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28 - [MANUSCRIT]. [HOURS] Two fragments of a book of hours for th…
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Estimate €6,000 - €8,000
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[MANUSCRIT]. [HOURS] Two fragments of a book of hours for the use of preaching friars (Dominicans). In French and Latin, manuscripts on illuminated parchment. Southern Netherlands, most likely Bruges, circa 1510-1530. Two independently bound volumes. - Volume 1: Office de la Vierge au complet [matins to compline], 46 ff, preceded and followed by two paper endpapers [collation volume 1: i-v8 vi6 ]. Bound in full stiff vellum, smooth spine decorated with gilt fleurons and fillets, framed in triple gilt fillets on the boards, gilt fleurons at the four corners. Heading in pale red confirming the unusual usage: Les heures de Nostre Dame selon l'usage des freres prescheurs. - Volume 2: Oraisons diverses, dont Oraisons de saint Grégoire, Oraisons de saint Thomas, 14 ff. preceded and followed by two endpapers [collation: i1 (last leaf of a quire), ii1 (last leaf of a quire), iii1 (last leaf of a quire), iv8, v4 (of a quire of 4)]. Heading in pale red fol. 6v: Oraison a tous les sains de la religion des freres prescheurs. Elements common to both volumes: text copied on one column, bastard script in brown ink, 18 lines per page, ruled in red ink (justification: 100 x 68 mm), headings in pale red ink, 1-line initials, liquid gold on dark red and blue backgrounds, line ends with liquid gold ornamentation on green or brown or blue and red backgrounds, larger initials in grey and white on liquid gold backgrounds, 8 large initials (5 lines high) in grey and white on green or pink backgrounds with floral motifs, a bird, a fly, strawberries, 2 trompe l'oeil illuminated borders with birds, butterflies, pea flowers, carnations, pansies, lilies, strawberries and acanthus leaves on gold backgrounds. Some paint chipping, not serious, split parchment on fol. 2 of vol. 2; some stains in the margins of ff. 11v-12, 27v-28 of vol. 1 and f. 2v of vol. 2, otherwise good condition. Bound in full stiff vellum, smooth spines decorated with gilt fleurons and fillets, framed in triple gilt fillets on the boards, gilt fleurons at the four corners, marbled paper counter-guards and end-papers. Some stains to boards but generally in good condition. Size of bindings: 175 x 120 mm; size of leaves: 170 x 110 mm. This manuscript was produced for the unusual liturgical use of the friars preachers (Dominicans) and for a French-speaking patron (in view of the rubrics in French). The Dominican use is confirmed by the rubrics which read: Les heures de nostre dame selon l'usage des freres prescheurs (vol. 1, fol. 1), and among the prayers in vol. 2 contains the Dominican prayer: "Christi pia gratia sanctos sublimavit quos patris dominici...". (ff. 6v-7) and several prayers attributed to Saint Thomas Aquinas (ff. 9-14). The handwriting in this manuscript has all the characteristics of that attributed to Johannes or Jan of Bomalia (Hanskin, "little Jan" of Bomalia). This copyist signed two books of hours "Per Hanskin de Bomalia" (The Hague, Meermanno-Westreenianum, MS 10 E 3, f. 223) and "Finis libri huius per me Hanskin de Bomalia" in a book of hours from the former Rodocanachi Collection (Paris, Drouot, 7 May 1934, lot 52; Sotheby's, London, 23 June 1992, lot 93; Tenschert, Tage und Werke, 2021, no. 5). He signed the Hours of James IV of Scotland with his Latin name: "Perf[ecit] Io[hannes] de Bomalia" (Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. 