• Book of hours : use of Paris, [ca. 1480].

Extent:
  • 1 v. (125 leaves) : parchment, ill.
Date:
  • [ca. 1480].
Language:
Author:
  • Catholic Church
Abstract:
  • Ms. book of hours for the use of Paris, written and illuminated for Margaret of Rohan (ca. 1420-1495), Countess of Orleans, possibly in Tours in the 1480s by an artist trained in the style of Jean Bourdichon.
Description:
  • Decoration: ff. 3r-124r, attributed to Touraine School. Full-page miniature (f. 113v). 14 three-quarter page, arched miniatures, surrounded by borders decorated with flora and fauna on gold grounds, for the Gospel Sequence of John (f. 15r), canonical hours of the Hours of the Virgin (ff. 21r, 30v, 43r, 48v, 52v, 56r, 60r, 66r), Matins of the Short Hours of the Cross (f. 40r) and of the Short Hours of the Holy Spirit (f. 41v), Penitential psalm 6 (f. 72r), Vespers psalm of the Office of the Dead (f. 86r), and Prayer of "Adoro te" (f. 114r). 2 historiated initials of 3 lines for Prayer of "O bone ihesu per tuam misericordiam" (f. 19v) and of 4 lines for "Obsecro te" (f. 116r), both with fold foliage and filigree on maroon grounds and with blue infillings. 3-line initials with filigree in gold on brown grounds for the Gospel Sequence of John, canonical hours of the Hours of the Virgin, Matins of the Short Hours of the Cross and of the Short Hours of the Holy Spirit, Penitential psalm 6, Vespers psalm of the Office of the Dead, and Prayer of "Adoro te." 2-line initials for KLs of Calendar in alteration of gold on brown grounds with gold filigree and of gray foliage with gold infillings and red spandrels. 2-line initials with filigree in gold on maroon grounds, alternating with gray fliate initials of gold infillings and maroon spandrels for Gospel Sequences of Luke, Matthew, and Mark, psalms, hymns, lessons, chapters, canticles, and collects in the Hours of the Virgin and the Office of the Dead, and K(yrie) of Litany. 1-line initials with filigree in gold, on alternating red and maroon grounds for verslas. Line-endings in rectangles of red and maroon with gold ornament. Colors of mauve, green, yellow, carmine red, deep blue, some highlighted with gold gradations, and gold modulated with red. f. 1v has one 2-line initial S and 1-line initial C, in brown with filigree ornament.
  • Layout: Parchment; single column of 18 lines, ruled 7 mm. apart; 175 x 120 (105 x 70) mm.
Binding note:
  • 17th-century, French brown morocco, gold-tooled, with fleurs-de-lis gold-stamped inside panels, on covers and spine.
Provenance:
  • Although MS Garrett 55 is for the Use of Paris, its style and iconography point to the Loire Valley around Tours. Margaret of Rohan's heraldry on ff. 15r, 21r, and 72r, and on curtains behind Margaret on f. 113v, all bearing heraldic charges of azure, fluers-de-lis or, with a label of three points argent, each charged with a cross gules (Angoulême), dimidiated by or, mascles gules (Rohan). Margaret of Rohan (f. 113v) is portrayed as half-length, in the black outfit of a widow, against a backdrop of heraldic curtains (Angoulême and Rohan); the Countess addresses her prayer, "Adoro te," inscribed on a scroll, toward the image of the Salvator mundi, the focus of her adoration, above the text of the prayer, "Adoro te," on the facing page (f. 114r). On ff. 21r and 72r, the coats of arms are placed on the bases of piers, just as they appear on furniture in a Book of Hours for her son, Charles of Angoulême (Paris, Bibliotèque nationale, MS Lat. 1173). Early modern provenance unknown. Charles Sauvageot of Paris (1781-1860); his bookplate of Académie royale de musique, with motto, Dispersa coegi, and monogram of C and S inside front cover; his sale (Paris, 3 December 1860, lot no. 44). A musician by profession, he collected manuscripts and objects chiefly of the 15th and 16th centuries (Biographie universelle, new ed. (1843-1860), XXXVI, p. 82-83). A. Pottier (fl. middle of 19th century), a conservateur of the Bibliothèque publique, Rouen; his name and profession recorded on pastedown on f. iv at end; in the same hand, a note of "15 miniatures et 125 (?) feuillets" in bottom right of f. 124r. Ambroise Firmin_Didot, Paris, bookseller; his sale, Catalogue illustré des livres précieux IV (Paris, 1882), pp. 30-32 (lot no. 16)' pls. (ff. 113v, 86); to Labitte, A. (de Ricci, I, p. 874); a Paris bookseller, who bought a number of manuscripts from Ambroise Fimin-Didot (see Randall, II, pt. 1, cat. 145 p. 227); to Marcel Thévenin; his sale (Paris, 4 March 1903, lot no. 1); to Bernard Quaritch, London, booksellers; to Robert Garrett (1875-1961), Class of 1897, of Baltimore, Maryland.
Source acquisition:
  • Gift of Robert Garrett, 1942.
Former owner:
  • Sauvageot, Charles, 1781-1860
Contributor:
  • Princeton University Library. Manuscript. Garrett MS. 55.
References:
  • Green. p. 188 (no. 43 [f. 30v])
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