Prayerbook, in Flemish and Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [Flanders (probably Ghent), c. 1480]

Prayerbook, in Flemish and Latin

illuminated manuscript on vellum. [Flanders (probably Ghent), late 15th century (c. 1480)]

iv+171 leaves, c.150–55×110mm, foliated i–iv, 1–[173]; collation: 1⁴ (ff.i–iv); 2–3⁶ (ff.1–12); 4^8-1 (1st leaf lacking), 5⁶, 6–15⁸, 16^8-1 (2nd leaf lacking), 17^8-1 (6th leaf lacking), 18–23⁸, 24^8-1 (5th leaf lacking), 25^8-1 (1st leaf lacking), written with 14 lines per page in an unusual upright gothic script (c.95×60mm), ILLUMINATED WITH TEN FULL-PAGE MINIATURES with full borders, TWELVE LARGE ILLUMINATED INITIALS with full borders, illuminated and flourished initials throughout, flaking of gold and oxidised lead white in places, occasionally some slight rubbing, a little dirty at front and back, lacking five leaves and part of a fifth, probably two with miniatures and two blanks(?), before ff.13, 99, 110, 165, and 168, the blank part of f.138 cut out; not bound, but with the remains of the original medieval sewing on five bands

PROVENANCE

(1) Probably written and illuminated in Ghent, to judge by the calendar (which includes Cornelis and Bavo, both in red; Macarius, Walburgis, Hermes, Machutus, Brandaris, and Ontcommere), and litany (which includes Brandaen); perhaps for the WINDESHEIM CONVENT OF TEN HOLE IN MELLE (about 10 km south-east of Ghent; see Monasticon Windeshemense, 1: Belgien), because ‘Onse vrauwe van Hole’ also appears (2 July, in red). It may have been made for a member of the vander Cheyne family, because ‘Katharine vander Cheyne’ (6 May) is written by the original scribe.

(2) Claas Ghenste, with his late 15th- or 16th-century inscription: ‘desen brief zal men gheven Claeyse Ghenste’, with ‘Claeyse’ repeated in the margin (f.172r).

(3) The Order of Friars Minor Charitable Trust; sold in our rooms, 5 December 2017, lot 36.

TEXT

Calendar in Flemish, rather sparse, ungraded, but with major feasts in red (f.1r); Pater noster, Creeds, Magnificat, etc. (f.13r), Mass of the Virgin (f.17), Seven Penitential Psalms (f.21r), litany (f.32v), and two collects, all in Latin; the following texts in Flemish: a prayer incorporating a Latin Confession, ‘Dit es een onseminghe hoe hen die mensche te gode … Confiteor deo et beate Maria … ’, followed by an ‘Exempel’, ‘Het was een man gheheeten Aernoude de Welkeseere neerstelike dach en nacht …’, ‘Een grote nesse tot Maria van den inghel Gabriel’, mass prayers, etc. (f.38r); prayers including the Pater noster of St Bernard (f.58r); mass prayers (f.64r); devotions to Sts Anne (f.73r), Sebastian, and Barbara; to the Passion (f.81r), to Christ (f.86r), and to Jesus’s Name (f.99r); several prayers, some with rubrics specifying that they are ‘in Vlaemsche’, starting with ‘Obsecro te domina in Vlaemsche. Ic bidde hu soete vrauwe sint Marie moeder gods …’ (f.102r); O intemerata (f.106r); Salve regina (f.151v); Magnificat (f.152r); prayer to Christ (f.154r); a prayer to St John the Baptist; nine prayers of St Gregory (f.163r); prayer for the night (f.165r); the final leaves with prayers in Flemish added by the same late 15th or early 16th century scribe as the Ambrosian Hymn, ‘Te deum’, at the beginning of the volume (f.ir).

The subjects of the miniatures are:

(f.16v) The Virgin and Child enthroned with musician angels

(f.20v) The Last Judgement

(f.37v) Christ Appealing to God before the Crucifixion

(f.57v) St Bernard Kneeling before the Virgin and Child

(f.63v) A Nun Receiving Communion

(f.72v) St Anne Enthroned with the Virgin and Child

(f.80v) The Agony in the Garden

(f.85v) Crucifixion

(f.101v) Lamentation

(f.153v) Noli me tangere