1897, f. 58v). This copyist is listed in the archives of the confraternity of Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Luke between 1489 and 1499 (see Weale, 1872-1873, pp. 318, 322, 329, 332). In one archive he is listed as a Dominican friar. Macfarlane (1960, p. 16) attributed a number of other books of hours to the copyist Hanskin/Johannes de Bomalia, and Brinkmann (1997) added further manuscripts to this list. We now know that the copyist Hanskin/Johannes de Bomalia collaborated with painters such as the Master of Sir George Talbot, Simon Bening, the Master of the Musgrave Hours and Simon Bening's 'Calendar Decorator' ('Leber Hours' (Rouen, BM, MS Leber 3028)) (see As-Vijvers, 2013). Given the palaeographic characteristics of his handwriting, Hanskin/Johannes de Bomalia has also been dubbed the 'Thin Descender Scribe' (see R. Gay, 2006). Lieve de Kesel (2001) sees two hands in the Bomalia group. In the case of the two present fragments of Hours for the Use of Preaching Friars, the scribe is clearly the same as the one who copied the book of hours signed "Per Hanskin de Bomalia" preserved in The Hague (Meermanno-Westreenianum, MS 10 E 3). What is more, the artist who painted the trompe-l'œil borders and initials in both manuscripts appears to be the same: the 'decorator' or painter of the Leber Hours calendar (Rouen, BM, Leber 3028), a frequent collaborator of Simon Bening (see As-Vijvers 2013, p. 312). Text: Volume 1: ff. 1-45v, Hours of the Virgin, Dominican usage, rubric in French, Les heures de nostre dame selon l'usage des freres prescheurs; ff. 1-9, matins; f. 9v, blank; ff. 10-19, lauds; f. 19v, blank; ff. 20-23, prime; f. 23v, blank; ff. 24-27v, tierce; ff. 28-30v, sexte (rubric, "a mydi"), ff. 31-33v, none; ff. 34-41, vespers; f. 41v, blank; ff. 42-45v, compline; f. 46r-v, blank. Volume 2: ff. 1-14v, prayers including ff. 1-2v, rubric, Les oroisons saint gregoire; ff. 3-4, rubrics, Oroison a nostre bon angele; Item oroison a tous les angeles et singulierement a monseigneur saint michiel; f. 4, heading, Deux oroisons pour dire au matin ; ff. 4-5, heading, Item oroison pour dire du soir quand on va couchier ; f. 5-5v, heading, Item austres petites oroisons a dire aussy du soir ; ff. 5v-6, heading, Oroison pour dire a dieu quand on veult cheminer et premierement on doitibt dire ce pseaulme ; f. 6v, incipit, " Adesto supplicationibus nostris omnipotens deus... ", " Miserere quesumus domine famulis tuis...."; ff. 6v-7v, rubric, Oroison a tous les sains de la religion des freres prescheurs, incipit, "Christi pia gratia sanctos sublimavit quos patris dominici ordo propagavit nos eorum...."; f. 7v, heading, Une belle et devote oroison a tous les sains de paradis; ff. 7v-8, heading, Item encores aultre oroison a tous le saintz; ff. 8-9, heading, Une devote oroison a dire devant qu'on se confesse ou incontinent après sa confession; ff. 9-10v, heading, Oroison que composa saint thomas pour dire quand on veult recepvoir le corps notre seigneur; ff. 10v- 11v, rubrique, Oroison de saint thomas quand on a receu le corps de notre seigneur ; ff. 11v-13v, rubrique, Une belle oroison de saint thomas pour accomplir la voulente de dieu ; ff. 13v-14, rubrique, Encores une aultre belle oroison dudit docteur pour accomplir la voulenté de dieu et pour avoir repos de conscience ; f. 14v, blanc. See : As-Vijvers, A. M. Re-Making the Margin: The Master of the David Scenes and Flemish Manuscript Painting around 1500, Turnhout, 2013. - As-Vijvers, A. M. and A. S. Korteweg, Splendour of the Burgundian Netherlands, The Hague, 2018, no. 85, pp. 307-309, 375. - Gay, R. 'Scribe biographies', Flemish Manuscript Painting in Context: Recent Research, ed. by E. Morrison and T. Kren, Los Angeles, 2006, p. 185. - Macfarlane L. "The Book of Hours of James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor", The Innes Review 11 (1960), pp. 3-21. - Weale, W. H. J. "Documents inédits sur les enlumineurs de Bruges", Le Beffroi : Arts Héraldique Archéologie, vol. 4, 1872-1873, pp. 318, 322, 329 and 332.
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Auction time 06/17/2026 at 2:00 PM
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