Beschreibung:

MINIATURE BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rome, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Bruges, circa 1470s]. 75 x 55mm. ii + 176 + iii leaves, fifteen lines written in black ink in a round gothic bookhand, added prayer in a later hand f.176v, rubrics in red, one- and two-line initials of burnished gold on grounds of red or blue with white tracery infills of the contrasting colour, eleven large illuminated initials in blue with white tracery on burnished gold grounds with red and blue ivy-leaf infills, accompanied by full-page borders of blue and gold acanthus sprays, naturalistic flowers and fruit, hairline tendrils with ivy-leaf terminals of burnished gold, interspersed with birds, ELEVEN FULL-PAGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES with similar borders (bound out-of-order and lacking several leaves, some rubbing with consequent loss of pigment, 5 leaves with loss at lower corner). 19th-century blind-stamped calf gilt, spine with raised bands (joints and edges rubbed, upper cover detaching). The lively miniatures and decorative borders are painted in a style related to that of Willem Vrelant, the leading illuminator in Bruges, who was active from at least 1454 until his death in 1481. He and his workshop served a wide range of clients including the Burgundian court. The round script of this manuscript is characteristically Italian and suggests that this prayerbook was intended for a member of the southern European community -- merchant or diplomat -- resident in Bruges. In spite of the small scale of the book, it is richly illuminated and has an extensive number of texts: it would have been an intimate and attractive channel for the religious devotions of its owner. The subjects of the miniatures are: Crucifixion, Flight into Egypt, Annunciation, Presentation in the Temple, David in Penitence, Raising of Lazarus, Annunciation to the Shepherds, Pentecost, Coronation of the Virgin, Massacre of the Innocents, Adoration of the Magi.