A Beautifully Detailed Manuscript Book of Hours – Use of Rome, published

A Beautifully Detailed Manuscript Book of Hours – Use of Rome, published in Barcelona c. 1490. [Manuscript Book of Hours – Use of Rome.] Officium Beate Marie Virginis secundum Romanã Curiam. [Barcelona, ca. 1490.] Here is what AI says it’s worth: $111,250. Cost: Doyle, 13 November 2018, lot 100 - $112,500. Octavo (6” x 4 5/16”, 153mm x 110mm): 4 binder’s blanks (paper), 1 vellum blank, foll. 1-96 97 (blank) 98-113 114 (lineated only) 115-153 154-155 (both lineated only) 156-159 160 (blank) 161-215, 3 binder’s blanks. Ruled in violet, text in red and black with some initials in blue or gold, 14-16 lines per page; vertical catch-words. With 9 full-page miniatures gilt (all blank recto; one of which is before color; see below) and a great many gilt initials large and small. Graded calendar foll. 1r-6v, with feast days in red. Litany of saints foll. 110v-112v. Rebound in red morocco extra-gilt pointillé by Townsend & Son, Sheffield (signed at the verso of the first free end-paper), likely Victorian in date. On the spine, three raised bands. In the second panel, “MISSAL/SPANISH/M.S.” gilt. Three sets of triple gilt strokes to the head- and tail-pieces. Gilt strokes to the edges of the boards, continuing to the inside dentelle. Marble end-papers. All edges of the text-block gilt. Burgundy silk marking-ribbon. Presented in an olive morocco pull-off case. Sporadic soiling to the vellum (heavy on a few leaves), with indications of damp to the lower fore-corner (noticeable on a few leaves). The ink on a handful of leaves is deficient, worn away; but largely dark and legible. Miniatures and folios are untrimmed and retain a healthy border. Small worm-hole in the margins foll. 131r -132r. Small water-stain to fol. 136. Missing border illustration foll. 157r-215r, and the Miniature of David at Prayer is before color. Foliated in graphite at the lower fore-corner of the verso of each leaf. Acquisition note in ink to the recto of the fourth binder’s blank: “Missal of Spanish execution. Written probably at Urgell, in Catalonia. See the Catalan phrases ‘Dimecres Sant’ & ‘Lo Divendres Sant’ pages 176 & 190 + 204.[1]/ Bought in Barcelona. Oct 1862/ [signed] Wm. F[…..]” Books of hours (horae) were the most widely-produced books from the XIVc-XVIIc, and as a result they range widely in structure and illustration. Illumination or decoration is minimal in many examples and is often restricted to decorated capital letters at the start of psalms and other prayers, but books such as this, made for wealthy patrons, are extremely lavish, with full-page miniatures and intricate border illumination. Along with delicate floral motifs, there are numerous animal illustrations, featuring rabbits, snails, ladybugs, dragons, and birds, all features of the popular medieval bestiary. An unusual feature of the present horae is the prevalence of flies and bees, whose depiction is virtually unseen in manuscript illustration before the XVIc. Many of these small beasts symbolize humility; bees, for example, were characterized as the “smallest of birds,” and were praised over the centuries for their loyalty, considered to be worthy of emulation by human beings. The book appears to have been written for the personal use of someone named Christopher, whose name appears in red in the prayers of fol. 77r (“Et michi famulo tuo Chrisofor”) and on fol. 83v (“famulum tuum Christofore”). An earlier cataloguer notes that Ferdinand and Isabella gave a royal welcome (and perhaps a book?) to Christopher Columbus in 1493, returned from his first voyage, though there is no other evidence to support this connection. Another “Christopher” puzzle is included in the calendar: 10 July reads “Sancte Christofore Martiris,” though this could simply be a scribal error, as the feast of St. Christopher is typically honored on 25 July. A pleasant note is left at the end of the text by a scribe on fol. 215r: “qui scripsit lumen eternus cum gaudio consequatur” (he who wrote this text will receive eternal light and joy). The miniatures are distinctly Flemish in style, likely from Bruges or Ghent, commissioned or purchased for the purpose of this horae. The uncolored miniature of David at prayer offers a rare and fascinating insight to the sketch process of illuminators; it is unusual to find an incomplete illumination, especially within an otherwise completed volume. The text was written in Catalonia (possibly Urgell), with several notations in Catalan,[2] apparently in the same hand. Also indicative of Catalan origin, and indeed of specifically Barcelona use, the calendar includes the feasts of Eulalia of Barcelona 12 February and 13 October; St. Pacianus, the first bishop of Barcelona, 9 March; as well as the much more common George Martyr, patron saint of Catalonia, 23 April. This horae offers a fascinating fusion of Flemish and Spanish manuscript production, and is a testament to the vibrant cross-cultural exchanges of Renaissance Europe. The miniatures are bound as follows: Annunciation: fol. 15v (opp. Incipit Officium BVM) Nativity: fol. 39v (opp. Prime) Adoration of the Magi: fol. 44v (opp. Terce) Coronation of the Virgin: fol. 55v (opp. Vespers) Virgin and Child (Salvator Mundi): fol. 67v (opp. Missa BVM) Virgin and Child with St. Anne: fol. 85v (opp. Vespers of the first Saturday of Lent) King David kneeling before God:[3] fol. 98v (opp. Ps. 6 (Domine ne in furore tuo arguas me)) The Three Living and the Three Dead: fol. 115v (opp. Officium mortuorum) Kneeling female saint with a beaker (St. Hedwig?):[4] fol. 156v (opp. the prayer “Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui Ezechie regi Jude[e]”) The present volume was purchased at Doyle, 13 November 2018, lot 100. Their provenance notes are as follows: “Purchased in Barcelona October 1862 (old ink notation signed indistinctly “W. ...” ). With Charles Sessler, bookseller, Philadelphia. Marsden J. Perry, sold in his sale, Anderson Galleries 1936.” Marsden Jaseal Perry (1850–1935), with his vast banking wealth, was a renowned collector of illuminated manuscripts and Chinese porcelains. He amassed the most complete collection of Shakespeareana in existence at that time, largely from the Halliwell-Phillipps collection; he eventually sold that sub-collection to Henry Clay Folger. Two pen-and-ink Rembrandt drawings from his collection are now at the National Gallery. [1] Bold text in graphite (the ampersand between 176 and 190 is ink); “176” is written below “188,” which has been struck through. [2] 176r; 190r; 204r. [3] Graphite, ink and gold; i.e., before coloration. [4] A previous cataloguer identifies her as Mary Magdalen (on account of the unbound hair?).

Stima:€89,420.1

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