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BOOK OF HOURS, use of Utrecht, in Dutch with some rubrics and incipits in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANSUCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Diocese of Utrecht, ?Leiden, c.1485]
162 x 122mm. 147 leaves: 1-26, 3-158, 167(of 8, lacking v), 17-198, 19 lines written in a gothic bookhand in black ink between two verticals and 20 horizontals ruled in plummet, justification: 90 x 64mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched red, one- and two-line initials alternately of red or blue, THIRTY-FOUR LARGE DECORATED INITIALS with staves of red or blue with infills and grounds extending into the borders of red or purple penwork touched with pink, blue, green and yellow, four with figurative infills, SIX VERY LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS WITH THREE-QUARTER OR FULL BORDERS, three historiated, with staves of blue decorated with acanthus scrolls on grounds of burnished gold, with bars of burnished gold, pink and blue and borders of acanthus and hairline tendrils linking flower motifs in blue, pink, green, purple and burnished gold with gold disks, one including a heron (lacking one text leaf, inserted images, probably prints, have been lost from ff.96v and 139v which has the shadow of a Crucifixion; cropped into penwork in a few upper borders, some rubbing of illuminated borders and initials). Eighteenth-century Dutch red morocco gilt, gilt edges (worn, some stains). English red morocco slip case.
PROVENANCE:
1. The diocese of Utrecht covered most of the north Netherlands. The Calendar describes St Vitus as patron, 15 June, presumably of the local church; the illumination relates to styles localised to Leiden.
2. Charles Parsons Senter, St Louis: bookplate dated 1913 inside upper cover; perhaps purchased 2 January 1912, the date pencilled on the final flyleaf, from the bookseller whose enthusiastic typewritten description is pasted inside the lower cover.
3. Sotheby's, 7 December 1999, lot 45.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12; Office of the Virgin ff.13-41v: matins f.13, lauds f.19v, prime f.25v, terce f.28, sext f.30, none f.32, vespers f.34v, compline f.38v; Hours of the Eternal Wisdom with prefatory prayer ff.42-58: matins f.42v, lauds f.47v, prime f.49v, terce f.51, sext f.52, none f.53v, vespers f.54v, compline f.56; Hours of the Cross ff.59-76v: matins f.59, lauds f.64v, prime f.66v, terce f.68, sext f.70, none f.71v, vespers f.72v, compline f.75; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.77-96: matins f.77, lauds f.82v, prime f.85v, terce f.87, sext f.88v, none f.90, vespers f.92, compline f.94; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.97-110; Office of the Dead, lacking one leaf after f.120, ff.111-137; sequence of prayers ff.137v-147, including the Sacrament ff.137v-139, on the seven last words from the Cross ff.140-142, and memorials to St John the Evangelist, the guardian angel, Sts Michael, Peter, Jerome and Nicholas, ff.143v-146v, seven verses of St Bernard ff.146v-147.
ILLUMINATION:
The historiated initials open the Office of the Virgin with an image of the Virgin clothed in the sun on the crescent moon, holding the Christ Child, f.13, the Hours of the Holy Spirit with a columbine, f.77, and the Penitential Psalms with a red rose, f.97. The resemblance of the sections of the columbine to birds led to its name of the 'dove flower' and its association with the Holy Spirit; the red rose could take on many different associations depending on context, perhaps here indicative of love and suffering. The sinuous acanthus relates these borders to those favoured by the Masters of Hugo Jansz. Van Woerden (see lot 39), who were active in Leiden (see H. Defoer ed., The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, 1989, pp.286-8, 295-6). The bold illuminated pages contrast with the greater delicacy of the penwork, where four initials enclose figurative decoration: bears appear on ff.68 and 104, a face in profile on f.82v and St Veronica with her vernicle on f.72v in the Hours of the Cross. The penwork is enhanced by brushwork in an especially wide variety of colours.
[Diocese of Utrecht, ?Leiden, c.1485]
162 x 122mm. 147 leaves: 1-26, 3-158, 167(of 8, lacking v), 17-198, 19 lines written in a gothic bookhand in black ink between two verticals and 20 horizontals ruled in plummet, justification: 90 x 64mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched red, one- and two-line initials alternately of red or blue, THIRTY-FOUR LARGE DECORATED INITIALS with staves of red or blue with infills and grounds extending into the borders of red or purple penwork touched with pink, blue, green and yellow, four with figurative infills, SIX VERY LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS WITH THREE-QUARTER OR FULL BORDERS, three historiated, with staves of blue decorated with acanthus scrolls on grounds of burnished gold, with bars of burnished gold, pink and blue and borders of acanthus and hairline tendrils linking flower motifs in blue, pink, green, purple and burnished gold with gold disks, one including a heron (lacking one text leaf, inserted images, probably prints, have been lost from ff.96v and 139v which has the shadow of a Crucifixion; cropped into penwork in a few upper borders, some rubbing of illuminated borders and initials). Eighteenth-century Dutch red morocco gilt, gilt edges (worn, some stains). English red morocco slip case.
PROVENANCE:
1. The diocese of Utrecht covered most of the north Netherlands. The Calendar describes St Vitus as patron, 15 June, presumably of the local church; the illumination relates to styles localised to Leiden.
2. Charles Parsons Senter, St Louis: bookplate dated 1913 inside upper cover; perhaps purchased 2 January 1912, the date pencilled on the final flyleaf, from the bookseller whose enthusiastic typewritten description is pasted inside the lower cover.
3. Sotheby's, 7 December 1999, lot 45.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12; Office of the Virgin ff.13-41v: matins f.13, lauds f.19v, prime f.25v, terce f.28, sext f.30, none f.32, vespers f.34v, compline f.38v; Hours of the Eternal Wisdom with prefatory prayer ff.42-58: matins f.42v, lauds f.47v, prime f.49v, terce f.51, sext f.52, none f.53v, vespers f.54v, compline f.56; Hours of the Cross ff.59-76v: matins f.59, lauds f.64v, prime f.66v, terce f.68, sext f.70, none f.71v, vespers f.72v, compline f.75; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.77-96: matins f.77, lauds f.82v, prime f.85v, terce f.87, sext f.88v, none f.90, vespers f.92, compline f.94; Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.97-110; Office of the Dead, lacking one leaf after f.120, ff.111-137; sequence of prayers ff.137v-147, including the Sacrament ff.137v-139, on the seven last words from the Cross ff.140-142, and memorials to St John the Evangelist, the guardian angel, Sts Michael, Peter, Jerome and Nicholas, ff.143v-146v, seven verses of St Bernard ff.146v-147.
ILLUMINATION:
The historiated initials open the Office of the Virgin with an image of the Virgin clothed in the sun on the crescent moon, holding the Christ Child, f.13, the Hours of the Holy Spirit with a columbine, f.77, and the Penitential Psalms with a red rose, f.97. The resemblance of the sections of the columbine to birds led to its name of the 'dove flower' and its association with the Holy Spirit; the red rose could take on many different associations depending on context, perhaps here indicative of love and suffering. The sinuous acanthus relates these borders to those favoured by the Masters of Hugo Jansz. Van Woerden (see lot 39), who were active in Leiden (see H. Defoer ed., The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, 1989, pp.286-8, 295-6). The bold illuminated pages contrast with the greater delicacy of the penwork, where four initials enclose figurative decoration: bears appear on ff.68 and 104, a face in profile on f.82v and St Veronica with her vernicle on f.72v in the Hours of the Cross. The penwork is enhanced by brushwork in an especially wide variety of colours.
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