Accession number
MS M.1169
Object title
Prayer book (MS M.1169).
Display Date
ca. 1540.
Created
Paris (?) ca. 1540.
Binding
Contemporary red morocco.
Credit line
Purchased on the Fellows Acquisition Fund, and as a gift of Mrs. Alexandre P. Rosenberg, 2009.
Description
72 leaves (1 column, number of lines varies - mostly 17) : vellum, ill. ; 95 x 65 mm
Provenance
Unidentified 16th-century patron whose defaced coat of arms appears on folios 8v and 56v; the coat of arms of a 17th century owner (quarterly, Chertemps and Colbert) appears on folios 8r and 72r; London bookseller John Cochran, item 55 in his 1829 catalogue of manuscripts, and item 43 in his 1837 catalogue; the Lyon manuscript collector Henri-Auguste Brölemann, by descent to his great-granddaughter Madame Etienne Mallet, lot 183 in her sale at Sotheby's 5 May 1926; Frederick S. Peck (1868-1947), Rhode Island politician and collector, armorial bookplate; Swann 2 April 2009, lot 59.
Notes
Ms. collection of texts written and illuminated in Paris (?) ca. 1540
Decoration: 8 miniatures (two full page) and over 20 initials of 4 to 8 lines with floral decoration on gold. There are gold architectural frames, in which the left side differs from the right, around the miniatures. There are borders of branches or cords around the text folios.
Artist: related to the Master of Franç̧ois de Rohan (?) Cf. Myra D. Orth, "The Master of Franç̧ois de Rohan," Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters: Essays in Honour of Janet Backhouse, edited by Michelle P. Brown and Scot McKendrick, London, 1998, 69-91.
Texts: Oratio Manassae; Libellus undeviginti psalmorum; Orationes quaedam Gallice; Aliquot locorum communium ex Paulo atque Augustino decerptorum.
Description of illustrations:
9v Kneeling penitent. Psalm 6. Full page. Kneeling man in a grey robe turned to the right in a landscape with a town in the distance. Above, Christ, in a golden angel filled cloud, seated with his cross and the holy ghost. "SVM QVI SVM" appears in a square against a blue ground. "DOMINE NE IN FURORE" is written on a red banderole. The scene takes place within a gold architectural frame with red and green inserts at the sides and a grotesque head and rosettes below. The frame is shaded in blue.
14v Nathan rebuking David. Psalm 50. On the left a crowned king kneels before a man holding calipers (?) and a round object (scull ?). Under the illustration, within the frame, "Miseriat __ EMEI"/ "O Deus p genuina benigite tua p immesa clementia tua dele flagita mea"
27v Crucifixion. Psalm 21. Christ on the cross between the two thieves. At the left of the cross, Mary swooning, St. John the Evangelist supporting her, Mary Magdalen and another woman at her side. At the right, two men throw dice for Christ's garment and two soldiers watch, the foremost with sword and shield. A town and hills lie in the background. The miniature is not full size. The text, "DEVS MEVS / DEVS MEVS / CVR DESERV / ISTI /ME SVT / LONGE ABES" is on a band affixed to the frame.
35v Christ offered the sponge. Psalm 68. Christ offered the sponge by a man on the left. On the right a group of soldiers in armor. There is a city in the background. The text is affixed to a band attached to the frame.
40r Christ's Victory over Death. Full page. In the center a cross with a plaque, "QVACVN / QVE DIFCO / MEDES / MORTERIS" Tonsured monk in white with black cowl on the left. On a blue banderole, "O DEVS _ MISERER _" On the right of the cross Christ emerges from a flaming hell, a green demon attacking him, and steps on a skeleton.
45v Christ in Majesty. Psalm 88. Above, Christ, his wound bared, enthroned in heaven ringed by angels. Below a red banderole separating heaven and earth, two groups of men and women and a child kneel in prayer.Underneath the illustration there is a band of text affixed to the frame, "Misericordias / DOMINI INATERNVM / CANTABO"
52v Kneeling penitent. Above in the sky, "PATER MISERICORDIARUM / __TOTIVS CONSO / LATIONIS" This miniature faces verses in French.
