Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Paris, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Paris, c. 1390] 148 x 108mm. 174 leaves: vii + 1 8, 2 4, 3 8, 4 4, 5-12 8, 13 2, 14-21 8, 22 4, 23 8, 24 1(of 2, ii cancelled blank), COMPLETE, 15 lines written in black ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 16 horizontals ruled in red, justification: 105 x 65mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched yellow, one- and two-line initials of burnished gold with grounds and infills alternately of dark pink and blue with white penwork decoration, line-fillers of the same, FOURTEEN MINIATURES WITH DIAPERED OR CHEQUERED GROUNDS of burnished gold, pink and blue accompanied by FULL-PAGE BORDERS with burnished gold, pink and blue baguettes and ivy-leaf sprays and three- or four-line initials with infills of ivy-leaf sprays against burnished gold grounds open the major text divisions, a further large initial with a three-sided border (borders cropped, small pigment losses or smudging to most miniatures, wear to Crucifixion miniature, final leaf with neatly repaired tear). 18th-century speckled calf, spine gilt in five compartments, gilt edges (hinges split, joints and raised bands rubbed, slight worming to spine, small split at head). PROVENANCE: 1. The Calendar and the Hours of the Virgin indicate that the manuscript was made for use in Paris; the prayers and devotions on ff.i-iv were added in France by a later owner, in the second half of the 15th century. 2. A descriptive note on the front endpaper is written in Italian in a 19th-century hand. 3. sold Sotheby's, 17 February 1936, lot 85. 4. Paul Howard Beves, July 1961: his ex-libris inside the upper cover. CONTENT: Various devotional texts opening with couplets in French beginning Les dimenches messe aurras Et festes de comandement ff.1-4v; blanks ff.5-7; Calendar ff.8-19; Gospel Sequences ff.20-28v; O Intemerata , ff.28v-31v; Office of the Virgin ff.32-97v: matins ff.32-56v, lauds ff.57-68, prime ff.68v-73v, terce ff.74-77v, sext ff.78-81v, none ff.82-85v, vespers ff.86-92v, compline ff.92v-97v; Penitential Psalms ff.98-111v; Litany ff.111v-115; Short Hours of the Cross ff.115v-118v; Short Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.119-121v; Office of the Dead, use of Paris, ff.122-165v; Doulce dame de misericorde ... ff.165v-171; Fifteen Joys of the Virgin ff.171v-174v. ILLUMINATION: In this interesting book, the layout and fine border decoration are typical of manuscripts produced in Paris in the final decades of the 14th century, such as a Book of Hours in the Walters Art Gallery, Walters 94, that has been associated with the illuminators who collaborated in the late 1380s on the completion of the Petites Heures for the Duke of Berry (L.M.C. Randall, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery , Baltimore and London 1989, cat 75, pp.202-4). The expressive illuminations, with their strong palette, decorative chequered backgrounds, lavish use of gold and broad treatment of faces are similar in style and composition to Walters 273 (see Randall, cat 89, pp.249-252). Similar compositions, particularly in the Adoration of the Magi miniature, are found in a Parisian Book of Hours sold in these rooms, 27 November 1985, lot 233. Where the miniature of the Crucifixion has been worn by the devout kissing of an early owner, the firm ink lines of the underdrawing are visible; from other traces of drawing, such as the pentimento of the rear feet of the donkey below the frame of the Flight into Egypt, it would appear that the scenes were drawn above the text without any indication of framing or decorative surround. The subjects of the miniatures are as follows: f.32 Annunciation f.57 Visitation f.68 Nativity with the Virgin tucked up in bed f.74 Annunciation to the shepherds f.78 Adoration of the magi f.82 Presentation in the temple f.86 Flight into Egypt f.92v Crowned Virgin seated on the right hand of Christ f.98 Christ in Majesty his hand raised in blessing f.115v Crucifixion with