Accession number
MS S.9
Object title
Book of hours.
Created
Paris, France, ca. 1400.
Binding
18th-century calf and boards with modern joins, spine with stamped gilt decoration and applied red and gilt-stamped leather label inscribed Heer/A. /VAN DEN/GREYN.
Credit line
Bequest of E. Clark Stillman, 1995.
Description
214 leaves (1 column, 14 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 190 x 135 mm.
Provenance
A. van den Greyn (17th century?), possibly Nicholaus Varicq/Varug (inscription on fol. 216v, 17th century); Hog of Newliston (early 19th century); E. Clark Stillman Collection.
Notes
Ms. book of hours, use of Paris (Calendar, Hours of the Virgin, Office of the Dead); written and illuminated in Paris, France, ca. 1400.
Decoration: 14 full-page miniatures, 4 historiated initials, 12 calendar illustrations (occupations of the months, signs of the zodiac, prophet and apostle cycle), 1 historiated border, 3 historiated bas-de-page compositions, marginal grotesques, full borders on all pages.
The calendar illustrations of Ms S.9 reflect those in the first volume of the Belleville Breviary, ca. 1323-26 (Paris, BNF Ms. Latin 10483) where there is an expository text for the pictorial program. Only November and December have survived but they and the missing calendar illustrations were reproduced with some variations in the Hours of Jeanne of Navarre, ca. 1336-1340 (Paris, BNF Ms. nouv. acq. lat. 3145, fols 4-9v), the Hours of Yolande of Flanders, ca. 1353-1358 (London, Brit. Lib. Ms. Yates Thompson 27, fols. 1-13v), and the Petites Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, ca. 1375-1390 (Paris, BNF Ms. Latin 18014, fols. 1-6v). The calendar scenes show relevant zodiac signs and seasonal or occupational landscapes in the margin above, and, below, the Old Testament Synagogue gives way as a Prophet gives a stone block and veiled prophecy to an Apostle to be revealed as an article of faith for the Church of the New Testament. In the fourteenth century calendars the prophets and apostles have identifying inscriptions. These are lacking in Ms. 9, but the prophet David and several of the apostles, including Peter, Andrew, James Minor, James Major, and Bartholomew have attributes which link them to their counterparts in the earlier calenders.
Artist: associate of the Luçon Master and French illuminator.
Revised: 2017
Decoration: 14 full-page miniatures, 4 historiated initials, 12 calendar illustrations (occupations of the months, signs of the zodiac, prophet and apostle cycle), 1 historiated border, 3 historiated bas-de-page compositions, marginal grotesques, full borders on all pages.
The calendar illustrations of Ms S.9 reflect those in the first volume of the Belleville Breviary, ca. 1323-26 (Paris, BNF Ms. Latin 10483) where there is an expository text for the pictorial program. Only November and December have survived but they and the missing calendar illustrations were reproduced with some variations in the Hours of Jeanne of Navarre, ca. 1336-1340 (Paris, BNF Ms. nouv. acq. lat. 3145, fols 4-9v), the Hours of Yolande of Flanders, ca. 1353-1358 (London, Brit. Lib. Ms. Yates Thompson 27, fols. 1-13v), and the Petites Heures of Jean, Duke of Berry, ca. 1375-1390 (Paris, BNF Ms. Latin 18014, fols. 1-6v). The calendar scenes show relevant zodiac signs and seasonal or occupational landscapes in the margin above, and, below, the Old Testament Synagogue gives way as a Prophet gives a stone block and veiled prophecy to an Apostle to be revealed as an article of faith for the Church of the New Testament. In the fourteenth century calendars the prophets and apostles have identifying inscriptions. These are lacking in Ms. 9, but the prophet David and several of the apostles, including Peter, Andrew, James Minor, James Major, and Bartholomew have attributes which link them to their counterparts in the earlier calenders.
Artist: associate of the Luçon Master and French illuminator.
Revised: 2017
Contents
fols. 1r-12r: Calendar -- fols. 13r-18r: Gospel lessons-- fol. 18v: Obsecro Te-- fol. 22v: O Intemerata-- fols. 27r-96v: Hours of the Virgin-- fols. 97r-110r: Penitential Psalms-- fols. 110r-116v: Litany-- fols. 117r-131r: Hours of the cross-- fols. 131v-182v: Office of the dead-- fols. 183r-189r: Fifteen joys of the Virgin, in French-- fols. 189v-193v: Seven requests to Our Lord, in French-- fols. 195r-214v: Suffrages.
Script
textura
Language
Latin and French
Resources
Century
Catalog link
Classification
Department