Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Troyes, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Lorraine, c.1490] 174 x 122mm. 120 leaves: 1 7 (of 6, i a ruled blank from end), 2 6 , 3 10 , 4 8 , 5 7 (of 8, lacking viii), 6 7 (of 8, lacking vii), 7-15 8 , 16 3 (of ?, lacking at least two further leaves), lacking a leaf before f.60, four of the lacking leaves with miniatures, occasional signature marks, pencil foliation 1-117 with three single unfoliated leaves, ruled otherwise blank, before 1, between 121 and 122, and after 117, 17 lines written in black in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 18 horizontals ruled in dark pink, top and bottom across margins, justification: 88 x 60mm, rubrics in red, one-line initials of liquid gold on grounds of blue or red with gold decoration, line-endings of the same colours, two- to five-line initials with staves of grey-blue with foliate patterning in white or magenta with patterning in gold against grounds of red with gold or blue with white respectively, EIGHTEEN FULL-PAGE BORDERS and NINETEEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES WITH ILLUSIONISTIC FRAMES of liquid gold or fictive stone against borders of inlaid stone, architecture or divided grounds with sprays of acanthus and naturalistic flowers (up to five wormholes in first three leaves, some spotting and staining, creasing or small areas of pigment loss to miniatures and borders of ff.13, 30, 45v, 113v and 114v, smudging to border and Virgin's mantle on f.56v, occasional other minor losses or smudges). French 19th-century straight-grained dark brown morocco à la cathédrale (scuffed, detached, lower joint split). REAPPEARANCE OF A MANUSCRIPT BY GEORGES TRUBERT 'ONE OF THE MAJOR FRENCH PAINTERS OF THE 15TH CENTURY' PROVENANCE: 1. The liturgical uses of the Offices of the Virgin and of the Dead and the major feasts of the Calendar -- Mastidia (7 May) and Lupus (29 July) -- indicate that the manuscript was made for use in the diocese of Troyes. The feast of Sabinianus, who was also especially venerated in the city was added in a slightly later hand. 2. The manuscript was clearly in France in the 19th century. There is an 1840 catalogue description on the front endleaf and the boards have two stamped labels from Paris customs. There are, in addition, two labels with the numbers 6280 and 3873. 3. Bernard Quaritch, January 1914, item 571. 4. Rudolf Busch: pencil note 'Sammlung Dr Busch, Mainz' on final endleaf. His sale Joseph Baer, Frankfurt,4 May 1921, lot 265. CONTENT: Calendar ff.1-12v; Gospel Extracts, followed by prayer to the Virgin Stabat mater dolorosa ff.13-21; Office of the Virgin, use of Troyes ff.22-56: matins f.22, lauds, lacking end f.30, prime, lacking opening f.37, terce, lacking end f.40v, sext, lacking opening f.43, none f.45v, vespers 48v, compline f.53; Obsecro te ff.57-59v; Hours of the Cross, lacking opening ff.60-62; Hours of the Holy Spirit followed by O Intemerata ff.62v-67v; Seven Penitential Psalms ff.68-76; Litany ff.76v-80; Office of the Dead ff.81v-109v; Suffrages to the Apostles, St Peter, Sts Peter and Paul, Stephen, Lawrence, Sabinianus, Sebastian, Nicholas, Catherine, Anthony, Magdalene and with a final rubric showing that the manuscript once had a suffrage to St Anne, probably with a miniature ff.110-117v. ILLUMINATION: Twelve of the miniatures in this manuscript are the work of Georges Trubert illuminator to René of Anjou, one of the greatest -- and most romantic -- patrons of the 15th century: Trubert was one of only two painters honoured by René with appointment as valet de chambre . Although none of his work for René is known to have survived, Trubert is frequently mentioned in the ducal accounts between 1467 and 1480, the year of René's death. Six years later he is recorded receiving gifts from René's grandson, René II, Duke of Lorraine and he was a member of the Duke's Lorraine household from 1491 to 1499. Certain work undertaken for René II between 1492 and 1494 -- a Breviary (Paris, Bibl. Arsenal, Ms