Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, 1460s] Epitomising the 15 th -century fashion for semi-monochrome painting at the Burgundian Court: a Bruges Book of Hours illuminated in part-grisaille by the Mildmay Master, with an unbroken French noble provenance from the 17 th century. 152 x 105mm, i + 168 + i leaves, apparently complete, preserving some catchwords and prickings, 16 lines, ruled space: 74 x 45mm, five large miniatures on inserted leaves facing illuminated initials all within full borders (a little smudging to the miniatures). Contemporary blindstamped leather binding (lacking clasps). Provenance : (1) The calendar suggests these Hours were made in Bruges for the open market: although it has been sparsely filled, perhaps with the intention of creating a neutral calendar for universal use, the inclusion of the feasts for Basil the Great (14 June) and Donatian of Reims (14 October) in red point to Bruges. (2) An armorial depicting three crowned fish (perhaps pike or trout; potentially those of the Luxembourgish commune of Chiny) added to f.167 beneath the inscription ‘quils les me rendent et je paiyay voluntairem[en]t le viii’ in a 16th-century French hand. (3) Canon Antoine de Bercy: an ownership inscription (‘Anthonius berci canonici’) in a 15th-century hand on f.168. (4) Ownership inscriptions of Jacqueline de Moustier (b.1613) on f.i and f.2: Jacqueline married Philippe-Guillaume de Belot, seigneur de Vilette in 1631, the same year that her ownership inscriptions are dated, suggesting that these Hours could have been a wedding gift. (5) Thereafter with the De Moustier family of Franche-Comté: 17th-century records of births, marriages and death are added to the calendar. By descent to the present owner. Content: ruled blanks ff.1-2; Calendar ff.3-14; Hours of the Cross ff.16-19; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.21-24; Gospel extracts ff.25-30; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome ff.32-81; Weekday Office of the Virgin ff.82-100; ruled blank f.101; Penitential Psalms ff.103-114; Litany and Collect ff.115-121; Office of the Dead ff.123-158; Obsecro te in the masculine ff.159-163; O intemerata f.163v-166; ruled blanks ff.167-168. Illumination: The subtle semi-grisaille illumination is by the Mildmay Master, named from the Book of Hours owned by the English Mildmay family (Chicago, Newberry Library, ms 35). His style is indebted to one of the favoured illuminators of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, Willem Vrelant, active in Bruges by 1454 and dead in 1481/2 (see J. Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours , 2004, pl.36). Distinguished by his graceful elongation of figures and his liking for decorous, contained expressions, the Mildmay Master orchestrates a satisfyingly limited palette, showing himself adept at the semi-monochrome painting so fashionable at the Burgundian Court. The subjects of the large miniatures are as follows: Crucifixion f.15v; Pentecost f.20v; Annunciation f.31v; David in Prayer f.102v; Funeral Mass f.122v