![CARMELITE RITUALE OF SUSTER JACOBA VAN DYCKE with musical notation, in Dutch and Latin, decorated manuscript on paper with pasted-in illuminations and with printed Psalter on paper [Southern Netherlands, c.1480-1520 and c.1600; printed Psalter first half 16th century].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10457_0018_001(carmelite_rituale_of_suster_jacoba_van_dycke_with_musical_notation_in073806).jpg?w=1)
![CARMELITE RITUALE OF SUSTER JACOBA VAN DYCKE with musical notation, in Dutch and Latin, decorated manuscript on paper with pasted-in illuminations and with printed Psalter on paper [Southern Netherlands, c.1480-1520 and c.1600; printed Psalter first half 16th century].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10457_0018_002(carmelite_rituale_of_suster_jacoba_van_dycke_with_musical_notation_in124750).jpg?w=1)
![CARMELITE RITUALE OF SUSTER JACOBA VAN DYCKE with musical notation, in Dutch and Latin, decorated manuscript on paper with pasted-in illuminations and with printed Psalter on paper [Southern Netherlands, c.1480-1520 and c.1600; printed Psalter first half 16th century].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10457_0018_000(carmelite_rituale_of_suster_jacoba_van_dycke_with_musical_notation_in100823).jpg?w=1)
Details
CARMELITE RITUALE OF SUSTER JACOBA VAN DYCKE with musical notation, in Dutch and Latin, decorated manuscript on paper with pasted-in illuminations and with printed Psalter on paper [Southern Netherlands, c.1480-1520 and c.1600; printed Psalter first half 16th century].
156 x 93 mm. iii vellum + ii paper + 144 manuscript + 137 printed + ii paper + iii vellum, manuscript: 16, 2-38, 4-510, 612, 7-88, 9-1210, 134 (?of 6 lacking i/vi, ?i cancelled blank), 1410, 15-168 , 174. 17 lines written in black ink a hybrid gothic bookhand between two verticals and 18 horizontals ruled in red, ruled space: 117 x 76 mm, music on five four-line staves ruled in red, red rubrics and initials, five borders and FOUR HISTORIATED INITIALS, printed Psalter with red rubrics and initials and woodcut initials (lacking text leaf after f.114 and ?cancelled blank before f.111, border f.7 cropped, tear into border f.71 with staining from attempted repair on verso, fol.cxxix of printed Psalter detached, lacking end of litany from fol.cxxxvij, some manuscript annotations cropped). Quarter brown calf over wooden boards (traces of two fasteners, slight worming of boards).
PROVENANCE:
(1) The vow for the nun making her profession as a Carmelite is in the name of Jacoba or Jacqueline van Dycke, aged 19 on 6 June 1600 (ff.40v-41v). The book was made for, and very possibly by, Sister Jacoba either for that occasion or subsequently as a record of the defining moment of her life. She was possibly a member of the Convent of Sion in Bruges, which survived the Calvinist regime and the wars and where there was a tradition of copying and illuminating books founded by Sister Cornelia van Wulfschkercke (d.1540).
Although the opportunities for manuscript production as a means of raising revenue became increasingly limited, printed books did not remove the value of copying for spiritual welfare and the advantages of creating one’s own compilation of texts, potentially at lower cost. The reforms of the liturgy at the Council of Trent and the availability of more accurate printed texts made many liturgical manuscripts superfluous to requirements by 1600. Sister Jacoba may have copied the text herself and then used discarded books to supply the illumination. Such reuse seems to have been particularly common among female religious and the skill with which the illuminations were excised and then pasted into Sister Jacoba’s book suggests an experienced hand.
(2) The parchment guards at front and back come from a 17th-century document concerning the Prince de Conty (Conti), a title in use 1581-1614 and then from 1629-1814.
(3) Notes in French on final endleaf identifying the manuscript as from Holland, 15th century.
CONTENT:
Ruled blanks ff.1-6; reception of a novice ff.7-12; clothing of a novice ff.12-36; profession ff.37-68v; on the death of a prioress ff.68v-70v; administration of communion in the infirmary ff.71-77v; administration of extreme unction ff.78-90; on the death of a brother or sister ff.90v-144: commendation of her soul f.90v, ten sayings on death (lacking end) f.114v, Great Psalter of St Gertrude f.115, commendation of the dead f.128, burial f.130. Printed Psalter (lacking end of litany).
ILLUMINATION:
The illuminations are probably all southern Netherlandish in origin from at least three manuscripts dating from c.1480-1520.
