Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Utrecht, in Dutch with some incipits in Latin, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Diocese of Utrecht, 1490s] 191 x 140mm. ii + 81 + vi leaves: 1 8 , 2 9 (vi singleton with miniature, probably lacking an initial singleton with miniature), 3 1 1 (ii, v and vii singletons with miniatures), 4 9 (i, v and ix singletons with miniatures), 5 10 (iv singleton with miniature, x singleton), 6 9 (i singleton with miniature), 7 8 , 8 9 (ii singleton with miniature), stubs of two missing leaves, the first with border (offset on f.73v) and presumably miniature, 9 8 , 24 lines written in brown ink in a bastard bookhand between two verticals and 25 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 118 x 78mm, rubrics in red, text capitals touched red, one- and two-line initials in liquid gold on grounds alternately of blue and dark pink, four-line initials with acanthus staves, one with a wildman, in brown and liquid gold on dark pink or green grounds or with staves of burnished gold on 'textile' grounds in dark pink and liquid gold, THIRTY-TWO SCATTER BORDERS strewn with flowers, fruit, acanthus, beasts, birds, insects and wildmen on coloured grounds, some framed in burnished gold, SIX WITH MINIATURES, eleven filigree borders in burnished gold, most borders associated with the ONE HISTORIATED INITIAL, TWENTY-SIX SMALL MINIATURES and ELEVEN LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES, two full-page (some rubbing and small paint losses to a few miniatures and borders). Unrestored contemporary velvet over wooden boards (the velvet very worn, losses to spine and at joints, lacking clasps and catches). A LAVISHLY ILLUMINATED, AND PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN, HOURS BY THE MASTERS OF CORNELIS CROESINCK AND HUGO JANSZ. VAN WOERDEN PROVENANCE: 1. The Calendar is for the diocese of Utrecht. The choice of saints to be included in the suffrages is more personal, including the rare invocation of St Ontkommer who grew a beard to escape marriage. Dympna's cult was focussed in Geel in Brabant but she might have been invoked as the patron of the insane rather than for her locality, while Josse (Jodocus) further south at St-Josse-sur-Mer had given rise to a popular pilgrimage. 2. Christoff Freiherr zu Welsperg and Primör and his descendants: inscription on first added parchment leaf with an Italian motto and various family records added to once blank leaves at the end of the manuscript. One of the most ancient and noble Tyroleon families, this branch of the Welspergs ruled the valle di Primiero, or Primör, from 1401 to 1827. The main hand is Christoff's: on 17 November 1592 he registers his ownership and that of his beloved wife Adelberta and their children. He notes his birth, 20 October 1556 in Schloss Colpfen (Golpfen?) [another hand notes his death 6 March 1634], his marriage, 25 November 1582, his wife's birth (1561) [he adds her death 19 Jan 1611]. They have thirteen children between 1583 and 1604: their precise times of birth and starsigns are listed; the godparents show an italophile tendency, including such notables (by proxy) as Alfonso II of Ferrara (the patron of Tasso) and 'Anna Khaterina Erzherzogin zu Östereich' -- Anna Caterina Gonzaga (1566-1621), wife of Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria and Count of Tyrol. It was from the Habsburgs that the Welspergs held the fief of Primör. The second ownership inscription is that of Maximilian Carl Graf zu Wolckenstein, who in 1630 married Johanna Catherina, 10th child and 3rd daughter of the above. They had two daughters, 1631 and 1634, and she died in October 1643. The last entry records his second marriage, to Maria Christina in 1648: she died the following year. CONTENT: Utrecht Calendar ff.2-7v; prefatory prayer to the Office of the Virgin f.8v; Office of the Virgin, use of Utrecht ff.9-37v: matins f.9, lauds f.14, prime f.19v, terce f.22v, sext f.24v, none f.27, vespers f.29v, compline f.33v; Seven Verses of St Gregory ff.37v-39v; prayer on the name of Jesus ff.40-41; preface to 15 Oes of St Bridget, de