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Details
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Sarum, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
[Bruges, c.1460]190 x 128mm. 147 leaves: 16, 29(of 8 with two inserted singletons with miniatures, lacking viii), 37(of 4 with three inserted singletons with miniatures), 49(of 6 with four inserted singletons with miniatures, lacking v), 58(of 6 with two inserted singletons, with miniatures), 69(of 8 with one inserted singleton with miniature), 78, 88(of 6 with two inserted singletons with miniatures), 98(of 6 with two inserted singletons with miniatures), 109(of 8 with one inserted singleton with miniature), 118, 129(of 8 with one inserted singleton with miniature), 138, 149(of 8 with one inserted singleton with miniature), 158, 167(of 8 lacking iii but text continuous), 179(of 8 with one inserted singleton with miniature), 188(of 6 + viii, ix), 21 lines written in brown ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 22 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 111 x 73mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched yellow, one-line initials alternately in burnished gold flourished with dark blue and in light blue flourished with red, line-endings in burnished gold and light blue, two- and three-line initials in burnished gold with infills of dark pink patterned with liquid gold on grounds of blue patterned with white leading to partial borders of burnished gold ivy leaves on hairline tendrils and blue and liquid gold acanthus, 19 SMALL MINIATURES WITH BURNISHED GOLD BARS AND BORDERS TO ONE SIDE, partly extending into upper and lower margins on rectos, of burnished gold ivy leaves, flower and fruit on hairline tendrils with blue and liqiid gold acanthus, 20 FULL-PAGE MINIATURES WITH FULL BORDERS FACING RECTOS WITH FULL-PAGE BORDERS with large initials in blue or pink with foliate infills on burnished gold grounds leading to gold bars, six similar pages with large initials and full-page borders (lacking three text leaves after ff.15, 29 and 146 and several leaves with the Psalter of St Jerome after f.147, also seven singletons with miniatures, one from each of gatherings 3, 5, 7, 8, 18, and two from 4, slight smudging to borders ff.7v, 16v, 29, f.111, 143, diagonal scratch scored through face of St Thomas Becket f.23, miniature f.57v slightly rubbed, small paint losses from miniature f.60v, smudging to bottom of miniature and lower border f.95v). 19th-century red morocco gilt, broad gilt stamped turn-ins, gilt stamped yellow silk doublures and end leaves (gilding and joints worn).
PROVENANCE:
1. The combination of Bruges decoration with the use of Sarum and devotions like the Fifteen Oes and the Commendation of Souls, particularly favoured by the English, shows that this was among the many volumes produced in the southern Netherlands for export to England. Very few of them, however, modified their decoration to English tastes as was done in this volume, where borders in English style mark the most significant texts. The saints in Calendar and Litany are more indicative of southern than northern England but this may simply reflect the models available to the scribe. Prayers are in the masculine.
2. The book was in England at the time of the Reformation when references to popes and St Thomas Becket were scored through in obedience to Henry VIII's proclamation of 1538.
3. The volume appeared in Quaritch Catalogue 328, 1914, no. 566, and subsequently in 1931, 1941 and 1951. It is not clear when it was bought by Henry Harvey Frost (1873-1961), whose bookplate is inside the upper cover. Frost assembled a remarkable collection of manuscripts in less than a decade; failing eyesight led to the dispersal of his library from 1952, chiefly by Maggs. It is indicative of its quality that nearly a third of the important Boisrouvray donation of illuminated manuscripts to the Bibliothèque nationale de France has Frost's bookplate (J. Porcher, Manuscrits à peintures offerts à la Bibliothèque nationale par le comte Guy de Boisrouvray, 1961).
