![BOOK OF HOURS, apparently use of Utrecht, in Latin and Dutch, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, third quarter 15th-century]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0016_001(book_of_hours_apparently_use_of_utrecht_in_latin_and_dutch_illuminated022210).jpg?w=1)
![BOOK OF HOURS, apparently use of Utrecht, in Latin and Dutch, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, third quarter 15th-century]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0016_002(book_of_hours_apparently_use_of_utrecht_in_latin_and_dutch_illuminated022224).jpg?w=1)
![BOOK OF HOURS, apparently use of Utrecht, in Latin and Dutch, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, third quarter 15th-century]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2017/CKS/2017_CKS_14301_0016_000(book_of_hours_apparently_use_of_utrecht_in_latin_and_dutch_illuminated022156).jpg?w=1)
Details
BOOK OF HOURS, apparently use of Utrecht, in Latin and Dutch, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, third quarter 15th-century]
A charming Book of Hours, apparently produced in Bruges for use in Utrecht, then owned by a Spanish noble family resident in Leuven and Antwerp: the 16th-century records of deaths, marriage, and baptisms added by Anna van Bouchout and Joan Fernandez Sant Vittores de la Poitilla – a surname we observe transmuted to Saint-Victor within one generation – are a fascinating testament to the integration of these families into the communities in which they settled.
145 x 103mm. ii + 65 + ii, complete but for the Office of the Dead (possibly not supplied), modern pencil foliation followed here, 16 lines, ruled space: 77 x 53mm, catchwords, occasional gathering signatures, prickings, seven 4- to 6-line illuminated initials with borders on three sides, three full-page miniatures on inserted leaves with full borders across each opening, (some waterstaining to ff.49v-50 affecting the miniature a little, margin edges sometimes cropped). Contemporary stamped pigskin (some cracks on the lower board).
Provenance: The appearance of Sts Servatius, Odulphus, Lambertus, Willibrordus and Martin of Tours in red in the calendar suggests that these Hours were produced for use in Utrecht; the use of the Hours of the Virgin is close to that of Utrecht, though not an exact match – an early owner attached pilgrim badges, whose imprints are still visible, to ff.1 & 12 – Anna van Bouchout, resident of Antwerp, ownership inscription and family records in Dutch, 1537-1540, which include the deaths of her parents, Gielis and Juliana van Bouchout, and her husband, Francisco de Chinchilla – Joan Fernandez Sant Vittores de la Poitilla, Spanish nobleman resident in Leuven, family records for 1587-88 added in Spanish in his hand, presumably inherited by ?his son – François de Saint-Victor, chevalier, seigneur de Bommalettes [Ramillies]: his 17th-century ownership inscription in French, and explanatory annotations next to the family records added by his grandmother, Anna van Bouchout, in Dutch – modern booksellers’ annotations in pencil and pen to flyleaves.
Content: ruled blank f.1; Calendar, in Dutch ff.2-7; Hours of the Cross ff.8v-11; Hours of the Virgin, unrecorded use, ff.12v-48; Seven Penitential Psalms ff.49v-58; Litany ff.59-62; later family records and ownership notes in Dutch, Spanish, and French ff.62v-65.
The subjects of the full-page miniatures are: Crucifixion f.8v; Annunciation f.12v; and Last Judgement f.49v
.
The style of the vibrant inserted miniatures, which are flanked by charming inhabited borders, is associable with the oeuvre of the so-called Masters of the Gold Scrolls, known from their elaborate decorative backgrounds. The leading providers of book illumination in Bruges from around 1420 to 1450, they served a varied clientele and decorated books for the home market and for export, as here, for use in Utrecht in the Northern Netherlands.
A charming Book of Hours, apparently produced in Bruges for use in Utrecht, then owned by a Spanish noble family resident in Leuven and Antwerp: the 16th-century records of deaths, marriage, and baptisms added by Anna van Bouchout and Joan Fernandez Sant Vittores de la Poitilla – a surname we observe transmuted to Saint-Victor within one generation – are a fascinating testament to the integration of these families into the communities in which they settled.
145 x 103mm. ii + 65 + ii, complete but for the Office of the Dead (possibly not supplied), modern pencil foliation followed here, 16 lines, ruled space: 77 x 53mm, catchwords, occasional gathering signatures, prickings, seven 4- to 6-line illuminated initials with borders on three sides, three full-page miniatures on inserted leaves with full borders across each opening, (some waterstaining to ff.49v-50 affecting the miniature a little, margin edges sometimes cropped). Contemporary stamped pigskin (some cracks on the lower board).
Provenance: The appearance of Sts Servatius, Odulphus, Lambertus, Willibrordus and Martin of Tours in red in the calendar suggests that these Hours were produced for use in Utrecht; the use of the Hours of the Virgin is close to that of Utrecht, though not an exact match – an early owner attached pilgrim badges, whose imprints are still visible, to ff.1 & 12 – Anna van Bouchout, resident of Antwerp, ownership inscription and family records in Dutch, 1537-1540, which include the deaths of her parents, Gielis and Juliana van Bouchout, and her husband, Francisco de Chinchilla – Joan Fernandez Sant Vittores de la Poitilla, Spanish nobleman resident in Leuven, family records for 1587-88 added in Spanish in his hand, presumably inherited by ?his son – François de Saint-Victor, chevalier, seigneur de Bommalettes [Ramillies]: his 17th-century ownership inscription in French, and explanatory annotations next to the family records added by his grandmother, Anna van Bouchout, in Dutch – modern booksellers’ annotations in pencil and pen to flyleaves.
Content: ruled blank f.1; Calendar, in Dutch ff.2-7; Hours of the Cross ff.8v-11; Hours of the Virgin, unrecorded use, ff.12v-48; Seven Penitential Psalms ff.49v-58; Litany ff.59-62; later family records and ownership notes in Dutch, Spanish, and French ff.62v-65.
The subjects of the full-page miniatures are: Crucifixion f.8v; Annunciation f.12v; and Last Judgement f.49v
.
The style of the vibrant inserted miniatures, which are flanked by charming inhabited borders, is associable with the oeuvre of the so-called Masters of the Gold Scrolls, known from their elaborate decorative backgrounds. The leading providers of book illumination in Bruges from around 1420 to 1450, they served a varied clientele and decorated books for the home market and for export, as here, for use in Utrecht in the Northern Netherlands.
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