[MANUSCRIPT] - Lot 25

[MANUSCRIPT] Book of Hours (Roman rite). In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment. Belgium, Bruges, third quarter of the 15th century, circa 1460–1470. With 9 large miniatures attributed to the Mildmay Master. 136 ff., preceded and followed by a flyleaf of pink tabis pasted onto a sheet of paper and then onto a sheet of parchment, complete but bound out of order, with the calendar bound at the end of the manuscript (collation: i8+1, ii8+1, iii8, iv8+2, v8+2, vi8+2, vii8, viii8, ix8, x8+1, xi8, xii8, xiii6, xiv7 (of 8, i is missing but most likely a blank leaf)), rounded Gothic script (Italianate) [Italianate Gotica Rotunda] in black ink on 17 lines, ruled in red ink (text size: 56x93mm), headings in pale red, small initials painted in blue or gold with red or dark blue filigree decoration, two-line-high initials in burnished gold on pink and blue backgrounds with white highlights, larger initials (4 to 5 lines high) introducing the major textual divisions in pink, highlighted with white decoration and set within a border of colored vine scrolls, NINE FULL-PAGE MINIATURES inserted opposite the text, miniatures set within a gold frame, blue and pink, and full-page borders on reserved backgrounds with colored acanthus leaves, flowers, fruits, and foliage, a few birds, an owl, frames and borders of the same style around the text facing the leaves with miniatures, one leaf with an illuminated border without a miniature (no missing pages: Mass of the Virgin, fol. 67). Bound in mauve velvet (late 19th- or early 20th-century binding, typical of those Count Paul Durrieu had made for his collection), smooth spine, half-linings and the front of the first endpaper in pink tabis, gilt and chiseled edges (upper joint split 2 cm; calendar with water stains, a few tiny spots in the margins, small areas of color loss in the miniature depicting the Visitation). Dimensions: 150x100mm Pocket-sized and a true little gem, this book of hours was painted in Bruges in the 1460s–1470s (in any case after 1450, as Saint Bernardine, canonized in 1450, is included in the calendar). The Italianate calligraphy suggests that this book of hours may have been copied for an Italian patron, perhaps a member of the flourishing community of Italian merchants and bankers established in Bruges in the 15th century. SEE THE FULL ENTRY IN THE PDF CATALOG (downloadable)