BOOK OF HOURS FOR USE IN BOURGES - Lot 3

BOOK OF HOURS FOR USE IN BOURGES In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment France, Normandy (Rouen), circa 1470–1475 With 15 large miniatures attributable to the Master of the Rouen Magistrates; richly illuminated borders. 148 folios, preceded and followed by 3 folios of endpapers in modern parchment; complete [collation: i6, ii6, iii8, iv8, v8, vi8, vii8, viii8, ix8, x4, xi8, xii8, xiii6, xiv8, xv8, xvi8, xvii8, xviii8, xix8, xx6], Gothic script in brown ink (two script styles), ruled in pale red ink (text block dimensions: 96 x 65 mm), 15 lines per page, headings in red, line endings in blue or reddish-brown with ornamental decoration in liquid gold, initials drawn in liquid gold on blue or reddish-brown backgrounds (1 line high), initials painted in pale gray with white highlights and a reddish-brown undercoat (2 to 3 lines high) on gold backgrounds with floral or fruit motifs, illuminated side borders in the outer margins of nearly every page, alternating between reserved backgrounds and gold backgrounds, sometimes with geometric divisions, decorated with blue and gold acanthus leaves, flowers, fruits, and foliage; rich, complete illuminated borders around the 15 miniatures, on a gold background, featuring a design of swirling acanthus leaves in grisaille with white highlights, flowers, fruits, grapes, foliage, and margins populated by various hybrid creatures, birds, grotesques, chimeras, the seven-headed Beast of the Apocalypse (fol. 13), a monkey, and a peacock, along with 15 large arched-format miniatures. Red morocco leather binding (19th century, decoration in the style of Renaissance designs), double gilt fillet framing the covers, a second frame consisting of gilt fillets and a large ornate frieze featuring a repeating quadrilobed and floral ironwork motif, partially openwork, a central polylobed medallion, azure arabesques and scrolls, strewn with gilded and openwork florets around the central medallion; spine with 5 gilded raised bands featuring a gilded fillet on the bands and a quadrilobed and floral motif in the spaces between the bands; an inner gilded garland framing the endpapers, gilded edges, Lortic binding, signed at the bottom of the inner gilded garland on the upper endpaper. Dimensions of the binding: 185 x 125 mm; dimensions of the leaves: 180 x 120 mm. SUPERB MANUSCRIPT PAINTED BY THE MASTER OF THE ROUEN CITY COUNCIL, A RARE EXAMPLE OF A MANUSCRIPT COMMISSIONED FOR A DEVOTEE FROM THE DIOCESE OF BOURGES, DEPICTED IN PRAYER BEFORE THE VIRGIN AND CHILD. THIS IS THE SECOND KNOWN MANUSCRIPT PAINTED BY THIS ROUEN ARTIST FOR USE IN BOURGES. OF PARTICULAR NOTE ARE THE SPLENDID PAINTED BORDERS FRAMING THE FIFTEEN LARGE MINIATURES, POPULATED BY HYBRID, GROTESQUE, AND BESTIARY CREATURES. MANUSCRIPT FROM THE FAMOUS COLLECTION OF AMBROISE FIRMIN-DIDOT. Acquired by Émile Rossignol in 1949

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