4. This volume apparently returned to Quaritch, Catalogue 699, 1952, no 81 to be purchased by Gordon H. Craine in 1955: his bookplate is inside the upper cover and receipt from Quaritch loose in volume.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-6v; Fifteen Oes of St Bridget ff.8-13v; Memorials ff.16-34v: the Trinity (lacking end) f.15, Sts John the Baptist f.17, John the Evangelist f.19, Christopher f.20, George f.22, Thomas Becket f.24, Gregory f.26, Anne f.27, Mary Magdalen f.29, Katherine f.31, Margaret f.32, Barbara f.34; Office of the Virgin, use of Sarum, interspersed by the Hours of the Cross, ff.36-71v: matins f.36, lauds, f.43, followed by Memorials: Holy Spirit, Trinity, the Cross, Sts Michael, Peter and Paul, Andrew, Stephen, Lawrence, Thomas Becket, Nicholas, Mary Magdalen, Katherine, Margaret, All Saints, and by Matins of the Hours of the Cross, prime f.54, terce f.58, sext f.61, none f.63, vespers f.66, compline f.69; prayers to the Virgin ff.71v-88v: Salve regina f.71v, Gaude virgo mater Christi f.72v, Gaude flore virginali f.73, ruled blank f.74v, Salve virgo virginum, a farsing of the Salve regina attributed to Bonaventura f.76, O intemerata f.80, Obsecro te f.81v, Seven Joys of the Virgin, with indulgence of Pope Clement neatly crossed through, f.84; sequence of prayers ff.84v-90: on the image of the Crucified Christ Omnibus consideratis paradysus f.84v, on an image of the Virgin O Maria plasma nati f.89, to John the Evangelist O Johannes evangelista tu sacrarii f.89v; Prayer attributed to Bede on the Seven Last Words from the Cross ff.90-92v; prayers on the Sacrament ff.92v-94; ruled blank f.94v; Penitential Psalms ff.96-104; Litany ff.104-109v; Office of the Dead, use of Sarum, ff.111-130; Commendation of Souls ff.132-142v; Psalms of the Passion, lacking end, ff.143-146; introductory rubric and prayer to the Psalter of St Jerome, lacking text of Psalter, f.147.
ILLUMINATION:
The miniatures are the work of an illuminator influenced by Willem Vrelant, the foremost producer of books of hours in Bruges between at least 1454 until 1481. He exaggerated aspects of Vrelant's style to give his miniatures an appealing directness: Vrelant's liking for strong colour with comparatively little modelling has become a reliance on vivid contrasts of red and blue against green, all enhanced by areas of burnished gold; Vrelant's neat figures have acquired even more simplified contours with an emphasis on verticals. For Vrelant, see B. Bousmanne, Item A Guillaume Wyelant aussi enlunineur, 1997. Clarity of shape and outline is a feature of this painter, who turns trees into neat triangles or circles to match the rectangles of his towered buildings. Compositionally, the Master draws more on earlier Bruges models. The Salvator mundi reflects an Eyckian type found in the Turin-Milan Hours, while the formalised patterned settings on ff.28v, 33v and 131v show the continuing vitality of models established in the first decades of the 15th century.
The border layout across the miniature openings is typical of Vrelant's book design but the English-style borders are not found in Vrelant's books of hours. With their plump, fleshy acanthus leaves forming roundels at corners and centres against lavish areas of burnished gold, they were used in the present lot to mark the opening text, ff.7v-8, the Office of the Virgin, ff.35v-36, and the Penitential Psalms, ff.95v-96. They are occasionally found in Bruges books for the English market, particularly in association with miniatures by an independent Vrelant follower often known as the Mildmay Master, from a book of hours with English-style borders in Chicago (Newberry Library, Ms 35). One of his books of hours was sold from the Abel E, Berland Library, Christie's, New York, 8 October 2001, lot 65. There was evidently in Bruges either an English trained illuminator or a skilful imitator of English forms, who could combine them successfully with the hairline tendrils conventional in Netherlandish manuscripts.
This generously illuminated book of hours was carefully directed in text and decoration at the upper end of the English market. The figures and events central to English devotional practice are directly presented in its strikingly vivid miniatures.
