Book of Hours, Use of Rome, in Latin [Italy (perhaps Ferrara), c.1480]

c.105x75mm, vellum, ix(paper)+167+viii(paper), COMPLETE, collation: i12, ii-xvi10, xvii10-5 (last 5 cancelled), vertical catchwords, 15 lines (c.60x40mm), 6 HISTORIATED INITIALS with full borders, 7 seven-line initials with borders at Lauds, Prime, etc., similar but smaller initials at lesser divisions, two- and one-line initials throughout, many with VERY FINE PENWORK BIRDS AND FANTASTIC CREATURES, some wear and a few extremities of decoration cropped, 15th- or 16th-century brown leather binding with three corner-pieces and one clasp-fitting extant, worn and somewhat defective, the top edge of the textblock inscribed ‘158’

Provenance

(1) The coat of arms of the original patron appear in the border of the opening of the Hours of the Virgin (f.13r), perhaps de MONTE of Rome: azure a demi unicorn or (but without the fess), see J.B. Rietstap, Armorial Général, II, p.250. The very sparse calendar includes Petronius of Bologna (4 Oct.), but the palette and penwork decoration suggest that the book was probably made in Ferrara. (2) The Estate of Corlies Maynard (see also lot 27); to (3) the Church of the Holy Comforter, Kenilworth, Illinois.

Text and Illumination

Calendar (f.1r); Hours of the Virgin ‘secundum consuetudinem romane curie’, with Matins (f.13r), Lauds (fol.23v), Prime (f.34v), Terce (fol.38r), Sext (f.41v), None (f.44v), Vespers (f.47v), Compline (f.54r), and variants for different days of the week (f.58r); Office of the Dead (f.73r); Penitential Psalms (f.113r), litany (f.123v) and 10 collects; Hours of the Passion (i.e. Long Hours of the Cross), with Matins (f.133r), Prime (f.142v), Terce (f.144v), Sext (f.146r), None (f.148r), Vespers (f.150r), Compline (f.152r); (short) Hours of the Cross, preceded by a rubric detailing an indulgence of Pope John XXII (f.155r); Mass of the Virgin (f.159r); added prayers, etc. in a later hand (f.164v).

The subjects of the historiated initials and borders of the major illuminated pages are: (1) Virgin and Child, the border with the Annunciation and two (?)prophets (f.13r); (2) a Skull, the border with a bird and a goat (f.73r); (3) King David in prayer, the border with a swan and a hare (f.113r); (4) Man of Sorrows, the borders with a rabbit and a deer (f.133r); (5) the Cross with Nails and Crown of Thorns (f.155r); (6) a priest performing the Mass (f.159r).