Book of Hours

Accession number: 
MS M.286
Title: 
Book of Hours
Created: 
Paris, France, ca. 1515.
Binding: 
Maroon morocco, gold tooled, red morocco doublure by Gruel, with Parthenay arms in the center; in dark green morocco case lettered: Horae - XVI siècle.
Credit: 
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1907.
Description: 
107 leaves (1 column, 25 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 122 x 68 mm
Provenance: 
Executed for a male member of the Parthenay de Berny family of Picardy; Parthenay arms in an initial on fol. 100 (gules a chevron argent, 3 bezants or); collection Léon Gruel (1905), no. 16; purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) from Olschki in 1907; J.P. Morgan (1867-1943).
Notes: 

Book of hours for the use of Rome (Hours of the Virgin, Office of the Dead); written and illuminated in Paris, France, ca. 1515.
Artist: Follower or workshop of (?) Jean Pichore. Formerly attributed to a follower of the Master of Petrarch's Triumphs.
Decoration: 17 large miniatures, 25 small miniatures.
The calendar is missing. However, two leaves apparently from M. 286 for Dec. and Oct., showing traditional labors and zodiac signs, have shown up for auction (London, Christie's 2 June 1999, lot 19b and London, Christie's 2 June 2010, lot. 202). The final quatrains on the verso of each refer to the ages of man.
The compositions for Augustus and the Tiburtine Sibyl (fol. 26r) and the Crucifixion (fol. 50v) are close to these subjects in a Book of Hours by Jean Pichore and Remy de Laistre in 1504.
Revised: 2015

Script: 
littera humanistica rotunda
Language: 
Latin
Century: 
Classification: