Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, 1410-1415].
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, 1410-1415]. 120 x 90mm. i + 140 + i leaves with modern pagination 1-275, COMPLETE : 1 1 , 2-3 6 , 4 10 , 5-6 9 , 7-11 8 ,12 2 , 13 9 , 14 8 , 15 9 , 16-18 8 , 19 6 , all miniatures on inserted leaves, ruled space: 60 x 45mm. FIVE FULL-PAGE MINIATURES WITH BORDERS TO THREE SIDES, TWO CONTEMPORARY PEN-AND-INK DRAWINGS (repaired losses to margins on ff.1-3). 19th-century black calf, gilt punchwork to spine (edges worn). PROVENANCE : (1) The text and decoration point to Bruges, then an international centre of on-spec manuscript production, often for export: Sts Remy and Bavo (1 October), popular in the southern Netherlands, appear in red in the calendar along with Donatian (14 October), Bruges’ patron saint, and the use of Rome reflects its widespread practice across Europe. The text and illustrations were produced independently; miniatures painted on the versos of singletons have been inserted at the appropriate point in the text, a system that allowed the purchaser to customise his manuscript. The iconography of the Last Judgement (f. 83v), with the arrangement of the double swords next to the mouth of Christ, very frequently illustrates the Penitential Psalms in manuscripts from Bruges. (2) The contemporary pen-and-ink drawings of Sts Catherine and Sebastian likely reflect the devotions of the original owner. (3) PRINCE CONSTANTIN RADZIWILL (1850-1920, Polish aristocrat): his bookplate. CONTENTS : Calendar, ff.2-13v; Short Hours of the Cross, ff.15-18; Mass of the Virgin, ff. 20-26; Gospel extracts, ff.26v-32; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.33-82v; Penitential Psalms, ff. 84-95; Litany, ff.96-102v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.104-139v. ILLUMINATION : The present manuscript should be considered an addition to a small collection of manuscripts made in Bruges in the first two decades of the fifteenth century – the latter stages of the ‘pre-Eyckian’ period – known as the 'Ushaw Group' (see B. Bousmanne and T. Delcourt eds, Miniatures flamandes 1404-1482 , 2011, p. 129). The downturned eyes and lips, and somewhat squat figures, coupled with the block-coloured backgrounds overlaid with gold ornament, are close to those seen in the manuscript from which the group takes its name, MS. 10 at Ushaw College, Durham, which can be precisely dated to 1408 by the colophon inscription of its scribe. The enduring influence in Bruges workshops of the Master of the Beaufort Saints (c. 1400-10) – an artist active in the Southern Netherlands and known for his work in the Beaufort Hours (London, BL, Royal 2 A XVIII) – is also clear: most notable here is the artist’s borrowing from the Annunciation miniature on f.23v of the Beaufort Hours, with the Virgin praying at her green-canopied prie-dieu in a patterned interior of a rose-pastel hue, all set upon a tiled floor graduated from pale pink to red. The subjects of the miniatures are as follows: Crucifixion, f.14v; Virgin and Child, f.19v; Annunciation, f.32v; Christ in Judgement, f.83v; Funeral Mass, f.103v. The pen-and-ink drawings depict St Catherine, f.1v, and St Sebastian, f.140.