Description
Latin illuminated manuscript on vellum, c. 19 x 13,5 cm, vellum over wood, a rubricated leaf of an early liturgical music manuscript (14th c.), flat spine, a.e.g.; in morocco box with gilt titled flat spine, 169 ff. (perhaps 1 miniature lacking between ff. 92-93; mod. pencil foliation), 17 ll. (writing area c. 11,3 x 7 cm), written in brown ink in a textualis. Very large margins. In excellent state of preservation. Beautiful Book of Hours, perhaps related to the Master of the Ariana 1 (Geneva) on account of the painted faces, with Ghent border decoration and miniatures in very fine landscapes. To the best of our knowledge this manuscript has never been on the market before. Text : Calendar (ff. 1r-12v) with i.a. Eligius, Benedictus (in July), Egidius, Remigius and Bavo (1 October, in red), Machutus (15 November), Donatianus (14 October, in red), Martinus, Thomas Cantuariensis, and, later added, "Anthoni", Anna, Benedictus (in August); Hours of the Holy Cross (ff. 14r-20v); Hours of the Holy Spirit (ff. 22r-25v); Mass of the Holy Virgin (ff. 27r-31v); beginning of the Gospel of John (32r-35v); Hours of the Virgin and Salve Regina (ff. 38r-97v): "Oracio de domina nostra" (ff. 98r-101r, 2 ll. erased on f. 101r); "Oracio de sanctis" (ff. 101v-108r); Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany (ff. 111r-129r); Office of the Dead and Prayers (ff. 131r-169r), i.a. prayers to Bavo and Livinus (Ghent), Adrianus (Geraardsbergen), Judocus; blanks: 13r, 21r, 26r, 36v-37r, 53v-54r, 65r, 70r, 74r, 80r, 85r, 92v-93r, 108v-110r, 129v-130r. Decoration : rubricated throughout; nice initials with penwork. The 24 border decorations, on a very nice warmly coloured background, with acanthus leaves, contain small vegetative and animate motifs, including apes, squirrels, butterflies, snails, birds, flowers and fruit – typical of the Flemish School. Illumination: 12 full-page miniatures in full borders (borders continued on facing page). Subjects: Crucifixion (13v) within a landscape and with religious buildings in the background, Pentecost (21v) under a porch, Holy Family in a garden (26v), Annunciation (f. 37v) with books on a shelf, and, in the margin, a female patron (?) praying with a Book of Hours, Visitation (54v), Nativity (65v), Annunciation to Shepherds (70v), Adoration of the Magi (75v), Presentation at the Temple (80v), Massacre of the Innocents (85v), by a different artist (?), and with a facing banderole "sotons de port" (???), David Penitent (110v), in a beautiful landscape; The Three Living and The Three Dead (130v) with in margin banderoles with “Penser y doy” and “Helas penser y doy”, and in facing border “nul ne set leure”. - 35 smaller miniatures: 24 calendar illustrations with Zodiac signs and the month’s professions, a Pietà, and 10 saints: John the Baptist, Adrian, Judocus, Nicholas, Francis, Catharine, Barbara, Mary Magdalene, Margaret, Elizabeth of Hungary. Provenance : unidentified arms on f. 37v “d’azur au croissant d’argent, accompagné de trois étoiles d’or, au lambel de sinople; d’argent au chevron de gueules, accompagné de trois étoiles du même”; with device “CONS…DA” on a woodcutter’s saw in the margin; on 26 October addition to Calendar “obijt henricus zoete A° 1590” (a Henricus Zoete was official receiver of the City of Ghent in 1578).
