Ɵ Book of Hours, Use of Paris, in Latin, manuscript on parchment [Northern France (Paris), c. 1500]

Ɵ Book of Hours, Use of Paris, illuminated in part at least by Jean Pichore, in Latin, manuscript on parchment[Northern France (Paris), c. 1500] 211 leaves (plus 3 modern paper and 3 original parchment endleaves at front, and one original endleaf followed by 3 modern paper at end; the first and last parchment leaves former pastedowns), wanting perhaps 6 single leaves (following fols. 12, 69, 93, 102, 110, and 116, probably all with miniatures), with other miniatures once removed and then skilfully reinserted into volume with newer parchment surrounds, as well as a text bifolium after fol. 192), single column of 15 lines of a professional late gothic bookhand, ruled in pale red ink, capitals touched in yellow, rubrics and major feasts in the calendar in pale red, Calendar opening with blue initials heightened with white penwork on burnished gold grounds, one- and 2-line initials throughout in same (the larger enclosing small sprigs of coloured foliage), with line-fillers to match, larger initials in same but enclosing sprays of coloured foliage, three pages with full decorated borders (fols. 13v, 40r & 67v; that on 40r with blue and burgundy grounds supporting gilt-edge foliage alongside panels of three grey scallop shells heightened with liquid gold and white brushstrokes), ten large arch-topped miniatures, each above four lines of text and surrounded by a full border of acanthus leaves and other foliage, these set on plain parchment, liquid gold, or both divided into geometric shapes, skilfully repaired tear to fol. 82, some thumbing and small scratches in places to miniatures with some small flaking to paint in those places, as well as a few small spots and stains, overall in good and presentable condition, 170 by 115mm.; nineteenth-century French citron morocco, gilt tooled with framework of fleur-de-lis and other foliate decoration surrounding a large central monogram (perhaps "WHCT" overlaid), metal bosses at each corner, the spine with two red morocco title-pieces lettered in gilt capitals "Heures / latines" "XVe siècle" between three compartments of gilt fleurs-de-lis, green watered silk doublures, gilt turn-ins, gilt edges to leaves, slight bumps and scuffs at edges Provenance:1. Almost certainly written and illuminated in Paris in the workshop of Jean Pichore, c. 1500, probably for a female patron. The Use of the Offices of the Virgin and of the Dead, identify it as a Parisian production, while the Obsecro te prayer uses feminine forms on fol. 24v. In the hands of the De La Grange family within decades of being produced and probably originally produced for a member of this family. Here numerous family records have been added in sixteenth-century hands to the original opening endleaves, the first leaf of the Calendar, and the last endleaf, recording baptisms, marriages and burials at the "eglise de Notre Dame de Semur" (Semur-en-Auxois, some 40 miles north-west of Dijon) in 1570-1606. These are signed "De la grange" or in the Latin form "Grangianus".2. Still in ownership in Dijon in 1740, when it was inscribed on a front endleaf with a note that it was already lacking some leaves: "MSS du 15e siecle. / il manque quelques vignettes. / il appartienne aux lagranges de Seurres en 1740 / au Sureffayre[?] libraire de Dijon en 1740". Seurre is some 25 miles south of Dijon.3. Bound in the nineteenth-century for a French bibliophile, whose complex monogram appears here just as on Folger Library, STC 12721, copy 3 (The vnion of the two noble and illustrate famelies of Lancastre [and] Yorke ..., 1548), and STC 23956 (Wynkyn de Worde, A ful deuot and gostely treatyse of the Imytacion and folowynge the blessed lyfe of our sauyour Cryste, c. 1519).4. In the English trade by the end of the nineteenth century, with purchase information inscribed on front paper endleaf: "Nov. 1890. from Wm George's Sons, Park St, Bristol, £12-12/-".5. Henry Hucks Gibbs (1819-1907), 1st Lord Aldenham (from 1896), and governor of the Bank of England: his ownership noted by Ferrini.5. Bruce P. Ferrini, Important Western Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts and Illuminated Leaves, cat. 1, 1987, no. 68.6. Christie's, 4 June 2008, lot 58, realising £22,500. Text:The volume comprises: Calendar, in French (fols.1r); Gospel extracts, with John beginning imperfectly (fols. 13r); the Obsecro te with feminine forms ("michi famula tua .N.", fol.24v) and the O intemerata using masculine forms ("michi miserrimo peccatori", fol.29r); two mass prayers, with rubrics in French, to be said before and after receiving communion: "Domine non sum dignus ..." and "Vera preceptio corporis et sanguinis tui ..." (fol. 32r); the Mass of the Virgin (fol. 33r); two rhyming prayers in French verse (fol. 39v); the Hours of the Virgin, with each hour after Matins, except Prime, beginning imperfectly (fol. 41r); Hours of the Cross, with Matins opening imperfectly (fol. 117r); Hours of the Holy Spirit (fol. 125v); the Seven Penitential Psalms (fol. 149r), followed by a Litany; the Office of the Dead (fol. 156r). Illumination:Jean Pichore (fl. in Paris, c. 1490-1521) is documented as having worked on two manuscripts, the first volume of Augustine's De civitate dei of c. 1501/03 (Paris, BnF., ms. lat. 2070) and the Chants royaux for Louise of Savoy of 1517 (Paris, BnF., ms. fr. 145; see especially F. Avril and N. Reynaud, Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520, 1993, pp. 282-85, and C. Zöhl, Jean Pichore: Buchmaler, Graphiker und Verleger in Paris um 1500, 2004). He seems to have managed a large family enterprise in Paris that was responsible for the illumination of a great number of classical, secular, and theological texts, notably for Cardinal Georges d'Amboise (1460-1510), archbishop of Rouen. Even following the removal of some six miniatures here, this is a fine example of the output of his workshop, with its distinctive style and craftsmanship, and some miniatures so refined they must be in his hand (see that of Mark on fol. 19r, in particular). The painting here shows the characteristic delicately finished faces, with small brushes of pink on cheeks, and with careful shading and fine penwork used to delineate facial features.The subjects of the large miniatures are: (1.) fol. 14v: Luke sitting writing his Gospel at a table; (2) fol. 16v: Matthew sitting at a writing-desk, one hand on an open book, the other placed on a book held by an angel standing before him; (3) fol. 19r: St Mark seated writing at a sloped lectern; (4) fol. 21v: the Pietà at the foot of the Cross, from which the Instruments of the Passion hang; (5) fol. 27r: the Virgin and Child enthroned, flanked by music-making angels; (6) fol.41r: the Annunciation; (6) fol. 82r: the Nativity; (7) fol. 125v: Pentecost; (8) fol. 134r: David in Penitence in the wilderness, crowned and with his harp nearby; (9) fol. 156r: Job sitting on the Dunghill in front of a church, visited by his friends.To view a video of this item, click here.