Book of hours

Accession number:

MS M.1167

Title:

Book of hours

Created:

Southern Netherlands, perhaps Ghent, ca. 1490.

Binding:

Contemporary blind stamped calf over wooden boards, perhaps by James van Gavere of Ghent.--Cf. Sotheby's.

Credit:

Melvin R. Seiden Collection, 2008.

Description:

174 leaves (1 column, 21 lines), bound : vellum, ill. 180 x 120 mm

Provenance:

Apparently made for a woman of Diest, perhaps a member of the Beguine convent there. Inscribed on fol. ir: "Dit boeck heeft tot haren ghebruycke Suster Ida van Herck. Ende na haer doot salt toebehoren Stynken tot Diest Cornelis van Steyvordt wettighe dochter na inhouden des testaments van Katherina van Herck saligher. suster was van suster Yda voerschreven"; inscribed on upper pastedown: "Desen boeck hoert Chatharina van den Goeden huyse", and in a cursive hand on the facing page: "Desen boeck hoert toe Anna van den Goeden huyse beghynken tot Diest oft haer suster Helena Ano. 1605"; inscribed on fol. ir: "Elisabet van Gheel beeerft"; inscribed on fol. ir: "WB: 1740: Ff" the first two letters in monogram (the same inscription, without the date, on the upper pastedown, erased); Georges Joseph Gerard (1734-1814); the manuscripts and documents in the Gerard collection were sold by his widow in 1818 to William I (1772-1843) First King of The Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg; housed in the State Archives; transferred in 1832 to the Royal Library in The Hague, shelfmark "74 H 40"; described in the Theological catalogue of 1922; Carlo de Poortere, his MS. A.6; J.R. Ritman; his sale (London, Sotheby's, 19 June 2001, lot. 32).

Notes:

Ms. book of hours; written and illuminated in the the southern Netherlands, perhaps in Ghent, ca. 1490.
Decoration: 12 full page miniatures; 3 smaller miniatures; 3 miniatures each in a border panel; 18 historiated initials; decorated initials, line-fillers, and borders throughout.
The subjects of the full page miniatures are as follows: 1. (fol. 15v) King David in Penitence -- 2. (fol. 30v) Virgin kneeling before the Trinity -- 3. (fol. 32v) Resurrection -- 4. (fol. 93v) Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin -- 5. (fol. 97v) Annunciation to the Virgin -- 6. (fol. 101v) Pietà -- 7. (fol. 118v) Holy Family -- 8. (fol. 123v) St. Christopher carrying the Christ Child -- 9. (fol. 125v) St. Anne, the Virgin, and Christ Child -- 10. (fol. 128v) St. Jerome in the Wilderness -- 11. (fol. 132v) St. Barbara -- 12. (fol. 135v) St. Catherine. The subjects of the smaller miniatures are as follows: 1. (fol. 34r) Adoration of the Magi -- 2. (fol. 35r) St. Wilgefortis crucified -- 3. (fol. 36r) St. Susannah. The subjects of the border miniatures are as follows: 1. (fol. 31v) St. Francis receiving the stigmata -- 2. (fol. 156r) Vision of St. Hubert -- 3. (fol. 163v) Martyrdom of St. Erasmus. The subjects of the historiated initials are as follows: 1. (fol. 45r) The Veronica -- 2. (fol. 44r) The Dove -- 3. (fol. 140r) St. Mary Magdalen -- 4. (fol. 140v) St. Ursula, protecting some of the 11000 Virgins under her cloak -- 5. (fol. 141v) St. Lucy -- 6. (fol. 142r) St. Gertrude -- 7. (fol. 143r) St. Genevieve -- 8. (fol. 143v) A guardian angel -- 9. (fol. 153v) St. Cornelius -- 10. (fol. 154v) St. Sebastian, dressed as an archer -- 11. (fol. 155r) St. Leonard -- 12. (fol. 156v) St. Anthony -- 13. (fol. 158r) St. John the Baptist -- 14. (fol. 159r) St. John the Evangelist -- 15. (fol. 160r) St. Peter -- 16. (fol. 161r) St. Paul -- 17. (fol. 162r) St. Nicholas -- 18. (fol. 162v) St. George defeating the dragon.--Cf. Sotheby's.
Artists: Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximilian (fols. 15v and 31v), and an unnamed artist.
Professor Eberhard Konig has described the style of M.1167's unnamed artist as lying somewhere between that of the Master of the Wavrin of Edward IV (British Library, Royal MS. 14 E.iv), and that of the Hours of Nikolaus von Firmian (Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Hs. 241).--Cf. Sotheby's
Collation: 1-38, 4-56, 6-128, 136, 14-158, 164, 176, 188+1 (fol. 134 inserted), 19-218, 226, with full page miniatures inserted on single leaves; prickings often survive in all three outer margins, ruled in pale red ink for 21 lines of text per page, ca. 100 x 65 mm.--Cf. Sotheby's.

Script:

textura

Language:

Latin and Dutch

Resources:

Description/Bibliography

Century:

15th century

Genres:

Books of hours

Illuminated manuscripts

Miniatures (Illuminations)