Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [southern France, probably Avignon, 1420-1430] 170 x 115mm. 208 leaves: 1 8 , 2 4 , 3-16 8 , 17 2 , 18-27 8 , 28 2 with traces of alphabetical leaf signatures from 8 1 , modern foliation in pencil followed here, 15 lines in a formal calligraphic gothic liturgical hand in brown ink between two verticals and 16 horizontals ruled in brown, justification: 86 x 53mm, Calendar in brown and red, rubrics in red, versal capitals in alternating burnished gold and blue, three-line illuminated initials in burnished gold on grounds of blue and red with clusters of dew-coated leaves of various colours extending into margins, often with further extensions of ivy-leaf sprays in burnished gold on black hairline tendrils, each page of Calendar with similar three-quarter foliate borders, TWENTY-SEVEN LARGE MINIATURES WITH FULL BORDERS in a variety of colours and designs (lacking one gathering after f.12 and one after f.206, some damp-staining in margins at beginning and end causing some offsetting onto endleaves, light wear and rubbing). 19th-century blind-stamped purple morocco gilt, pink watered silk endleaves, gilt edges, pink silk marker, signed 'P. Serre'. Blue slipcase. AN EXQUISITE AND BEAUTIFULLY PRESERVED FRENCH BOOK OF HOURS ILLUMINATED BY THE WORKSHOP OF THE MASTER OF THE MURRI MISSAL. PROVENANCE: 1. The Calendar contains a deleted entry in blue, probably by a different hand: 'Salvator Mundi' (6 August). Traditionally, the dedication to the cathedral of Saint-Sauveur in Aix-en-Provence falls on the 7th -- allowing for scribal error, this could point to use in the region. The style of illumination is attributable to a group of artists operating in the Provence region in the first third of the fifteenth century. The lozenge-shaped arms on f.13 and f.106, party per fess azure and bendy of 6 argent and gules probably belonged to a woman. 2. In Paris in the first half of the 19th century: the purple morocco binding is by P. Serre, documented at St Jacques from 1803-1842. 3. Sir Alfred Chester Beatty (1875-1968), bought in Paris in February 1924, his W.Mss 86.III, foliation and other pencil inscriptions by Eric Millar; sold Sotheby's, 24 June 1969, lot 63, to Quaritch. 4. H.P. Kraus; Manuscript Treasures, Masterworks of Medieval and Renaissance Painting and Illumination , 1970, p.5, no 31. 5. Helmut Beck (1919-2001): his bookplate numbered '26', and sale, Sotheby's, 16 June 1997, lot 21. CONTENT: Calendar ff.1-12v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome ff.13-97: matins f.13, lauds f.26, prime f.40, terce f.46, sext f.52, none f.58, vespers f.64, compline f.73, variants for days of the week, Office for Advent and other seasons ff.78v-97; Hours of the Cross f.98-111v; Hours of the Holy Spirit f.113-126v; Penitential Psalms ff.127-150v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.151-204; Obsecro te , lacking end ff.205-206v; Mass of the Blessed Virgin, lacking beginning ff.207-207v. It was been suggested in the Beck catalogue that a gathering of perhaps 8 leaves is missing after the Calendar, however, the text of both the Calendar and the Hours of the Virgin is complete, and the medieval leaf signatures suggest that no leaves are lacking. ILLUMINATION: The miniatures in the present manuscript testify to a rich cross-fertilisation of French, Italian, Netherlandish and Germanic influences. Once attributed to a Spanish artist in probable collaboration with a French scribe, the manuscript displays marked compositional similarities to two Books of Hours (Vienna, ÖNB. Cod.s.n.2615 and Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, ms Rheinau 169) and two Missals (Paris, BnF ms lat.878 and Aix, ms 11) which have been stylistically linked by O. Pächt and D. Thoss, Französische Schule , I ( Die Illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek , I, i), 1974, pp.145-152, to a specific group of artists working in Provence in the first half of the 15th century. The present man