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Details
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Bruges, c.1420s]
135 x100mm. i+212+i leaves: 16, 26+1(added blank), 39(i inserted singleton), 49(ii inserted singleton), 58, 69(i inserted singleton), 79(vi inserted singleton), 88, 99(iv inserted singleton), 109(viii inserted singleton), 119(v inserted singleton), 129(ii inserted singleton), 139(iii inserted singleton), 149(i inserted singleton), 15-198, 209(i inserted singleton), 21-258, 264, TEXT COMPLETE but likely lacking an inserted miniature before f.73; 13 lines in black ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 14 horizontals ruled in red, justification: 74 x 49mm, one-line initials alternately of burnished gold or blue respectively flourished with black or red, two-line initials of burnished gold against grounds and infills of pink and blue decorated with white and accompanied by a panel border of hairline tendrils with golden leaves and disks and two naturalistic and two stylized flowerheads, major devotions open with four- to five-line initials of blue or red on burnished gold with tendrils in the infills and accompanied by TWELVE FULL-PAGE BORDERS with burnished gold and foliate baguettes surrounded by hairline sprays of golden trefoils and flowerheads and with sprays of daisies, cornflowers, speedwells etc at the corners, these borders facing ELEVEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES WITH BORDERS, vellum pastedowns from French manuscripts, at the front from a 15th-century handbook of liturgical instructions and, at the end, verses 31-36 of Luke, 22 from a 12th/13th-century lectern Bible (slight rubbing to burnished gold of some borders, minimal cropping of upper and outer borders, around a dozen leaves with discreet repairs to cockling crease in margin). Modern red velvet over wooden boards (small hole at upper joint and on two lower corners).
PROVENANCE:
1. Both text and decoration suggest that the book was produced in Bruges. The eleven miniatures are all stamped with a fleur de lys in accordance with a Bruges regulation of 1426 which obliged Bruges illuminators to register a distinctive mark with the painter's guild so that their single-leaf miniatures could be distinguished from illegal imports. Despite this regulation, stamped miniatures are comparatively rare, given the volume of Bruges production. The fleur de lys stamp also appears on some of the miniatures in a closely related Bruges book of hours, sold Sotheby's, 22 June 1982, lot 82 (see M. Smeyers and H. Cardon, 'Merktekens in de Brugse Miniatuurkunst' pp. 45-61 in Merken Opmerken, C. van Vlierden and M. Smeyers ed, 1990).
2. The manuscript was owned by a Catalan in the 15th century when additions were made to the calendar of saints' feasts, including St. Eulalia, patron of Barcelona, and of the Catalan names of the months. The book may have been exported to the Crown of Aragon or owned by a member of the Catalan merchant community in Bruges.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12; unruled blank f.13; Hours of the Cross ff.15-23; Mass of the Virgin ff.25-32; Gospel Extracts ff.32-38v; ruled blank f.39; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome ff.41-111: matins f.41, lauds f.55, prime f.70, terce f.76, sext f.83, none f.90, vespers f.96, compline f.106; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.113-136; Variants for the Office of the Virgin ff.137-157; blanks ff.158-159; Office of the Dead, slight variation from use of Rome ff.161-212.
ILLUMINATION:
The miniatures are among the most accomplished products of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls, who were active in Bruges in the first half of the 15th Century. Seven miniatures of the present lot have the patterned backgrounds from which the Masters were named; three have their characteristic rocky landscapes against vivid blue skies. The twelfth, the Virgin and Child against a glory of gold rays, relates to earlier Bruges compositions, as does the Man of Sorrows. This and the delicacy of the painting technique, with facial features indicated by tiny touches of paint, suggest that the illuminator had trained in an earlier tradition.
The borders and the framing of the miniatures resemble those in an Hours in Leuven (Centrale Universiteitsbibliotheek ms 2) and the Hours sold at Sotheby's in 1982, probably all dating c.1430.
The fleur de lys stamp marking the refined miniatures of the present lot should help to distinguish one of the most talented individuals of the Gold Scrolls Group.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f.14v Half-length figure of Christ as Man of Sorrows, on a cloud above his tomb surrounded by the Instruments of the Passion; f.24v Virgin and child with the Virgin seated on the ground, a crescent moon at her feet and an angel offering a basket of flowers; f.40v Annunciation; f.54v Betrayal and Arrest of Christ; f.69v Christ before Pilate; f.82v Way to Calvary; f.89v Crucifixion with the Virgin and John the Evangelist; f.95v Deposition from the Cross; f.105v Laying in the Tomb; f.112v Last Judgement; f.160v Vigils of the Dead with mourners and choir around the catafalque.
[Bruges, c.1420s]
135 x100mm. i+212+i leaves: 1
PROVENANCE:
1. Both text and decoration suggest that the book was produced in Bruges. The eleven miniatures are all stamped with a fleur de lys in accordance with a Bruges regulation of 1426 which obliged Bruges illuminators to register a distinctive mark with the painter's guild so that their single-leaf miniatures could be distinguished from illegal imports. Despite this regulation, stamped miniatures are comparatively rare, given the volume of Bruges production. The fleur de lys stamp also appears on some of the miniatures in a closely related Bruges book of hours, sold Sotheby's, 22 June 1982, lot 82 (see M. Smeyers and H. Cardon, 'Merktekens in de Brugse Miniatuurkunst' pp. 45-61 in Merken Opmerken, C. van Vlierden and M. Smeyers ed, 1990).
2. The manuscript was owned by a Catalan in the 15th century when additions were made to the calendar of saints' feasts, including St. Eulalia, patron of Barcelona, and of the Catalan names of the months. The book may have been exported to the Crown of Aragon or owned by a member of the Catalan merchant community in Bruges.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12; unruled blank f.13; Hours of the Cross ff.15-23; Mass of the Virgin ff.25-32; Gospel Extracts ff.32-38v; ruled blank f.39; Office of the Virgin, use of Rome ff.41-111: matins f.41, lauds f.55, prime f.70, terce f.76, sext f.83, none f.90, vespers f.96, compline f.106; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.113-136; Variants for the Office of the Virgin ff.137-157; blanks ff.158-159; Office of the Dead, slight variation from use of Rome ff.161-212.
ILLUMINATION:
The miniatures are among the most accomplished products of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls, who were active in Bruges in the first half of the 15th Century. Seven miniatures of the present lot have the patterned backgrounds from which the Masters were named; three have their characteristic rocky landscapes against vivid blue skies. The twelfth, the Virgin and Child against a glory of gold rays, relates to earlier Bruges compositions, as does the Man of Sorrows. This and the delicacy of the painting technique, with facial features indicated by tiny touches of paint, suggest that the illuminator had trained in an earlier tradition.
The borders and the framing of the miniatures resemble those in an Hours in Leuven (Centrale Universiteitsbibliotheek ms 2) and the Hours sold at Sotheby's in 1982, probably all dating c.1430.
The fleur de lys stamp marking the refined miniatures of the present lot should help to distinguish one of the most talented individuals of the Gold Scrolls Group.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows:
f.14v Half-length figure of Christ as Man of Sorrows, on a cloud above his tomb surrounded by the Instruments of the Passion; f.24v Virgin and child with the Virgin seated on the ground, a crescent moon at her feet and an angel offering a basket of flowers; f.40v Annunciation; f.54v Betrayal and Arrest of Christ; f.69v Christ before Pilate; f.82v Way to Calvary; f.89v Crucifixion with the Virgin and John the Evangelist; f.95v Deposition from the Cross; f.105v Laying in the Tomb; f.112v Last Judgement; f.160v Vigils of the Dead with mourners and choir around the catafalque.
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