Battle of Tolentino in 1815; Murat was executed and Caroline fled, eventually settling in Florence. The present Book of Hours is witness to the warm friendship between Caroline and Capecelatro; they visited archaeological sites together and Caroline had asked the Archbishop to be tutor to her son; he turned down the request, owing to his advancing age.

The present is an early edition combining woodcuts from sets 2 and 3 of the Pigouchet-Vostre large metalcuts, attributed to the Master of the Apocalypse-Rose (cf. Tenschert and Nettekoven, Horae, 16). Cuts from set 3, distinguished by their criblé ground, appear to have been introduced less than 3 weeks earlier, in an edition dated 22 August 1498. The ones used here are: the Holy Grail, Tree of Jesse, Adoration of the Shepherds, Death of Uriah, Last Judgement, The Church, and the Deposition. The Mass of St. Gregory cut belongs to Davies Murray set 1. CR 3099; BMC VIII, 119 (IB. 40343); Bohatta 653; Brunet Heures, 44; CIBN H-242; Lacombe 64-67; Bod-Inc. H-171; Van Praet I, 122; Goff H-395.

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