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BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rennes, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM
BOOK OF HOURS, use of Rennes, in Latin and French, ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM [Paris, c.1465-1470] 168 x 122mm. ii + 238 + ii leaves: 1-2 6 , 3-10 8 , 11 6 , 12-13 8 , 14 6 , 15 1 0 , 16 8 , 17 6 , 18 9 (of 8 + ix),19-21 8 , 22 1 0 , 23-30 8 , 31 4 , COMPLETE, catchwords in the lower margins of final versos, 15 lines written in brown ink in a lettre bâtarde between two verticals and 16 horizontals ruled in pink, justification: 87 x 60mm, rubrics in burnished gold or blue, text capitals touched with yellow, one-line initials and line-endings in burnished gold on grounds of red and blue patterned with white, two- to four-line initials with blue staves patterned in white on grounds of burnished gold with foliate infills in blue and red, except for f.24 A BORDER ON EVERY TEXT PAGE in the outer side margin of acanthus leaves in blue and liquid gold and hairline tendrils linking small leaves in burnished gold and coloured flowers, TWELVE FULL BORDERS of similar type for the calendar, TWENTY-THREE LARGE ARCH-TOPPED MINIATURES in burnished gold frames surrounded by three-sided bars of burnished gold decorated with flowers or foliate designs and full borders either of similar type enlivened by birds or of compartments alternately of similar type and of naturalistic flower sprays on grounds of liquid gold (early replacement of coats of arms within large initials on ff.25, 36v, 64v, 69, some wear to a few leaves, small lightly pencilled modern annotation 'St Meen' for missing rubric f.203). Red velvet replacing tanned leather over contemporary wooden boards, marbled paper of c.1700 lining endleaves and pastedowns, overlaid with red silk on pastedowns (lacking two clasps, rubbed, extremities worn). Black half-morocco box. AN IMMACULATE MANUSCRIPT ILLUMINATED BY THE COëTIVY MASTER PROVENANCE: 1. The Office of the Virgin is for the use of Rennes as is, probably, the Office of the Dead, which is the only recorded instance of this variant (see Ottosen). The owner's origins in Brittany are further supported by the very rare memorials to the Breton saints Huerveus (Hervé) and Mennanus (Méen), founder of the Abbey that bears his name near Rennes; the Anianus commemorated may be the Breton saint Iunan, original patron of St-Aignan between Brest and Rennes. Another very individual inclusion is Agrippanus, who gave his name to St-Agrève in the Ardèche, a devotion resulting from some other family association or personal event. Prayers are in the masculine. A coat of arms, presumably the patron's, originally appeared in the large initials on ff.25, 36, 64v and 69. From the style of the miniatures and delicately painted borders, the book was made in Paris: its calendar is largely Parisian. There were several Bretons prominent at the royal court, which still looked to Paris for illuminated manuscripts despite the new centres of Tours and Bourges. Among them was Olivier de Coëtivy who commissioned the book of hours which gives this illuminator his name of the Coëtivy Master (Vienna, ÖNB, cod 1929). The owner of this luxuriously individual book probably came from the same circle. 2. Some pencilled annotations on endleaves; Paris, Edouard Rahir, 19-21 May 1937, no 1372; Lyon, Lardanchet, catalogue 43, 1939, no 1253. CONTENT: Calendar with St Genevieve in gold (3 January) ff.1-12; Gospel extracts ff.13-19v; Obsecro te ff.20-24; Office of the Virgin, use of Rennes, ff.25-82: matins f.25, lauds f.36v, prime f.48v, terce f.55, sext f.60, none f.64v, vespers f.69, compline f.76v; Hours of the Cross ff.83-90v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.91-97v; Hours of the Dead ff.98-104v; Penitential Psalms, each with a devotional sequence relating it to an appropriate deadly sin, ff.105-130; Litany, ff.130-136v; Office of the Dead, ?use of Rennes, ff.137-189; Suffrages to the Trinity, the Cross, for peace, the Virgin, Sts John the Evangelist, Eutropius, Claud, Maturin, Adrian, Huervius, Agrippanus, the Cross and invoking the protection of the names of God and of th