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This richly decorated Book of Hours of the Use of Bourges was produced around the year 1500. The calendar, in French (fols. 1r-12v), includes several saints local to Bourges highlighted in gold, and is accompanied by border vignettes of the zodiacal signs and labors of the month, each enclosed within a golden aedicula. The Book of Hours includes: the Gospel Lessons; the Passion according to John; the Hours of the Virgin of the Use of Bourges followed by the Hours of the Cross and Hours of the Holy Spirit; the Penitential Psalms, Litany, and Prayers; the Office of the Dead; and Suffrages including a prayer to Saint Symphorien of Auxerre (fol. 148r). The Gospel Lessons are introduced with a large miniature of Saint John on Patmos (fol. 13r) with two secondary scenes in vignettes below, and include further small miniatures for Luke, Matthew, and Mark, inset within the subsequent text; the Obsecro te prayer (fols. 19v-23r), introduced with a small inset miniature of the Virgin and Child with Angels, follows the Gospel Lessons directly. The remaining large miniatures at the beginning of each textual section are enclosed within elaborate architectural frames painted in shell gold, which include canopied niches on the outer margins enclosing figures in demi-grisaille, and, apart from the two full-page Annunciation miniatures forming the double-page opening for the Hours of the Virgin (fols. 34v-35r), include lower-level vignettes related to the main scene but separated from it by the text block. The miniature of David and Bathsheba (fol. 96r), which introduces the Penitential Psalms, includes a landscape view of the famous castle of Mehun-sur-Yèvre, made famous by Jean, Duc de Berry. Pages containing the miniature for the Hours of the Holy Spirit and the miniature for the Suffrage to Saint Margaret are missing. The miniatures are by an unidentified artist likely active in Bourges, and associated with Jacquelin de Montluçon, the Master of the Moneypenny Breviary, and the Master of Spencer 6. The verso of the final folio (fol. 153v) contains an elaborate heraldic achievement, likely dating from soon after the production of the manuscript, with arms (azure, a fleur-de-lys or, party per pale azure, an eagle gules) that have been attributed, probably incorrectly, to the Haland de Saint Hermine de Vattier family.
Support: Parchment; Extent: iii+153+ii; 165 x 105 mm bound to 168 x 110 mm; Foliation: Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto; Collation: 1-2 (6), 3-12 (8), 13 (3, +3), 14-19 (8), 20 (8, -7), 21 (3, +1); Catchwords: Original horizontal catchwords in center of lower margin visible at fols.: 20v; 28v; 36v; 44v; 52v; 60v; 68v; 103v; 111v; 119v; 127v; 135v
One column of eighteen lines, ruled in red ink: written area: 80 x 50 mm
Bâtarde
Twenty-four marginal calendar vignettes alternating between labors of the months (recto) and signs of the zodiac (verso); one double-page miniature; twelve large miniatures; fifteen quarter-page miniatures; one full-page coat of arms; foliate panel borders with differing designs, birds, and insects on most outer margins
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
Third upper flyleaf is an early or original parchment singleton
One leaf with the end of Hours of the Cross and the beginning of Hours of the Holy Spirit (and associated large miniature) lacking between fols. 92 and 93; one leaf with the end of the suffrage to Saint Veronica and the beginning of the suffrage to Saint Margaret (and associated small miniature) missing between fols. 149 and 150
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Bourges?, France
The feast days of the local bishop Saints Guillaume (Jan. 10, fol. 1r), Sulpice (Jan. 17, fol. 1v), and Ursin (Dec. 31, fol. 12v) are written in gold in the calendar, and Saint Symphorien of Auxerre appears in the suffrages (fol. 148r); circa 1500
French, parchment over pasteboard, late nineteenth century, red-lettered spine inscribed: "Heures nouvelles"; red clamshell case
Latin; Middle French (ca. 1400-1600)
Coat of arms on fol. 153v, thought to be those of Haland de Sainte Hermine de Vattier, mid-sixteenth century; Susan B. Minns (sold at American Art Association, 2-3 May 1922, lot 417, illus.); John Frederick Lewis, Philadelphia; given by his widow, Anne Baker Lewis, to the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1936
Bourges?, France
The feast days of the local bishop Saints Guillaume (Jan. 10, fol. 1r), Sulpice (Jan. 17, fol. 1v), and Ursin (Dec. 31, fol. 12v) are written in gold in the calendar, and Saint Symphorien of Auxerre appears in the suffrages (fol. 148r); circa 1500
Latin; Middle French (ca. 1400-1600)
Coat of arms on fol. 153v, thought to be those of Haland de Sainte Hermine de Vattier, mid-sixteenth century; Susan B. Minns
This richly decorated Book of Hours of the Use of Bourges was produced around the year 1500. The calendar, in French (fols. 1r-12v), includes several saints local to Bourges highlighted in gold, and is accompanied by border vignettes of the zodiacal signs and labors of the month, each enclosed within a golden aedicula. The Book of Hours includes: the Gospel Lessons; the Passion according to John; the Hours of the Virgin of the Use of Bourges followed by the Hours of the Cross and Hours of the Holy Spirit; the Penitential Psalms, Litany, and Prayers; the Office of the Dead; and Suffrages including a prayer to Saint Symphorien of Auxerre (fol. 148r). The Gospel Lessons are introduced with a large miniature of Saint John on Patmos (fol. 13r) with two secondary scenes in vignettes below, and include further small miniatures for Luke, Matthew, and Mark, inset within the subsequent text; the Obsecro te prayer (fols. 19v-23r), introduced with a small inset miniature of the Virgin and Child with Angels, follows the Gospel Lessons directly. The remaining large miniatures at the beginning of each textual section are enclosed within elaborate architectural frames painted in shell gold, which include canopied niches on the outer margins enclosing figures in demi-grisaille, and, apart from the two full-page Annunciation miniatures forming the double-page opening for the Hours of the Virgin (fols. 34v-35r), include lower-level vignettes related to the main scene but separated from it by the text block. The miniature of David and Bathsheba (fol. 96r), which introduces the Penitential Psalms, includes a landscape view of the famous castle of Mehun-sur-Yèvre, made famous by Jean, Duc de Berry. Pages containing the miniature for the Hours of the Holy Spirit and the miniature for the Suffrage to Saint Margaret are missing. The miniatures are by an unidentified artist likely active in Bourges, and associated with Jacquelin de Montluçon, the Master of the Moneypenny Breviary, and the Master of Spencer 6. The verso of the final folio (fol. 153v) contains an elaborate heraldic achievement, likely dating from soon after the production of the manuscript, with arms (azure, a fleur-de-lys or, party per pale azure, an eagle gules) that have been attributed, probably incorrectly, to the Haland de Saint Hermine de Vattier family.
Third upper flyleaf is an early or original parchment singleton
One leaf with the end of Hours of the Cross and the beginning of Hours of the Holy Spirit (and associated large miniature) lacking between fols. 92 and 93; one leaf with the end of the suffrage to Saint Veronica and the beginning of the suffrage to Saint Margaret (and associated small miniature) missing between fols. 149 and 150
Bâtarde
Twenty-four marginal calendar vignettes alternating between labors of the months (recto) and signs of the zodiac (verso); one double-page miniature; twelve large miniatures; fifteen quarter-page miniatures; one full-page coat of arms; foliate panel borders with differing designs, birds, and insects on most outer margins
For a full list of Decorations in this manuscript please see the Content and Decorations section by clicking on the [i] button in the top left corner of the image viewer above.
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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