Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Bruges, 1455-60] 183 x 120mm. i + 147 leaves: 1 6, 2 6, 3 1 2, 4 1 1(i & vii inserted singletons and xi a singleton with text), 5 7(i inserted singleton), 6 8(of 10, lacking 2 leaves between ii and iii), 7 8, 8 3, 9 7(iii a singleton with text and v inserted singleton), 10 9(i a singleton with text), 11 9 (ii inserted singleton), 12 8, 13 9(i inserted singleton), 14-18 8, final four leaves of undetermined structure, all inserted singletons with full-page miniatures, 19 lines written in brown ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 20 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 111 x 69mm, rubrics in pink, text capitals touched yellow, one-line initials alternately of burnished gold flourished with blue and blue flourished with red, line-fillers of the same colours, two and three-line initials of burnished gold against grounds and infills of both pink and blue with white tracery and marginal sprays of gold leaves and small pink and blue disks on hairline tendrils, three to five-line initials with monochrome patterned staves of blue against grounds of pink and burnished gold, the infills with tendrils of coloured trefoils or fleshy acanthus leaves against gold, each of these THIRTEEN LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS ACCOMPANIED BY FULL-PAGE BORDERS with tendrils of fleshy curling acanthus leaves of blue, pink, green and orange against grounds of burnished gold surrounded by hairline sprays with leaves, disks, flowerheads, birds and peacocks of colours and gold, similar borders on the facing pages surround the SIX FULL-PAGE MINIATURES within double-ruled frames in gold and pink, TWENTY-THREE SMALL MINIATURES each accompanied by a three-sided border (two leaves excised before f.44 and probably lacking inserted singletons before ff.44, 45, 57, 69, 72, 76, 85 and 111, some borders rubbed to lower margin, small losses to pigment and gold and some smudging throughout, tear to lower margin and corner of f.104 with loss of a couple of versal initials). 19th-century calf over boards, covers blind double-ruled to central panel of leafy tools within lozenges, spine in five compartments, gilt-numbered, marbled pastedowns and endleaves (slightly scuffed). PROVENANCE: 1. In illumination, the present lot belongs with a group of manuscripts made in Bruges for the English market but its texts show that it was destined for a more local purchaser; prayers are in the masculine. Prayers in Dutch have been added in 15th- and 16th-century hands on the opening leaf and on the final blanks. 2. Annotations in French on ff.6v, 7 and 11v of the Calendar chart the surrender of rebel, and largely Calvinist, towns to Alessandro Farnese, prince of Parma (1545-1592), Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1578 to 1592. The records run from the fall of Tournai 30 November 1581 to that of Dixmuide 30 July 1583. Parma's campaigns in Flanders and Brabant, which culminated in the recapture of Antwerp in 1585, were crucial in returning the southern Netherlands to obedience to Philip II of Spain and to the Roman Catholic church. 3. A list of 15 masses, very profitable for the living and the dead, has been added in French in a 16th-century hand on ff.146v-147v; 16th-century signatures and inscriptions in French appear on f.30v, f.78v (Claude de ...), f.79 (lypequyn de bruselles), f.145v; ex libris of 1604 on f.1 with pencil note including the name of De Hoochstalen. 4. Albert George, 'demorant en la ville...': signature to Latin prayer in 18th-century hand, f.30v. CONTENT: Calendar ff.1-12v; Suffrages to Saints ff.13-23v: Peter f.13, Paul f.13v, Peter and Paul f.14, John the Evangelist f.14v, John the Baptist f.15, Andrew f.15v, Stephen f.16, Lawrence f.16v, Thomas f.17, Philip and Jacob f.17v, Bartholomew f.18, Anthony f.18v, Mary Magdalene f.19, Catherine f.19v, Margaret f.20, Barbara f.20v, Elizabeth f.21, Gertrude f.21v, Ursula f.22, and her 11,000 Virgins f.22v, Claire f.23, Helen