Beschreibung:

Delft Master Prayerbook, probably of Franciscan use, in Dutch, illuminated manuscript on vellum [northern Netherlands, probably Delft, c.1455-60] A charming Prayerbook illuminated by the 'scallop group' of the so-called Delft Master, likely for use in the house of Franciscan female tertiaries of St Ursula in Delft. 175 x 130mm. 160 leaves, complete, collation: 1-410, 5-198, catchwords survive, 34 lines of text in two columns, ruled space: 130 x 95mm, capitals touched in red, rubrics in red, small initials in red or blue, larger initials in the same with contrasting penwork often shaded in green often extending into margins, major sections with large puzzle initials in red and blue extending into full borders of scrolling penwork acanthus and foliage, early green silk bookmark (a few lights spots, gathering beginning f.98 almost loose, else in excellent condition). Modern white vellum over pasteboards. Provenance: (1) The scallop-group pen-flourishes are localisable to Delft, and the presence of the extremely rare Hours of St Francis (ff.124-129), followed by those of St Ursula and her Virgins (f.129-135v) suggest that the book was made for use in the house of Franciscan female tertiaries of St Ursula in Delft. The convent was founded in either 1454 or 1457, and was abandoned by 1596. Content: Common of Saints ff.1-40v; Hours of the Passion (f.41); followed by other shorter sets of hours, including those for the Holy Sacrament (f.71), St. John the Baptist (f.80v), Sts Peter and Paul (f.85v), the Visitation of the Virgin (f.90v); St Bartholomew (f.113), St Francis (f.124), St Ursula and her Virgins (f.129) and All Saints (f.135v). Illumination: The distinctive penwork of the initials and borders found in the present manuscript is near-identical to that employed by the ‘scallop group’ of the so-called Delft Master, who flourished in the city from the 1450s to the 1480s, producing books for a wide range of patrons throughout the Northern Netherlands. We find the same ‘schulp-‘ and ‘blok-randen’, alternating red and blue penwork decoration and four-leaved flowers with central gold bezants in the previous lot, and in a manuscript in the Hague (KB, 133 G 26 – see A. Korteweg, Kriezels, aubergines en takkenbossen, 1992, p.59). Similar too is British Library, Egerton MS. 1152 (see lot 20), that likely shares the same Franciscan provenance (reproduced in Marrow, The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting, 1990, no 58, also pls. VII 51, VII 56b, VII 59, XI 98 and XII 109, and pp. 185-7 and 265-7).