.jpg?w=1)
Details
MINIATURE PRAYERBOOK, Dominican Use, in Latin with rubrics in German, DECORATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM AND PAPER
[southern Germany, late 15th century]
65 x 50mm. iv later paper + 196 + vi later paper leaves, 112, 28(of 10, lacking vii and ix, ii and iv singletons of paper), 310(ii, v, vi and viii tipped-in vellum leaves), 410, 510(ii, iv, vii, and ix tipped-in vellum leaves), 612(ii, iv, v, viii, ix and xi of paper), 714(ii, iv, v, vi, ix, x, xi and xiii of paper), 8-1010, 11-1212, 13-1510, 1610(ii, iv, vii and ix of paper), 1710(ii, iv, vii and ix of paper), 189(ii, vi and viii of paper), 196+1(vii a singleton, iii and v of paper) defective at end, 12-14 lines written in black ink in a gothic bookhand, bounded by one upper horizontal and two verticals ruled in black, justification: approx. 48 x 39mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched red, one- and two-line initials in red, two three-line initials in red with red penwork, FOUR DECORATED INITIALS of between three and six lines in height with blue staves and grounds and infills of red penwork or blue and red penwork, the spaces left for S initials in the litanies, ff.185v-188 and 191v-194, filled with decorative bands of red penwork (edges of paper leaves torn and some repaired, text worn on some leaves, margins worn with some smudging from blue painted edges). 16th-century brown calf over wooden boards, stamped in gold at centre with Christ carrying the cross, two metal catches on upper cover, remains of leather thong and metal plate of one clasp on lower cover (worn).
PROVENANCE:
1. The contents and style show that the book was written for, and probably by, a member of a Dominican house. The prayer in the feminine on f.15v suggests that this was a nunnery or house of Dominican tertiaries, perhaps in or near Augsburg from the presence in the litanies of Saints Ulric and Affra. The Dominican St Catherine of Siena, invoked in prayer and litanies, was canonised in 1461.
2. Gs Veenstra van Uliet: stamped on first endleaf.
CONTENT:
Diurnal ferial Psalter for prime, terce (lacking two leaves), sext and none, with variants for Sundays and weekdays, ff.2-38; communal ferial texts ff.38-56; ferial texts for some major feasts, including St Dominic, and prayers, including ad patronem (sic) to the Dominican saints Peter (Martyr), Thomas (Aquinas), Vincent (Ferrer) and Catherine (of Siena), ff.56-76; Office of the Virgin, Dominican use, with variants for major feasts and prayers, including one to St Dominic, ff.77v-129v; Office of the Dead, Dominican use, ff.130-173; Penitential Psalms, litanies and prayers (lacking end) ff.173-196v; prayers in two 16th-century hands on first three added paper leaves.
It was common practice in German convents for nuns to make their own devotional texts and images, Nonnenarbeit or nuns' work, recognisable from the modest materials and the direct immediacy lacking in the more finished products of professional scriptoria. A prayerbook with somewhat similar contents, probably from a Westphalian Benedictine convent, is in Keble College, Oxford (M. Parkes, The Medieval Manuscripts of Keble College, Ms 19). Although this tiny book is of a size to have been carried on the person as a talisman, it also clearly served its purpose as a functional prayerbook with carefully chosen texts.
[southern Germany, late 15th century]
65 x 50mm. iv later paper + 196 + vi later paper leaves, 112, 28(of 10, lacking vii and ix, ii and iv singletons of paper), 310(ii, v, vi and viii tipped-in vellum leaves), 410, 510(ii, iv, vii, and ix tipped-in vellum leaves), 612(ii, iv, v, viii, ix and xi of paper), 714(ii, iv, v, vi, ix, x, xi and xiii of paper), 8-1010, 11-1212, 13-1510, 1610(ii, iv, vii and ix of paper), 1710(ii, iv, vii and ix of paper), 189(ii, vi and viii of paper), 196+1(vii a singleton, iii and v of paper) defective at end, 12-14 lines written in black ink in a gothic bookhand, bounded by one upper horizontal and two verticals ruled in black, justification: approx. 48 x 39mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched red, one- and two-line initials in red, two three-line initials in red with red penwork, FOUR DECORATED INITIALS of between three and six lines in height with blue staves and grounds and infills of red penwork or blue and red penwork, the spaces left for S initials in the litanies, ff.185v-188 and 191v-194, filled with decorative bands of red penwork (edges of paper leaves torn and some repaired, text worn on some leaves, margins worn with some smudging from blue painted edges). 16th-century brown calf over wooden boards, stamped in gold at centre with Christ carrying the cross, two metal catches on upper cover, remains of leather thong and metal plate of one clasp on lower cover (worn).
PROVENANCE:
1. The contents and style show that the book was written for, and probably by, a member of a Dominican house. The prayer in the feminine on f.15v suggests that this was a nunnery or house of Dominican tertiaries, perhaps in or near Augsburg from the presence in the litanies of Saints Ulric and Affra. The Dominican St Catherine of Siena, invoked in prayer and litanies, was canonised in 1461.
2. Gs Veenstra van Uliet: stamped on first endleaf.
CONTENT:
Diurnal ferial Psalter for prime, terce (lacking two leaves), sext and none, with variants for Sundays and weekdays, ff.2-38; communal ferial texts ff.38-56; ferial texts for some major feasts, including St Dominic, and prayers, including ad patronem (sic) to the Dominican saints Peter (Martyr), Thomas (Aquinas), Vincent (Ferrer) and Catherine (of Siena), ff.56-76; Office of the Virgin, Dominican use, with variants for major feasts and prayers, including one to St Dominic, ff.77v-129v; Office of the Dead, Dominican use, ff.130-173; Penitential Psalms, litanies and prayers (lacking end) ff.173-196v; prayers in two 16th-century hands on first three added paper leaves.
It was common practice in German convents for nuns to make their own devotional texts and images, Nonnenarbeit or nuns' work, recognisable from the modest materials and the direct immediacy lacking in the more finished products of professional scriptoria. A prayerbook with somewhat similar contents, probably from a Westphalian Benedictine convent, is in Keble College, Oxford (M. Parkes, The Medieval Manuscripts of Keble College, Ms 19). Although this tiny book is of a size to have been carried on the person as a talisman, it also clearly served its purpose as a functional prayerbook with carefully chosen texts.
Special notice
This lot will not be subject to VAT either on the hammer price or the buyer's premium.