Book of Hours, Use of Utrecht, circa 1435-1445.

Book of Hours, Use of Utrecht, circa 1435-1445.

Manuscript on parchment, comprising 149 leaves, illuminated with five full-page miniatures and twenty-five large illuminated initials with extensive foliate ink tendrils extending into the margins; text in brown ink in a neat gothic liturgical hand, rubricated in red, captials and larger initials in red and blue; miniatures embellished with raised burnished gold, with full borders stretching across the open bifolia; subtle offsetting from a medieval pilgrim's badge formerly tucked between folios 88 and 89; bound in 16th century tan calf over beveled wooden boards, neatly ruled in blind and tooled in gilt, with a large knotwork emblem on the front board, surrounded by compartments decorated with leaf, flower, acorn, and column tools; the verso similarly decorated with a large fleur-de-lis in the center panel, spine decorated in gilt, neatly rebacked, lacking clasps and catches.Text in Dutch throughout, the Geert Groote (1340-1384) translation.Illustrated with the following miniatures: 1) folio 15 verso, the Anunciation; 2) folio 62 verso, the Trinity Enthroned; 3) folio 85 verso the Crucifixion, with St. John comforting Mary; 4) folio 94 verso, the Last Judgement set in the Valley of Death; 5) folio 119 verso, the Funeral Mass; likely made for the woman depicted kneeling before the crucifixion on 85 verso, holding a scroll inscribed, "O bone ihesu misere"; purchased from Banner in 1947; Sam Fogg in 1996; 5 1/2 x 3 3/4 in.