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![BOOK OF HOURS, use of Troyes, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [Troyes, 1460-70]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2015/CKS/2015_CKS_10457_0016_002(book_of_hours_use_of_troyes_in_latin_and_french_illuminated_manuscript073646).jpg?w=1)
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Details
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Troyes, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [Troyes, 1460-70]
163 x 120mm. iv + 144 + iii with modern foliation 1-145 followed here (missing ff.75 and 84, an unnumbered leaf after f.97): 15 (lacking i), 26, 3-98, 107 (lacking viii), 118, 124, 137 (lacking i), 14-198, 203 (lacking ?iv-viii), ruled space: 90 x 70mm, SIX ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES WITH FULL BORDERS inhabited by birds (lacking two miniatures, repairs to gutters). 19th-century red morocco gilt (spine scuffed).
PROVENANCE:
(1) The presence of Lupus of Troyes (29 July) in red in the calendar, along with St Aventine (4 February) also venerated in that city, the liturgy, and the illumination suggest an origin in Troyes (2) According to the 19th-century flyleaf inscription: the FRENCH ROYAL LIBRARY AT VERSAILLES, then (3) an ABBOT OF ST DENIS, then (4) LOUIS CÉSAR DE LA BAUME LE BLANC, DUC DE LA VALLIÈRE (1708-1780).
CONTENT:
Calendar, in French, ff.1-11 (lacking January to open); Gospel extracts, ff.12-17; short Hours of the Cross, ff.17v-21v; Hours of the Holy Spirit, ff.22-25v Hours of the Virgin, close to use of Troyes, ff.26-71v; Obsecro Te, in the masculine, ff.71v-74v; Joys of the Virgin, in French (lacking opening miniature leaf), ff.76-86v; prayer to St. Sebastian, ff.86v-87; Penitential Psalms (lacking opening miniature leaf), ff. 89-98; Litany, ff.98v-103v; Lord’s Prayer, f.104; Office of the Dead, ff.105-145v.
ILLUMINATION:
A finely-executed work by an illuminator from the circle of the Master of the Troyes Missal, named for a manuscript in Paris (BnF, Lat. 865A) written by the scribe Jean Coquet around 1460 (see F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, 1993, pp.182-184). The smooth ovals of the large pale faces, serene in feature and with high-arching eyebrows, and the physical presence of the straight-backed figures are comparable in quality to those produced by the Master himself, but here we see a reworking of some of his models and motifs: the fantastical castles and landscapes imported by the Master from earlier Parisian illumination are reimagined by our illuminator to great effect, and he, too, is able to deploy rich reds for brocaded tapestries and robes that make the palette glow. The stalking peacocks and small birds that flutter into the margins first derive from the Master’s works, and are immediately associable with Troyes.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows: St John on Patmos, f.12, Crucifixion, f.17v; Pentecost, f.22; Annunciation, f.26, Nativity, f.36v, Funeral Mass, f.105.
163 x 120mm. iv + 144 + iii with modern foliation 1-145 followed here (missing ff.75 and 84, an unnumbered leaf after f.97): 15 (lacking i), 26, 3-98, 107 (lacking viii), 118, 124, 137 (lacking i), 14-198, 203 (lacking ?iv-viii), ruled space: 90 x 70mm, SIX ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES WITH FULL BORDERS inhabited by birds (lacking two miniatures, repairs to gutters). 19th-century red morocco gilt (spine scuffed).
PROVENANCE:
(1) The presence of Lupus of Troyes (29 July) in red in the calendar, along with St Aventine (4 February) also venerated in that city, the liturgy, and the illumination suggest an origin in Troyes (2) According to the 19th-century flyleaf inscription: the FRENCH ROYAL LIBRARY AT VERSAILLES, then (3) an ABBOT OF ST DENIS, then (4) LOUIS CÉSAR DE LA BAUME LE BLANC, DUC DE LA VALLIÈRE (1708-1780).
CONTENT:
Calendar, in French, ff.1-11 (lacking January to open); Gospel extracts, ff.12-17; short Hours of the Cross, ff.17v-21v; Hours of the Holy Spirit, ff.22-25v Hours of the Virgin, close to use of Troyes, ff.26-71v; Obsecro Te, in the masculine, ff.71v-74v; Joys of the Virgin, in French (lacking opening miniature leaf), ff.76-86v; prayer to St. Sebastian, ff.86v-87; Penitential Psalms (lacking opening miniature leaf), ff. 89-98; Litany, ff.98v-103v; Lord’s Prayer, f.104; Office of the Dead, ff.105-145v.
ILLUMINATION:
A finely-executed work by an illuminator from the circle of the Master of the Troyes Missal, named for a manuscript in Paris (BnF, Lat. 865A) written by the scribe Jean Coquet around 1460 (see F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, 1993, pp.182-184). The smooth ovals of the large pale faces, serene in feature and with high-arching eyebrows, and the physical presence of the straight-backed figures are comparable in quality to those produced by the Master himself, but here we see a reworking of some of his models and motifs: the fantastical castles and landscapes imported by the Master from earlier Parisian illumination are reimagined by our illuminator to great effect, and he, too, is able to deploy rich reds for brocaded tapestries and robes that make the palette glow. The stalking peacocks and small birds that flutter into the margins first derive from the Master’s works, and are immediately associable with Troyes.
The subjects of the miniatures are as follows: St John on Patmos, f.12, Crucifixion, f.17v; Pentecost, f.22; Annunciation, f.26, Nativity, f.36v, Funeral Mass, f.105.
Special notice
No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni