Lot n° 1
Estimation :
25000 - 35000
EUR
Result with fees
Result
: 63 700EUR
[MANUSCRIT]. [HOURS]. - Lot 1
[MANUSCRIT]. [HOURS].
Book of Hours (for use in Paris)
In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment
France, Paris, ca. 1460
With 10 large miniatures and 1 historiated initial attributable to a follower of Master François (François Le Barbier père, "enlumineur et historieur", documented from 1455 to 1472). 176 ff, preceded by a parchment leaf, followed by a ruled parchment leaf, lacking 3 leaves, two of which with miniatures (miniature of the Crucifixion for the Hours of the Cross, between ff. 103-104; miniature for the Office des morts, between ff. 110-111) [collation: i12+1, ii8, iii6, iv8, v8, vi8, vii8, viii8, ix8, x8, xi8, xii8, xiii6 (8-2, missing v and vi), xiv7 (8-1, missing vi), xv8, xvi8, xvii8, xviii8, xix8, xx8, xxi8, xxii8], advertisements, Gothic script in brown ink, 15 lines per page, ruled in pale red ink (justification: 85 x 55 mm), a second hand copies the last few leaves (ff. 175v-176), some old inscriptions (fol. 27v), rubrics in red, burnished gold endpapers, blue and dark pink backgrounds with white highlights, numerous initials in burnished gold on blue and dark pink backgrounds with white highlights (1-2 lines high), larger ornate initials marking major liturgical and textual divisions, in blue on burnished gold background with colored vine or floral decoration, one large historiated initial, 6 lines high, in blue on burnished gold background (fol. 39v), inscribed in a three-quarter illuminated border, with 10 LARGE CINTERED MINIATURES, inscribed in illuminated borders on reserved backgrounds, colored acanthus leaves, gilt scrolls and vine leaves, foliage, flowers, birds.
Bound in brown calf, pasteboard cover, boards decorated with a triple frame of bold and thin cold filets, large frame of gilt interlacing decorated with scrolls, in the center of the boards two gilt plates, one on the upper board showing a coat of arms in which are the instruments of the Passion surmounted by a crest and a rooster perched on a column, with the inscription "Redemptoris mundi arma", and the other on the lower board representing St. Michael slaying the dragon, five-ribbed spine, gilt edges (Binding of the first quarter of the 16th century, probably before 1525).
Size of leaves : 175 x 118 mm ; size of binding : 183 x 125 mm.
Some discreet restorations to the binding. Some repaints, notably at the Nativity (fol. 52) and the Coronation of the Virgin (fol. 77).
The large miniatures in these Hours are attributable to an artist who was a close follower of Master Franciscus, an illuminator active in Paris around 1460-1480. His corpus was grouped around a copy of the Cité de Dieu, BnF, fr. 18-19, identified with a manuscript described as the work of the "pictor Franciscus" in a letter dated 1473 from Robert Gaguin to his addressee, Charles de Gaucourt. In a recent article, Mathieu Deldicque identifies it with the Parisian "illuminator and historian" François Le Barbier père, mentioned in the sources between 1455 and 1472, and distinguishes it from François Le Barbier fils, attested from 1478 until his death in 1501 and identified with the Master of Jacques de Besançon.
Binding :
Magnificent Parisian binding, from the workshop identified by J. Guignard : "Atelier des reliures de Louis XII" then renamed "Louis XII-Francis I Bindery" by Needham.
It is similar to the one reproduced in P. Needham, Twelve Centuries of Bookbindings (New York, 1979), no. 40 : "Gold-tooled binding from the 'Louis XII-Francois I' bindery, 1521-1522". These bindings belong to a group of which Emile Dacier listed some thirteen witnesses, then Jacques Guignard increased this count to thirty-five known bindings. Dacier first believed that this binding workshop was located in Blois, in the service of the court of Louis XII, then Guignard placed the workshop's place of activity more in Paris, which Nixon also defends. It has been suggested that this workshop belonged to the printer Simon Vostre, sworn bookseller of the University of Paris: "From documentary evidence, we know that he possessed a well-equipped bindery, and the date of his death, 1521, seems to accord well with the apparent cessation of the 'Louis XII-François I' shop" (Needham, 1979, p. 137). It is interesting to note that the composition depicting the Instruments of the Passion on a shield surmounted by a crest and rooster and associated with the inscription "Redemptoris mundi arma" is found as a woodcut in a number of Parisian editions associated with the bookseller-printer Yolande Bonhomme, widow of Thielman Kerver, used as a typographical mark at the end of the volume (see, for example, an edition of Ludolphus of Saxony, Vita Christi...., Paris, Veuve Thielman Kerver, 1539 with this woodcut on the back of the last leaf). This composition was also used in bindings associated with the English bookseller, printer and binder
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue