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Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands, Ghent or Bruges, c.1480s]
Details
Ghent-Bruges school
Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands, Ghent or Bruges, c.1480s]
A diminutive Book of Hours with classic Ghent-Bruges 'scatter' or 'strewn' borders, incorporating naturalistic flowers, fruits and birds, including a peacock and a goldfinch; from the great collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps.
90 x 62mm. ii (paper) + 188 + ii (paper) leaves, bound too tightly to collate, modern foliation in lower inner margin 1-183 followed here (the final leaves blanks), 17 lines, ruled space: 49 x 33mm, rubrics in red, line-fillers in blue or gold, small initials alternately in burnished gold with blue penwork flourishing or blue with red penwork flourishing, larger illuminated initials throughout, one historiated initial opening the Obsecro te with the Deposition within a three-sided scatter border, 15 full scatter borders of naturalistic flowers, fruit, birds, including a peacock and a goldfinch, and insects (lacking one Calendar leaf for April after f.4, else textually complete, all inserted full-page miniatures removed, some marginal thumbing and rubbing, a few small losses of pigment to the historiated initial). Bound in 18th-century green morocco gilt, gilt edges (a little scuffed). Fitted red morocco box gilt by Rivière and Son.
Provenance:
(1) The border illumination is typical Ghent-Bruges work of the late 15th century. The Calendar is sparse, but the presence of the somewhat rare Shropshire Saint Mildburh on 23 February (who in Gregory Clark's database Beyond Use appears in six other Hours, five of which for Sarum use, produced in Bruges or Ghent) and Amalberga of Temse on 10 July (whose major shrine is Ghent), indicates a southern Netherlandish production, perhaps destined for the international market.
(2) Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), antiquary and book collector: his MS 4075, with label on spine and inscription on first flyleaf. Published in Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca D. Thomæ Phillipps, Bart., 1837, p.58, no 4075: 'Horae. Illum. with peacock, goldfinch, and strawberry borders. sm.4to. vel. saec. xv'. Listed in his catalogue as having been acquired in 'Bruxelles'.
(3) F. Dörling, Hamburg, No. 97: Wertvolle Bucher, alte und moderne Kunst, Handzeichnungen, Gemalde, dekorative Graphik, Autographen, 12 June 1979, lot 149.
(4) Christie's, 21 June 1989, lot 29.
Contents:
Blank f.1; Calendar ff.2-12v; Hours of the Cross ff.13-17v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.18-22; Mass of the Virgin and Gospel sequences ff.23-33v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.34-94: matins f.34, lauds f.52, prime f.62, terce f.68, sext f.72, none f.76, vespers f.81, compline f.89; Advent Office ff.95-103; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.104-124; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.125-160; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.161-167v; O bone Ihesu ff.168-169v; Athanasian Creed ff.170-173v; Psalter of St Jerome ff.174-183v; blanks ff.184-188v.
Illumination:
'Strewn' or 'scatter' borders such as those present in this manuscript would often have been assigned to workshop apprentices or assistants, who took the opportunity to display their abilities to paint naturalistic flora and fauna from nature: individual species are easily recognisable. On the development of Ghent-Bruges scatter borders, see A. M. W. As-Vijvers, 'Flowering Margins: the development of strewn-flower borders in Southern Netherlandish manuscript illumination', The Green Middle Ages, 2023, pp.266-285.
Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Southern Netherlands, Ghent or Bruges, c.1480s]
A diminutive Book of Hours with classic Ghent-Bruges 'scatter' or 'strewn' borders, incorporating naturalistic flowers, fruits and birds, including a peacock and a goldfinch; from the great collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps.
90 x 62mm. ii (paper) + 188 + ii (paper) leaves, bound too tightly to collate, modern foliation in lower inner margin 1-183 followed here (the final leaves blanks), 17 lines, ruled space: 49 x 33mm, rubrics in red, line-fillers in blue or gold, small initials alternately in burnished gold with blue penwork flourishing or blue with red penwork flourishing, larger illuminated initials throughout, one historiated initial opening the Obsecro te with the Deposition within a three-sided scatter border, 15 full scatter borders of naturalistic flowers, fruit, birds, including a peacock and a goldfinch, and insects (lacking one Calendar leaf for April after f.4, else textually complete, all inserted full-page miniatures removed, some marginal thumbing and rubbing, a few small losses of pigment to the historiated initial). Bound in 18th-century green morocco gilt, gilt edges (a little scuffed). Fitted red morocco box gilt by Rivière and Son.
Provenance:
(1) The border illumination is typical Ghent-Bruges work of the late 15th century. The Calendar is sparse, but the presence of the somewhat rare Shropshire Saint Mildburh on 23 February (who in Gregory Clark's database Beyond Use appears in six other Hours, five of which for Sarum use, produced in Bruges or Ghent) and Amalberga of Temse on 10 July (whose major shrine is Ghent), indicates a southern Netherlandish production, perhaps destined for the international market.
(2) Sir Thomas Phillipps (1792-1872), antiquary and book collector: his MS 4075, with label on spine and inscription on first flyleaf. Published in Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in bibliotheca D. Thomæ Phillipps, Bart., 1837, p.58, no 4075: 'Horae. Illum. with peacock, goldfinch, and strawberry borders. sm.4to. vel. saec. xv'. Listed in his catalogue as having been acquired in 'Bruxelles'.
(3) F. Dörling, Hamburg, No. 97: Wertvolle Bucher, alte und moderne Kunst, Handzeichnungen, Gemalde, dekorative Graphik, Autographen, 12 June 1979, lot 149.
(4) Christie's, 21 June 1989, lot 29.
Contents:
Blank f.1; Calendar ff.2-12v; Hours of the Cross ff.13-17v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.18-22; Mass of the Virgin and Gospel sequences ff.23-33v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.34-94: matins f.34, lauds f.52, prime f.62, terce f.68, sext f.72, none f.76, vespers f.81, compline f.89; Advent Office ff.95-103; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.104-124; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.125-160; Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.161-167v; O bone Ihesu ff.168-169v; Athanasian Creed ff.170-173v; Psalter of St Jerome ff.174-183v; blanks ff.184-188v.
Illumination:
'Strewn' or 'scatter' borders such as those present in this manuscript would often have been assigned to workshop apprentices or assistants, who took the opportunity to display their abilities to paint naturalistic flora and fauna from nature: individual species are easily recognisable. On the development of Ghent-Bruges scatter borders, see A. M. W. As-Vijvers, 'Flowering Margins: the development of strewn-flower borders in Southern Netherlandish manuscript illumination', The Green Middle Ages, 2023, pp.266-285.
Brought to you by
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts