![BOOK OF HOURS, use of Paris, in French and Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northern France] 5 January 1501](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2016/CKS/2016_CKS_12139_0119_000(book_of_hours_use_of_paris_in_french_and_latin_illuminated_manuscript095743).jpg?w=1)
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BOOK OF HOURS, use of Paris, in French and Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northern France] 5 January 1501
A charming little northern French production, with prayers in French verse, signed and dated by the scribe Jean Jenequin.
PROVENANCE:
(1) Signed and dated by the scribe Jean Jenequin on f.111: ‘Ces heures fure[n]t acheves par moy Jehan Jenequin le cinq[uieme] jo[ur] de janvier mil cinq[cent] et ung’. (2) 17th-century pentrials and ownership inscriptions on f.111v, including ‘Pierre Fonteinne’, ‘Jean Piron’, ‘Magdellene Piron’ and ‘Thomas Fontenne’, also ‘Pierre Fontaine’ in an 18th-century hand.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12, Gospel Extracts ff.13-25; Hours of Virgin, with Hours of the Holy Spirit and of the Cross intermixed ff.25-69v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.69v-81, Office of Dead ff.81-97v, prayers to the Trinity ff.97v-99; Obsecro te ff.99-101; Suffrages, including confession to God the Father, in French, ‘Mon benoit Dieu’ ff.101-107v; prayers, in French verse, including ‘O Royne qui fustes mise’ and verses to St Bernard, in Latin, ff.108-111.
‘O Royne qui fustes mise et assise’, attributed to Guillaume Alexis, survives in thirty-odd manuscripts of the 15th and 16th centuries (See J. Sonet, Répertoire d'incipit de prières en ancien français, 1956, no 1804).
ILLUMINATION:
The appealing historiated initials are influenced by the late 15th-century Parisian school of illumination, but are rendered with a strong regional flavour. They are on ff.25, 39v, 40v, 69v, and 81.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION:
157 x 105mm. 111 leaves, COMPLETE, 21 lines, ruled space: 118 x 68mm, illuminated initials throughout, nine with partial borders, FIVE HISTORIATED INITIALS with three-sided borders (lacking a single text leaf after f.107, occasional cropping to margins, margin of f.67 cut with no loss to text, some repair to gutters). 19th-century vellum binding gilt.
A charming little northern French production, with prayers in French verse, signed and dated by the scribe Jean Jenequin.
PROVENANCE:
(1) Signed and dated by the scribe Jean Jenequin on f.111: ‘Ces heures fure[n]t acheves par moy Jehan Jenequin le cinq[uieme] jo[ur] de janvier mil cinq[cent] et ung’. (2) 17th-century pentrials and ownership inscriptions on f.111v, including ‘Pierre Fonteinne’, ‘Jean Piron’, ‘Magdellene Piron’ and ‘Thomas Fontenne’, also ‘Pierre Fontaine’ in an 18th-century hand.
CONTENT:
Calendar ff.1-12, Gospel Extracts ff.13-25; Hours of Virgin, with Hours of the Holy Spirit and of the Cross intermixed ff.25-69v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.69v-81, Office of Dead ff.81-97v, prayers to the Trinity ff.97v-99; Obsecro te ff.99-101; Suffrages, including confession to God the Father, in French, ‘Mon benoit Dieu’ ff.101-107v; prayers, in French verse, including ‘O Royne qui fustes mise’ and verses to St Bernard, in Latin, ff.108-111.
‘O Royne qui fustes mise et assise’, attributed to Guillaume Alexis, survives in thirty-odd manuscripts of the 15th and 16th centuries (See J. Sonet, Répertoire d'incipit de prières en ancien français, 1956, no 1804).
ILLUMINATION:
The appealing historiated initials are influenced by the late 15th-century Parisian school of illumination, but are rendered with a strong regional flavour. They are on ff.25, 39v, 40v, 69v, and 81.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION:
157 x 105mm. 111 leaves, COMPLETE, 21 lines, ruled space: 118 x 68mm, illuminated initials throughout, nine with partial borders, FIVE HISTORIATED INITIALS with three-sided borders (lacking a single text leaf after f.107, occasional cropping to margins, margin of f.67 cut with no loss to text, some repair to gutters). 19th-century vellum binding gilt.
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