Beschreibung:

BOOK OF HOURS, use of Poitiers, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Poitiers, c.1470] 155 x 110mm. 136 leaves: 1-2 6 , 3 7 (of 8, lacking vii), 4 7 (of 8, lacking vii), 5 7 (of 8, lacking iv), 6 7 (of 8, lacking i), 7 8 , 8 7 (of 8, viii cancelled blank), 9 6 (of 8, lacking i and iii), 10 5 (of 8, lacking ii, iii and viii), 11 6 (of 8, lacking i and v), 12 6 (of 8, lacking ii and viii), 13 3 (of ?, lacking at least one), 14 7 (of 8, lacking i), 15 8 , 16 6 (of 8, lacking iv and v), 16-18 8 , 19 6 , 20 2 + 3 leaves, partly ruled blanks, horizontal catchwords in the centre of lower margins on final versos, 14 lines written in brown ink in a gothic bookhand between two verticals and 15 horizontals ruled in red, justification: 95 x 56mm. rubrics in red, text capitals touched yellow, one and two-line initials in liquid gold on grounds alternately of red and blue patterned with liquid gold, one historiated initial, A PANEL BORDER ON EVERY PAGE in the side margin of acanthus and sprays of flowers and fruit in green, blue, red, pink, white and liquid gold interspersed with black dots and dashes, most with a human or grotesque figure, monkey or other animal, bird or insect, many in camaïeu d'or on brown, thirteen with figures illustrating the text, ONE LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURE with similar border to two sides and ONE SMALL MINIATURE WITH FULL-PAGE BORDER (lacking at least 16 leaves, 13 with miniatures, thumbing to some margins, slight smudging to a few borders). Modern red morocco over bevelled wooden boards, stamped in blind with a lion and a roundel of YHS, turn-ins with flower and palmette tools, spine in five compartments (slightly rubbing to corners, lower joint cracking). PROVENANCE: 1. The book is consistently compiled for the use of Poitiers. The saints in the Calendar include in red Hilary, 14 January, and his translation, 26 June, and Radegonde, 13 August, and in black Neomadia, 15 January; they reappear in the Litany with Hilary heading the confessors. The style of illumination makes it likely that the book was also made there. 2. Seventeenth-century inscriptions on ff.132v, 133v and 134v and the following blank leaves are signed fait par moy Guinbaudiere and Renaudin , a preceding Renaud may be a pen trial; there were Renaudin in Poitou. CONTENT Calendar ff.1-12; Gospel extracts ff.13-18; Obsecro te (lacking opening) ff.19-22v; O intemerata ff.22v-25; Suffrages ff.26-33: to Anne (lacking opening) f.26, Catherine f.29, Regina celi letare (opening only) f.29v, John the Baptist (lacking opening) f.30, Francis f.32v; ruled blank f.33v; Office of the Virgin, use of Poitiers ff.34-81: matins (lacking opening) f.34, lauds f.44v, (lacking matins of the Hours of the Cross), matins of the Hours of the Holy Spirit (lacking opening) f. 56, the Hours of the Coss and of the Holy Spirit otherwise following the Hours of the Virgin, prime of the Virgin (lacking opening) f.57, terce (lacking opening) f.63, sext (lacking opening) f.67, (lacking end of sext of the Holy Spirit), none (lacking opening) f.70, vespers (lacking opening) f.74, compline (lacking opening) f.79; Penitential Psalms and Litany (lacking opening and end) ff.82-99; Office of the Dead, use of Poitiers (lacking opening) ff.100-134. ILLUMINATION: The witty drolleries in the borders and the sculptural quality of the striking miniature of St Francis relate this manuscript to the work of the leading painter in Poitiers c.1450-1480, known as the Master of Adelaïde of Savoy, from a Book of Hours in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, or the Master of Poitiers 30, from a Missal in the Bibliothèque municipale in Poitiers. The delicate detailing of the St Francis, however, is not typical of the Master's simplified forms. In refinement and enjoyment of spatial illusion - the saint's right foot rests on the frame - the miniature shows the influence of the great Jean Fouquet and derives from the St Francis by Fouquet in a Book of Hours for the use of Angers, dating