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![THE MARCHE HOURS, use of Sarum, in Latin with Middle English additions, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, [Bruges, c.1390-1400]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/CKS/2014_CKS_01584_0009_002(the_marche_hours_use_of_sarum_in_latin_with_middle_english_additions_i012918).jpg?w=1)
![THE MARCHE HOURS, use of Sarum, in Latin with Middle English additions, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, [Bruges, c.1390-1400]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/CKS/2014_CKS_01584_0009_003(the_marche_hours_use_of_sarum_in_latin_with_middle_english_additions_i012949).jpg?w=1)
![THE MARCHE HOURS, use of Sarum, in Latin with Middle English additions, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, [Bruges, c.1390-1400]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2014/CKS/2014_CKS_01584_0009_000(the_marche_hours_use_of_sarum_in_latin_with_middle_english_additions_i113921).jpg?w=1)
Details
THE MARCHE HOURS, use of Sarum, in Latin with Middle English additions, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, [Bruges, c.1390-1400]
168 x 118mm. 89 leaves, ff.8-15, 37, 45, 47-53 are 15th-century English additions or replacements, ruled space: 116 x 70mm. ELEVEN LARGE INITIALS WITH FULL BORDERS, FOUR FULL-PAGE MINIATURES IN PINK BALDACHIN FRAMES (wear to leaves, especially towards the beginning, some rubbing to illuminated initials and borders, losses to miniature frames, slight losses to miniatures ff.16v and 18v, losses to draperies ff.20v and 44v, trimmed into upper borders). 19th-century calf, gilt stamped on spine with motto, badge and initials of Alexander Beresford Hope.
PROVENANCE:
(1) Texts and decoration show that this is an early example of the burgeoning book trade between Bruges and England. Once in England, the book was expanded and amended in various phases. (2) THE MARCHE FAMILY OF SOUTHAMPTON: records from 1561 to 1579, ff.1, 3, 51-53v, involving the Staveleys of Southampton and the family of probably John Marche, Mayor of Southampton in 1567. (3) THE MODY FAMILY: records of 1588 and 1592, f.53. (4) SIR ALEXANDER JAMES BERESFORD HOPE (1820-1887), politician, author, promoter of the Gothic Revival: name on verso of first flyleaf.
CONTENT:
Added prayer f.1v, Calendar ff.2-7; prayers including 'Lorde jhesu crist that comest out of hevene to fede me', ff.8-15; added prayer f.16; suffrages to saints interspersed with added prayers ff.17-20, Office of the Virgin, use of Sarum, interspersed with the Hours of the Cross and with suffrages at lauds ff.21-42; added prayers ff.43v-51; family records ff.51-53v; Penitential Psalms and litany ff.54-65; Office of the Dead, use of Sarum, ff.66-80; commendation of souls ff.81-89v. Some text throughout has been rewritten in an early hand, apparently responsible for the added f.37. When the text added on f.43v became incomplete, another hand supplied the want on f.44.
ILLUMINATION:
The Marche Hours is a significant addition to the small group of Books of Hours named from the Pink Baldachins or Canopies framing their miniatures (M. Smeyers, Vlaamse Miniaturen voor Van Eyck, 1993, pp.4-10; P. Binski and P. Zutschi, Western Illuminated Manuscripts: a Catalogue of the Collection in Cambridge University Library, 2011, no 371). Dating from the ‘Pre-Eyckian’ phase of Bruges illumination, three are in private and three in public collections (London B.L. Sloane 2683; Cambridge University Library ms Ii.6.2 and a detached leaf, New York Lehman Collection). The group’s characteristics are all evident in the Marche Hours: patterned backgrounds, often with black; inscriptions used decoratively and meaningfully; expressively distorted figures; a greenish underpaint for faces and curling drapery folds. Especially close to the Sloane Hours in miniatures and text decoration, the present lot is probably by the same ambitious illuminators and shows the qualities of design and craftsmanship that would continue to attract English patrons, including Edward IV, to Bruges books into the 16th century.
The subjects of the full-page miniatures are: St John the Baptist f.16v, St Christopher f.18v; the Annunciation f.20v, the Virgin suckling the Child f.44v.
168 x 118mm. 89 leaves, ff.8-15, 37, 45, 47-53 are 15th-century English additions or replacements, ruled space: 116 x 70mm. ELEVEN LARGE INITIALS WITH FULL BORDERS, FOUR FULL-PAGE MINIATURES IN PINK BALDACHIN FRAMES (wear to leaves, especially towards the beginning, some rubbing to illuminated initials and borders, losses to miniature frames, slight losses to miniatures ff.16v and 18v, losses to draperies ff.20v and 44v, trimmed into upper borders). 19th-century calf, gilt stamped on spine with motto, badge and initials of Alexander Beresford Hope.
PROVENANCE:
(1) Texts and decoration show that this is an early example of the burgeoning book trade between Bruges and England. Once in England, the book was expanded and amended in various phases. (2) THE MARCHE FAMILY OF SOUTHAMPTON: records from 1561 to 1579, ff.1, 3, 51-53v, involving the Staveleys of Southampton and the family of probably John Marche, Mayor of Southampton in 1567. (3) THE MODY FAMILY: records of 1588 and 1592, f.53. (4) SIR ALEXANDER JAMES BERESFORD HOPE (1820-1887), politician, author, promoter of the Gothic Revival: name on verso of first flyleaf.
CONTENT:
Added prayer f.1v, Calendar ff.2-7; prayers including 'Lorde jhesu crist that comest out of hevene to fede me', ff.8-15; added prayer f.16; suffrages to saints interspersed with added prayers ff.17-20, Office of the Virgin, use of Sarum, interspersed with the Hours of the Cross and with suffrages at lauds ff.21-42; added prayers ff.43v-51; family records ff.51-53v; Penitential Psalms and litany ff.54-65; Office of the Dead, use of Sarum, ff.66-80; commendation of souls ff.81-89v. Some text throughout has been rewritten in an early hand, apparently responsible for the added f.37. When the text added on f.43v became incomplete, another hand supplied the want on f.44.
ILLUMINATION:
The Marche Hours is a significant addition to the small group of Books of Hours named from the Pink Baldachins or Canopies framing their miniatures (M. Smeyers, Vlaamse Miniaturen voor Van Eyck, 1993, pp.4-10; P. Binski and P. Zutschi, Western Illuminated Manuscripts: a Catalogue of the Collection in Cambridge University Library, 2011, no 371). Dating from the ‘Pre-Eyckian’ phase of Bruges illumination, three are in private and three in public collections (London B.L. Sloane 2683; Cambridge University Library ms Ii.6.2 and a detached leaf, New York Lehman Collection). The group’s characteristics are all evident in the Marche Hours: patterned backgrounds, often with black; inscriptions used decoratively and meaningfully; expressively distorted figures; a greenish underpaint for faces and curling drapery folds. Especially close to the Sloane Hours in miniatures and text decoration, the present lot is probably by the same ambitious illuminators and shows the qualities of design and craftsmanship that would continue to attract English patrons, including Edward IV, to Bruges books into the 16th century.
The subjects of the full-page miniatures are: St John the Baptist f.16v, St Christopher f.18v; the Annunciation f.20v, the Virgin suckling the Child f.44v.
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