Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Amiens, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Amiens, mid-15th century] 230 x 140mm. 103 + ii leaves, paginated 1-206, pagination followed here: 1 1 2, 2 9(ix a singleton), 3-4 8, 5 9(vii a singleton), 6 8, 7 1 1(vii a singleton), 8 8, 9 7(vii a singleton), 10 7(of 8 lacking first leaf with miniature), 11-12 8, catchwords at central lower margin on most final versos, 16 lines written in brown ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 17 horizontals ruled in pink, top and bottom horizontals ruled across margins, all prickings visible, justification: 105 x 64mm; pp.25-42, early addition, mostly 17 lines written in black ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 18 horizontals ruled in violet, top two and bottom two horizontals ruled across margin, all prickings visible, justification: 105 x 75mm; rubrics in red, line-endings in burnished gold and blue, text capitals touched yellow, one-line initials alternately in burnished gold flourished with dark blue or in blue flourished with red, two-line initials in burnished gold against grounds and infills of pink and blue with white decoration, TEN LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES with frames of burnished gold above four-line initials with staves of pink or blue patterned with white on grounds of burnished gold and pink or blue patterned with white with painted diaper or foliate infills, nine with full-page borders of hairline tendrils with terminals of burnished gold trefoils and ovals and painted flowers, incorporating sprays of acanthus, flowers and fruit, one with blue and gold acanthus alternating with daisies and grapes, interspersed with gold disks and penwork flourishes, some with bar baguettes in burnished gold (margins somewhat worn, slight rubbing of some borders, flaking from large initial p.25). 18th-century blind-tooled red velvet over pasteboard, with two metal clasps (extremities rubbed, slight rubbing to upper cover). PROVENANCE: 1. The manuscript appears to have been made in and for use in Amiens: the Office of the Virgin is use of Amiens and the Calendar includes many feasts particular to Amiens with, in red, Sts Honorius (May 16), Eligius (June 26 and December 1), Firminus the Confessor (September 1), Firminus the Martyr (September 25), Fuscian (December 11); the two Saints Firminus are invoked in the Litany. The Short Office of the Dead is a use favoured in Paris but also in Arras, which had many links with Amiens. 2. Philippe de Parenty (d.1573): given to him by his mother, Catherine Bosquet, widow of Thomas de Parenty, as a token of maternal love, on his ordination, 1559, May 1 (record on added final bifolio; his inscription on p.1). Philippe matriculated at Louvain University in 1543; by 1562, he was the fourth-ranking canon of the collegiate church of St Walburga in Veurne in West Flanders. His father is probably the Thomas de Parenty of Brussels, mercier suivant la cour de la reine , Mary of Hungary, regent of the Netherlands, between 1535 and 1538. 3. Thomas de Sailly: bequest of his uncle, Philippe de Parenty, in 1573, recorded on added bifolio. 4. Thomas de Parenty, abbot of St Vaast, Arras (1523-77): his name and coat of arms recorded with the date March 21 1574 (n.s) on added bifolio; Thomas de Parenty entered the great Benedictine Abbey in 1538 as a protégé of the court of Brussels. He was surely related to Thomas, the mercier , and was perhaps brother to Simon de Parenty, whose career began as page to Margaret of Austria in 1523 and ended as Keeper of the Tapestries and assistant to the Keeper of the Jewels to Charles V. Simon was also associated with Cardinal Granvelle, chief minister for the Habsburgs and Bishop of Arras, whose influence may have assisted Thomas the Benedictine's career. 5. Catherine Bertoul, wife of Adrian de la Rue, August 10, 1575: record of gift from Thomas de Parenty. 6. Achille Gentil: 19th-century paper label in French, pasted on endleaf with number 64 o28. 7. Edme Hermitte