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BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in French and Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Paris, c.1490-1500].
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in French and Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Paris, c.1490-1500]. 151 x 95mm. 148 leaves, rubrics in red, initials in gold on grounds of red or blue throughout, written space: 88 x 48mm. THIRTEEN LARGE MINIATURES WITHIN FULL BORDERS and FOURTEEN SMALLER MINIATURES WITHIN THREE-SIDED BORDERS (lacking miniature depicting St John before f.7, text at end of lauds on f.34v incomplete thus perhaps lacking an inserted leaf, text incomplete at end but perhaps originally so, miniature opening the Seven Penitential Psalms misbound and now f.117, occasional loss of pigment and fading to miniatures, occasional repairs to gutters e.g. at f.120). CONTEMPORARY FRENCH GILT-TOOLED BINDING with fleur-de-lys and central medallions with the initials ‘L.D.M.’ and ‘I.F.’ (spine slightly worn and cracked, edges scuffed). PROVENANCE: (1) The Obsecro te is in the masculine, and we find a male patron – most likely the original owner – kneeling beside the Virgin and Child on f.129. An unusual feature is the focus on St Susanna: two prayers to the saint follow the prayer to the Virgin. The calendar, litany and style of illumination are consistent with a localisation in Paris at the end of the 15th century. (2) The added prayers in a French 16th-century hand on ff.144-147v indicate that the manuscript came into the possession of a woman, perhaps also the owner responsible for its current binding. (3) CHARLES-LOUIS FIÈRE (1863-1937), French bibliophile from the Dauphiné: his sale Livres rares et précieux [...] provenant de la bibliothèque de Monsieur Ch.-L. Fière , 15 May 1933, lot 7 (clipping loosely inserted). CONTENT: Calendar ff. 1-6v; Gospel extracts, Obsecro te and O intemerata ff.7-17v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, with seasonal variations, ff. 18-69v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.70-81; Short Hours of the Cross ff. 82-84; Short Hours of the Holy Spirit ff. 85-87; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff. 88-119v; Suffrages ff.120-128v; prayer to the Virgin, various saints (including two to St Susanna), and other prayers in Latin and French (added in a different, but near-contemporary hand from f.144) ff.129-147v. ILLUMINATION: A CHARMING BOOK OF HOURS IN A NEAR-CONTEMPORARY BINDING, AND A HANDSOME EXAMPLE OF PARISIAN ILLUMINATION AT THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY . The miniatures are painted in a style related to that of Jean Pichore documented in Paris between 1502 and 1520 (but known to have been active earlier). The present artist’s palette of salmon pinks, greens and blues; the male figures with their ruddy cheeks and reddish flesh-tones, and the female figures with their pale, triangular faces flushed with touches of red find strong stylistic parallels in a Book of Hours at the Morgan Library, MS M.7. The subjects of the large miniatures are as follows: Annunciation f.18, Visitation f.26, Nativity f.35, Annunciation to the Shepherds f.39; Adoration of the Magi f.42; Presentation in the Temple f.45; Flight into Egypt f.48; Coronation of the Virgin f.54; Crucifixion f.82; Pentecost f.85; Raising of Lazarus f.88; David and Goliath f.117; Virgin and Child, with kneeling patron f.129. The smaller miniatures are on ff. 7, 8, 9v, 10v, 13, 120, 120v, 121, 121v, 122, 122v, 123, 123v, 124v.