Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Troyes, in Latin and French. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM. [France, last quarter of the 15th century] 145 x 105mm. 134 leaves (lacking at least 8 leaves, one each after ff. 29, 39, 48, 52, 57, 69, 91, 123); collation: 1-2 6 , 3 4 , 4 10 , 5 5 (of 6, lacking iv), 6 8 , 7 7 (of 8, lacking i), 8 6 (of 8, lacking iii and viii), 9 7 (of 8, lacking vi), 10 6 , 11 7 (of 8, lacking v), 12-13 8 , 14 7 (of 8, lacking iv), 15-16 8 , 17 6 , 18 7 (of 8, lacking vii), 19 8 , 20 2 (misbound: the order of the gatherings should be 1-12, 14, 13, 15-20); 18 lines, single column, ruled in red, justification: 87 x 57mm, written in black ink in a bâtarde hand, rubrics in red; two- or three-line initials in white on red and gold grounds filled with naturalistic birds or flowers on gold grounds, one-line initials in gold on alternating red and blue grounds, line-fillers in gold on red and blue grounds or in the form of bare twigs in liquid gold, capital letters washed in yellow, ONE HALF-PAGE MINIATURE IN ARCHITECTURAL BORDER, 17 FULL BORDERS and more than 100 quarter borders of naturalistic flowers and blue and gold acanthus, inhabited by small birds, insects or grotesques on parti-coloured or liquid gold grounds (miniature and some borders rubbed and smudged). 16th-century blind-stamped calf, edges gilt (resewn and rebacked). Blue morocco pull-off box. PROVENANCE: The use of the Hours of the Virgin is that of Troyes, and the calendar, in French, includes saints of Troyes in red: Sabinianus (Jan. 23), Mastidia (May 7), and Lupus (July 29). The readings for the Office of the Dead correspond to a selection found in Flanders and Upper and Lower Lorraine (Knud Ottosen, The Responsories and Versicles of the Latin Office of the Dead, Aarhus, 1993, group 1p); the responses for this office do not correspond exactly to any group catalogued by Ottosen, but appear to be closest to a pattern associated with Aachen. At the end of the calendar (f.12v): anno xx supra Vcc (?). Signature of P. Mailler 1601, in margin of f.89. Box stamped with monogram CBF. Sold at Anderson Galleries, sale 2006, 7 December 1925, lot 181 (catalogue cutting laid in). TEXT: Calendar (ff.1-12v); Gospel sequences (ff.13-16v); Passion according to St. John (ff.17-26v); Hours of the Cross (ff.27-29v, incomplete at the end); Hours of the Holy Spirit (ff.30-31v, incomplete at the beginning); Hours of the Virgin, use of Troyes, Matins (ff.32-39v, incomplete at the end), Lauds (ff.40-48v), Prime (ff.49-52v, incomplete at the end), Terce (ff.53-55v), Sext (ff.56-57v, incomplete at the end), None (ff.58-60v), Vespers (ff.61-65v), Compline (ff.66-69v, incomplete at the end); Penitential Psalms and litany (ff.70-80v, 89-91v, incomplete at the end); Office of the Dead (ff.92-95v, 81-88v, 96-123v, incomplete at the end); Obsecro te (ff.124-127); O intemerata (ff.127v-129); Prayers to the Virgin and other prayers (ff.129v-134, 134v blank but ruled). ILLUMINATION: The only surviving miniature, on f.92, depicts the Three Dead.