1 / 4
Photo 1/4 du lotPhoto 2/4 du lotPhoto 3/4 du lotPhoto 4/4 du lot
ALDE

30 - HOURS for the use of Rouen. [Rouen, circa 1460]. Manuscript …
See original version (French)

Estimate €10,000 - €12,000
Sale commission
Description
HOURS for the use of Rouen. [Rouen, circa 1460]. Manuscript on parchment, 108 pages, in 14-line Gothic script. In-8 (177 x 125 mm), fawn calf, boards richly decorated with large azure spandrels decorated with trophies (bundles, drums and arrows) and a large central medallion on a background of semé of gilt droplets, oval reserve in the centre, spine decorated with a repeated gilt bundle iron, gilt edges (Binding of the 16th century). Text f. 1 blank ff. 1v-2 : Prayer added in the 16th century : " Veni creator spiritus... ". ff. 3-14v : Calendar, in French, in brown, red, blue and gold ink, with saints honoured in Normandy, and more particularly in Rouen, such as Romain, Mellon, Ouen, Godard, Austreberthe... ff. 15-32: Hours of the Virgin, as used in Rouen, matins and lauds of the Hours of the Virgin, missing the beginning of matins (ff. 15-22v), with hymn, "Quem terra ponthus" (f. 15v), reading 1, "Sancta maria virgo..." (ff. 19v-20). (ff. 19v-20), followed by Lauds (ff. 22v-31), antiphon, "Assumpta es"; followed by prayers to Saints Catherine and Barbara (ff. 31-32). f. 32v blank ff. 33-48v: Hours of the Virgin, according to the usage of Rouen, beginning with prime of the Hours of the Virgin, and ending with compline of the Hours of the Virgin: prime (ff. 33-37), antiphon, "Maria virgo assumpta es"; capitula, "Per te dei"; tierce (ff. 37-39v); sext (ff. 39v-41v); none (ff. 41v-43v), antiphon, "Pulchra es"; capitula, "Et radicavi"; vespers (ff. 43v-45); compline (ff. 45v-48); followed by Nunc dimittis, antiphon, "Ecce completa sunt omnia" (Rouen usage) (ff. 48-48v). ff. 49-63v : Penitential psalms, followed by litanies (ff. 58v-61), including saints Romain, Martin, Ouen ("Audoene"), archbishop of Rouen, Mellon, Germain; followed by prayers, then matins of the Hours of the Cross (ff. 61v-63v). ff. 64-87: Office of the Dead (as used in Rouen), with the following responsories: 1. Credo quod; 2. Qui Lazarum; 3. Domine quando; 4. Heu michi ; 5. Ne recorderis; 6. Libera me; 7. Peccantem me ; 8. Requiem eternam ; 9. Libera me. ff. 87-92 : Gospel pericopes. f. 93v : Prayer, "Ave caro Christi...". ff. 93v-96v : Prayer, "Obsecro te", masculine form of the prayer with "...et mihi famulo tuo...". (ff. 95v-96). ff. 96v-99v : Prayer, "O intemerata". ff. 99v-104v : Fifteen joys of the Virgin Mary, in French : " Doulce dame de miséricorde... ". ff. 104v-106v : Seven requests from the Lord, in French: "Doulx dieu doulx père...". ff. 106v-107: Prayer added: "Ascendit Christus super celos et preparavit sue castissime matri..." and on the reverse: "Beau cere dieu regardés". Ornamentation: rubrics in red, endpapers in pink and blue with white highlights, numerous small initials in burnished gold on pink and blue backgrounds with white highlights (1 to 2 lines high), large ornate initials (3 to 4 lines high) introducing the major liturgical divisions, painted in blue with white highlights and decorated with coloured foliage and flowers on burnished gold backgrounds, pages with large ornate initials accompanied by baguettes in blue, pink and burnished gold and illuminated borders on reserved backgrounds (floral motifs and foliage, scrolls and vine leaves in burnished gold), with 4 large miniatures set in illuminated borders with blue and pink baguettes with white highlights, blue and gold acanthus leaves, flowers, foliage, scrolls and vine leaves on reserved backgrounds. Illustration: four large miniatures. The Hours of the Virgin are introduced by a large miniature, but a large miniature is certainly missing to introduce Matins from the Hours of the Virgin, between ff. 14 and 15. The rest of the Hours - Lauds (f. 22v), tierce to compline - are introduced by an ornate initial. f. 33: Nativity (Hours of the Virgin at prime). f. 49: David at prayer with his harp (Penitential Psalms). f. 64: Funeral office (Office of the Dead). f. 92v: Virgin and Child on a throne, flanked by an angel carrying a basket of fruit and the donor praying in red, holding a phylactery: "Pater mei memento mei". The "Kosher Hours" illuminated by a follower of the Talbot Master. The miniatures in this precious book of hours for use in Rouen can be attributed to a close associate of the Talbot Master. This artist owes his name to a novel of Alexander commissioned by Lord John Talbot, Earl of Shrewbury, and presented to Queen Marguerite d'Anjou, daughter of King René, after his coronation in 1444. The manuscript, dated 1445, is held by the British Library under the symbol Royal 15 B. VI. John Talbot had previously commissioned three books of hours from the same artist for himself and his wife Marguerite Beauchamp: in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Ms. 40-1950; 41-1951 and Edinburgh Nat. Lib. Of Scotland in the Blairs College Library. His training, like that of the Master of Fastolf, took place in Paris in the wake of the Master of Boucicaut. In 1436, following the policy of withdrawing English troops from Paris to Rouen, these two illuminators settled in Rouen. Unlike the Master of Fastolf, who moved to England after Rouen's return to the French fold, the Master of Talbot continued his career in Normandy, working for the city's aldermen. His colouring is shimmering. His style is linear, with starry skies, as seen here in the miniature of the Virgin and Child, and round-faced figures (see F. Avril, Les Manuscrits à peintures en France. 1440-1520, exhibition catalogue Paris, BnF, 1993-1994, pp. 169-170). The miniature of the Office of the Dead outdoors in a cemetery is close to the same scene painted in the Book of Hours Paris BnF Ms. Lat. 13283, f. 113, attributed to Talbot's Master. The position of the gravediggers is the same, with the monks and priests reversed. The motif of Saint Joseph holding his Nativity hat can also be found in the Adoration of the Magi in the New York Hours Pierpont Morgan Library M. 202 (J. Plummer, The Last Flowering, exhibition catalogue New York, 1982, cat. no. 24 and repr.), illuminated by a follower of the Talbot Master. This book of hours is a late example of the Talbot Master's influence on Rouen's book illumination. Provenance: Cacherat and Delanoe (?) Saint-Martin family, with elements of a 15th century livre de raison (ff. 2v and 108), indicating that the volume belonged to the "fame of Collin Cacherat", the mother of Aguezot Cacherat, herself the mother of two daughters born in 1469 and 1470. This book of hours was probably commissioned by the donor depicted at prayer on f. 92v, who may have belonged to the Cacherat family. One leaf is certainly missing at the beginning (beginning of Matins of the Hours of the Virgin). A few paint chips, minor rubbing with a small loss of pictorial surface, spots on the first leaf that are not serious. Discrete restorations to the binding.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale Antiquarian books from the 15th to the 19th century - Astronomy
Auction location
Auction time 06/24/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
You may also like