The subjects of the full-page miniatures are as follows:
f.7v Christ as Salvator mundi, standing with the globe at his feet and an open book in his hand; f.14v The Trinity with the Son displaying his wounds supported by the Father, the Dove of the Holy Spirit hovering between; f.16v St John the Baptist in a landscape; f.18v St John the Evangelist; f.21v St George killing the dragon, watched by the Princess; f.23v St Thomas Becket, kneeling before an altar is attacked by a knight in armour, as an acolyte raise his hand in horror; f.25v The Mass of St Gregory, with prominent Instruments of the Passion; f.28v St Mary Magdalen with her ointment pot and an apparently inappropriate martyr's palm; f.30v St Katherine with wheel and sword standing on the vanquished Emperor; f.33v St Barbara with her tower; f.35v The Agony in the Garden; f.42v The Betrayal and Arrest of Christ; f.57v The Flagellation; f.60v The Carrying of the Cross; f.65v The Descent from the Cross; f.68v The Entombment; f.75v The Virgin with Child standing in a glory with two angels; f.95v The Last Judgement; f.111v The Office of the Dead with four clerics by a draped coffin; f.131v Two angels carrying three souls up to God the Father
The subjects of the small miniatures are as follows:
f.48v the Dove of the Holy Spirit; f.49v St Michael triumphing over the devil; f.50 Sts Peter and Paul; f.50v St Andrew; f.51 St Stephen, St Lawrence; f.52 St Nicholas; f.53 All Saints; f.84 the Presentation of the Virgin; f.86v Adam and Eve either side of the female-headed serpent wound round the tree; f.87 the three empty crosses; f.87v the wounded head of Christ with the crown of thorns, His wounded right hand; f.88 His wounded left hand, the Five Wounds of Christ; f.88v His wounded right foot; f.89 His wounded left foot, the Virgin seated with Child; f.89v St John the Evangelist on Patmos.
[Bruges, c.1460]190 x 128mm. 147 leaves: 1
PROVENANCE:
1. The combination of Bruges decoration with the use of Sarum and devotions like the Fifteen Oes and the Commendation of Souls, particularly favoured by the English, shows that this was among the many volumes produced in the southern Netherlands for export to England. Very few of them, however, modified their decoration to English tastes as was done in this volume, where borders in English style mark the most significant texts. The saints in Calendar and Litany are more indicative of southern than northern England but this may simply reflect the models available to the scribe. Prayers are in the masculine.
2. The book was in England at the time of the Reformation when references to popes and St Thomas Becket were scored through in obedience to Henry VIII's proclamation of 1538.
3. The volume appeared in Quaritch Catalogue 328, 1914, no. 566, and subsequently in 1931, 1941 and 1951. It is not clear when it was bought by Henry Harvey Frost (1873-1961), whose bookplate is inside the upper cover. Frost assembled a remarkable collection of manuscripts in less than a decade; failing eyesight led to the dispersal of his library from 1952, chiefly by Maggs. It is indicative of its quality that nearly a third of the important Boisrouvray donation of illuminated manuscripts to the Bibliothèque nationale de France has Frost's bookplate (J. Porcher, Manuscrits à peintures offerts à la Bibliothèque nationale par le comte Guy de Boisrouvray, 1961).
4. This volume apparently returned to Quaritch, Catalogue 699, 1952, no 81 to be purchased by Gordon H. Craine in 1955: his bookplate is inside the upper cover and receipt from Quaritch loose in volume.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-6v; Fifteen Oes of St Bridget ff.8-13v; Memorials ff.16-34v: the Trinity (lacking end) f.15, Sts John the Baptist f.17, John the Evangelist f.19, Christopher f.20, George f.22, Thomas Becket f.24, Gregory f.26, Anne f.27, Mary Magdalen f.29, Katherine f.31, Margaret f.32, Barbara f.34; Office of the Virgin, use of Sarum, interspersed by the Hours of the Cross, ff.36-71v: matins f.36, lauds, f.43, followed by Memorials: Holy Spirit, Trinity, the Cross, Sts Michael, Peter and Paul, Andrew, Stephen, Lawrence, Thomas Becket, Nicholas, Mary Magdalen, Katherine, Margaret, All Saints, and by Matins of the Hours of the Cross, prime f.54, terce f.58, sext f.61, none f.63, vespers f.66, compline f.69; prayers to the Virgin ff.71v-88v: Salve regina f.71v, Gaude virgo mater Christi f.72v, Gaude flore virginali f.73, ruled blank f.74v, Salve virgo virginum, a farsing of the Salve regina attributed to Bonaventura f.76, O intemerata f.80, Obsecro te f.81v, Seven Joys of the Virgin, with indulgence of Pope Clement neatly crossed through, f.84; sequence of prayers ff.84v-90: on the image of the Crucified Christ Omnibus consideratis paradysus f.84v, on an image of the Virgin O Maria plasma nati f.89, to John the Evangelist O Johannes evangelista tu sacrarii f.89v; Prayer attributed to Bede on the Seven Last Words from the Cross ff.90-92v; prayers on the Sacrament ff.92v-94; ruled blank f.94v; Penitential Psalms ff.96-104; Litany ff.104-109v; Office of the Dead, use of Sarum, ff.111-130; Commendation of Souls ff.132-142v; Psalms of the Passion, lacking end, ff.143-146; introductory rubric and prayer to the Psalter of St Jerome, lacking text of Psalter, f.147.
