Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Bruges, c.1510] 128 x 82mm. 208 + i leaves, 1 6, 2 8(vii & viii singletons, viii with a miniature), 3 9(iii inserted singleton with miniature), 4 1 0 (i & viii singletons with miniatures), 5 8, 6 9(iv singleton with miniature), 7 8, 8 9(vi singleton with miniature), 9 8, 10 1 0(i & vi singletons with miniatures), 11 1 0(i & vi singletons with miniatures), 12 1 0(i & ix singletons with miniatures), 13 9(v singleton with miniature), 14 4, 15 2(of 4, iii & iv cancelled blanks), 16 8, 17 6, 18 2, 19 9(i singleton with miniature), 20 8, 21 9(v singleton with miniature), 22-25 8, 26 6, 27 8 + 1, 17 lines written in a round gothic bookhand in black ink between two verticals and 18 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 71 x 47mm, rubrics in dark pink, one-, two- and three-line initials with twiggy staves on grounds of green, red or blue, EVERY PAGE WITH A FLOWER-SPRAY, BIRD OR INSECT in the outer or lower margin, TWENTY-FOUR FULL-PAGE CALENDAR BORDERS with architectural frames containing half-length figures or scenes illustrating the major feasts, and arch-topped miniatures with occupations of the month and zodiac signs, FIFTEEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES FRAMED BY NARRATIVE SCENES and facing full-page borders, either of similar type or strewn with flowers, fruit, and containing insects and birds, TWELVE LARGE MINIATURES surrounded by borders of the same types, one further full-page border with a unified scene (occasional slight smudging, rubbing or offsetting). 19th-century red roan gilt (slight rubbing to extremities). PROVENANCE: 1. There is no precise indication for original ownership: the Calendar suggests Bruges although the rounded script was particularly popular for books intended for export to Italy and the Iberian peninsula, or for their nationals resident in Bruges. One tantalising and unusual inclusion is the pair of initials in the commendation on rising, Omnipotens sempiterne deus conditor mundi.... (f.202) where J&G immediately precedes famulos tuos . 2. Sir Robert Shafto Adair: his bookplate inside upper cover 3. Fernand J. Nyssen: his bookplate on front endleaf CONTENT: Calendar ff.1-13; Salve sancta facies.... ff.15-16; Hours of the Cross ff.18-23v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.25-30; Mass of the Virgin ff.32-37; Gospel Extracts ff.37v-44; Office of the Virgin ff.46-119: matins f.46, lauds f.65, prime f.77, terce f.82, sext f.87, none f.92, vespers f.97, compline f.105, Propers for Advent f.111; Prayers of St Gregory ff.121-122; Sorrows of the Virgin ff.122-128; Suffrages to the Saints ff.129-136v: Michael f.129, Peter and Paul f.130, James f.131, Sebastian f.132, Anthony f.133, Mary Magdalene f.134, Catherine f.135, Barbara f.136; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.138-157v; Office of the Dead ff.159-200v; Prayers to the Virgin and the Trinity ff.201-208 ILLUMINATION: This is an attractive and extremely richly illustrated Book of Hours. The miniatures are close in style and composition to those in manuscripts associated with the anonymous illuminator known as the Master of Janneke Bollengier. This illuminator, who was active in Bruges in the decades around 1500, was named by Bodo Brinkmann from the Book of Hours (Mons, Collgiale Ste Waudru, Trsor, inv. 65) that was probably made in Bruges for Janneke's mother who died in 1508. An Hours in Cracow (Bib. Czartoryskich, Ms 3093), one sold in London (Sotheby's, 17 June 1997, lot 82) and the Breviary of Marguerite de Houchin-Longastre, who died in 1489, were also identified by Brinkmann as the work of the same Master. An Hours from the Beck Collection (Sotheby's, 16 June 1997, lot 32) was initially also ascribed to his hand: B. Brinkmann, Die Flamische Buchmalerei am Ende des Burgunderreichs, der Meister des Dresdener Gebetbuchs und die Miniaturisten seiner Zeit , 2 vols, Turnhout, 1997, I, pp.308-315. The miniatures in the present manuscript are painted in the same bright colours and are p