54v Last Supper. Christ sits in the center at a table with apostles, one leaning over a plate. Judas, in profile, sits opposite. Text in red on a band within the miniature, "Oraison devant la recep. / tio du tressacré corps & sag"
Revised: 2016
Decoration: 8 miniatures (two full page) and over 20 initials of 4 to 8 lines with floral decoration on gold. There are gold architectural frames, in which the left side differs from the right, around the miniatures. There are borders of branches or cords around the text folios.
Artist: related to the Master of Franç̧ois de Rohan (?) Cf. Myra D. Orth, "The Master of Franç̧ois de Rohan," Illuminating the Book: Makers and Interpreters: Essays in Honour of Janet Backhouse, edited by Michelle P. Brown and Scot McKendrick, London, 1998, 69-91.
Texts: Oratio Manassae; Libellus undeviginti psalmorum; Orationes quaedam Gallice; Aliquot locorum communium ex Paulo atque Augustino decerptorum.
Description of illustrations:
9v Kneeling penitent. Psalm 6. Full page. Kneeling man in a grey robe turned to the right in a landscape with a town in the distance. Above, Christ, in a golden angel filled cloud, seated with his cross and the holy ghost. "SVM QVI SVM" appears in a square against a blue ground. "DOMINE NE IN FURORE" is written on a red banderole. The scene takes place within a gold architectural frame with red and green inserts at the sides and a grotesque head and rosettes below. The frame is shaded in blue.
14v Nathan rebuking David. Psalm 50. On the left a crowned king kneels before a man holding calipers (?) and a round object (scull ?). Under the illustration, within the frame, "Miseriat __ EMEI"/ "O Deus p genuina benigite tua p immesa clementia tua dele flagita mea"
27v Crucifixion. Psalm 21. Christ on the cross between the two thieves. At the left of the cross, Mary swooning, St. John the Evangelist supporting her, Mary Magdalen and another woman at her side. At the right, two men throw dice for Christ's garment and two soldiers watch, the foremost with sword and shield. A town and hills lie in the background. The miniature is not full size. The text, "DEVS MEVS / DEVS MEVS / CVR DESERV / ISTI /ME SVT / LONGE ABES" is on a band affixed to the frame.
35v Christ offered the sponge. Psalm 68. Christ offered the sponge by a man on the left. On the right a group of soldiers in armor. There is a city in the background. The text is affixed to a band attached to the frame.
40r Christ's Victory over Death. Full page. In the center a cross with a plaque, "QVACVN / QVE DIFCO / MEDES / MORTERIS" Tonsured monk in white with black cowl on the left. On a blue banderole, "O DEVS _ MISERER _" On the right of the cross Christ emerges from a flaming hell, a green demon attacking him, and steps on a skeleton.
45v Christ in Majesty. Psalm 88. Above, Christ, his wound bared, enthroned in heaven ringed by angels. Below a red banderole separating heaven and earth, two groups of men and women and a child kneel in prayer.Underneath the illustration there is a band of text affixed to the frame, "Misericordias / DOMINI INATERNVM / CANTABO"
52v Kneeling penitent. Above in the sky, "PATER MISERICORDIARUM / __TOTIVS CONSO / LATIONIS" This miniature faces verses in French.
54v Last Supper. Christ sits in the center at a table with apostles, one leaning over a plate. Judas, in profile, sits opposite. Text in red on a band within the miniature, "Oraison devant la recep. / tio du tressacré corps & sag"
Revised: 2016
Contents
Prefatory note in Latin identifying an unpublished ms. from the Abbey of St. Victoire (Bibliotheca Victoriana) in Paris as the source for the Greek text. (f. 1v). The note appears to have been copied from the 1540 folio edition of the Vulgate produced by Robert Estienne, which contains the first printing of the Greek version of the prayer -- Prayer of Manasseh in Greek (fols. 2r-4r) and Latin (fols. 4v-6v). This is an apocryphal penitential prayer attributed to Manasseh, King of Judah -- Prayer in Greek and Latin excerpted from Ecclesiasticus 23 (fols. 7r-7v) -- Coats of arms (fols. 8r-8v) -- 19 Psalms in Latin (fols. 9r-52v) -- Miscellaneous prayers and excerpts from 2 Thessalonians 2 in French (fols. 53r-57v) -- Latin excerpts from the Pauline Epistles and writings of St. Augustine on doctrinal topics (fols. 58v-72r with 58 r and 72 v blank).
Script
Roman (?) script
Language
Greek, Latin and French
Resources
Century
Catalog link
Classification
Department