ILLUMINATION:
The miniatures are the work of an illuminator influenced by Willem Vrelant, the foremost producer of books of hours in Bruges between at least 1454 until 1481. He exaggerated aspects of Vrelant's style to give his miniatures an appealing directness: Vrelant's liking for strong colour with comparatively little modelling has become a reliance on vivid contrasts of red and blue against green, all enhanced by areas of burnished gold; Vrelant's neat figures have acquired even more simplified contours with an emphasis on verticals. For Vrelant, see B. Bousmanne, Item A Guillaume Wyelant aussi enlunineur, 1997. Clarity of shape and outline is a feature of this painter, who turns trees into neat triangles or circles to match the rectangles of his towered buildings. Compositionally, the Master draws more on earlier Bruges models. The Salvator mundi reflects an Eyckian type found in the Turin-Milan Hours, while the formalised patterned settings on ff.28v, 33v and 131v show the continuing vitality of models established in the first decades of the 15th century.
The border layout across the miniature openings is typical of Vrelant's book design but the English-style borders are not found in Vrelant's books of hours. With their plump, fleshy acanthus leaves forming roundels at corners and centres against lavish areas of burnished gold, they were used in the present lot to mark the opening text, ff.7v-8, the Office of the Virgin, ff.35v-36, and the Penitential Psalms, ff.95v-96. They are occasionally found in Bruges books for the English market, particularly in association with miniatures by an independent Vrelant follower often known as the Mildmay Master, from a book of hours with English-style borders in Chicago (Newberry Library, Ms 35). One of his books of hours was sold from the Abel E, Berland Library, Christie's, New York, 8 October 2001, lot 65. There was evidently in Bruges either an English trained illuminator or a skilful imitator of English forms, who could combine them successfully with the hairline tendrils conventional in Netherlandish manuscripts.
This generously illuminated book of hours was carefully directed in text and decoration at the upper end of the English market. The figures and events central to English devotional practice are directly presented in its strikingly vivid miniatures.
The subjects of the full-page miniatures are as follows:
f.7v Christ as Salvator mundi, standing with the globe at his feet and an open book in his hand; f.14v The Trinity with the Son displaying his wounds supported by the Father, the Dove of the Holy Spirit hovering between; f.16v St John the Baptist in a landscape; f.18v St John the Evangelist; f.21v St George killing the dragon, watched by the Princess; f.23v St Thomas Becket, kneeling before an altar is attacked by a knight in armour, as an acolyte raise his hand in horror; f.25v The Mass of St Gregory, with prominent Instruments of the Passion; f.28v St Mary Magdalen with her ointment pot and an apparently inappropriate martyr's palm; f.30v St Katherine with wheel and sword standing on the vanquished Emperor; f.33v St Barbara with her tower; f.35v The Agony in the Garden; f.42v The Betrayal and Arrest of Christ; f.57v The Flagellation; f.60v The Carrying of the Cross; f.65v The Descent from the Cross; f.68v The Entombment; f.75v The Virgin with Child standing in a glory with two angels; f.95v The Last Judgement; f.111v The Office of the Dead with four clerics by a draped coffin; f.131v Two angels carrying three souls up to God the Father
The subjects of the small miniatures are as follows:
f.48v the Dove of the Holy Spirit; f.49v St Michael triumphing over the devil; f.50 Sts Peter and Paul; f.50v St Andrew; f.51 St Stephen, St Lawrence; f.52 St Nicholas; f.53 All Saints; f.84 the Presentation of the Virgin; f.86v Adam and Eve either side of the female-headed serpent wound round the tree; f.87 the three empty crosses; f.87v the wounded head of Christ with the crown of thorns, His wounded right hand; f.88 His wounded left hand, the Five Wounds of Christ; f.88v His wounded right foot; f.89 His wounded left foot, the Virgin seated with Child; f.89v St John the Evangelist on Patmos.
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