AS A WHOLE THE BOOK IS A FASCINATING WITNESS TO FEMALE PIETY AND CREATIVITY, COMBINING MANUSCRIPT AND PRINT WITH EARLIER DECORATIONS FROM THE GREAT AGE OF FLEMISH ILLUMINATION.
The following illuminations have been pasted-in: initial with the Mocking of Christ and scatter border (c.1520) f.7, initial with the head of Christ (c.1480) with elements of a scatter border f.36, initial with the Nailing to the Cross and scatter border (c.1520) f.71, initial with head of Christ and scatter border (c.1500) f.91, initial on gold ground with border of leaves and flowers with penwork and gold disks f.115.
The printed Psalter opens with a woodcut initial of King David fol.i; other major divisions are marked by woodcut initials with plant or animal motifs.
156 x 93 mm. iii vellum + ii paper + 144 manuscript + 137 printed + ii paper + iii vellum, manuscript: 16, 2-38, 4-510, 612, 7-88, 9-1210, 134 (?of 6 lacking i/vi, ?i cancelled blank), 1410, 15-168 , 174. 17 lines written in black ink a hybrid gothic bookhand between two verticals and 18 horizontals ruled in red, ruled space: 117 x 76 mm, music on five four-line staves ruled in red, red rubrics and initials, five borders and FOUR HISTORIATED INITIALS, printed Psalter with red rubrics and initials and woodcut initials (lacking text leaf after f.114 and ?cancelled blank before f.111, border f.7 cropped, tear into border f.71 with staining from attempted repair on verso, fol.cxxix of printed Psalter detached, lacking end of litany from fol.cxxxvij, some manuscript annotations cropped). Quarter brown calf over wooden boards (traces of two fasteners, slight worming of boards).
PROVENANCE:
(1) The vow for the nun making her profession as a Carmelite is in the name of Jacoba or Jacqueline van Dycke, aged 19 on 6 June 1600 (ff.40v-41v). The book was made for, and very possibly by, Sister Jacoba either for that occasion or subsequently as a record of the defining moment of her life. She was possibly a member of the Convent of Sion in Bruges, which survived the Calvinist regime and the wars and where there was a tradition of copying and illuminating books founded by Sister Cornelia van Wulfschkercke (d.1540).
Although the opportunities for manuscript production as a means of raising revenue became increasingly limited, printed books did not remove the value of copying for spiritual welfare and the advantages of creating one’s own compilation of texts, potentially at lower cost. The reforms of the liturgy at the Council of Trent and the availability of more accurate printed texts made many liturgical manuscripts superfluous to requirements by 1600. Sister Jacoba may have copied the text herself and then used discarded books to supply the illumination. Such reuse seems to have been particularly common among female religious and the skill with which the illuminations were excised and then pasted into Sister Jacoba’s book suggests an experienced hand.
(2) The parchment guards at front and back come from a 17th-century document concerning the Prince de Conty (Conti), a title in use 1581-1614 and then from 1629-1814.
(3) Notes in French on final endleaf identifying the manuscript as from Holland, 15th century.
CONTENT:
Ruled blanks ff.1-6; reception of a novice ff.7-12; clothing of a novice ff.12-36; profession ff.37-68v; on the death of a prioress ff.68v-70v; administration of communion in the infirmary ff.71-77v; administration of extreme unction ff.78-90; on the death of a brother or sister ff.90v-144: commendation of her soul f.90v, ten sayings on death (lacking end) f.114v, Great Psalter of St Gertrude f.115, commendation of the dead f.128, burial f.130. Printed Psalter (lacking end of litany).
ILLUMINATION:
The illuminations are probably all southern Netherlandish in origin from at least three manuscripts dating from c.1480-1520.
AS A WHOLE THE BOOK IS A FASCINATING WITNESS TO FEMALE PIETY AND CREATIVITY, COMBINING MANUSCRIPT AND PRINT WITH EARLIER DECORATIONS FROM THE GREAT AGE OF FLEMISH ILLUMINATION.
The following illuminations have been pasted-in: initial with the Mocking of Christ and scatter border (c.1520) f.7, initial with the head of Christ (c.1480) with elements of a scatter border f.36, initial with the Nailing to the Cross and scatter border (c.1520) f.71, initial with head of Christ and scatter border (c.1500) f.91, initial on gold ground with border of leaves and flowers with penwork and gold disks f.115.
The printed Psalter opens with a woodcut initial of King David fol.i; other major divisions are marked by woodcut initials with plant or animal motifs.
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