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[Illuminated manuscript Book of Hours] OFFICIUM BEATÆ MARIÆ …
See original version (French)
48
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[Illuminated manuscript Book of Hours] OFFICIUM BEATÆ MARIÆ …
See original version (French)
Estimate €15,000 - €20,000
Voluntary lot
Description
[Illuminated manuscript Book of Hours] OFFICIUM BEATÆ MARIÆ VIRGINIS SECUNDUM USUM ECCLESIÆ ROMANÆ, CUM CALENDARIO. France, probably Paris, c. 1515–1525. Manuscript in Latin on parchment, 136 folios (13.4 × 8.5 cm) in 20 lines. 18th-century red morocco leather binding, richly decorated ribbed spine, covers framed by a wide gilded lace border with small ironwork, all edges gilt; havana calfskin slipcase decorated with gilded friezes.
IMPORTANT, RICHLY ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT FROM THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 16TH CENTURY, ATTRIBUTED TO THE GROUP OR WORKSHOP OF ÉTIENNE COLAUD.
Copied in an elegant humanistic script in black ink, with headings in red and ruling in pale red ink, the text is lavishly decorated with painted initials enhanced with gold. The manuscript is in a remarkably fresh condition with vibrant colours.
The manuscript comprises: a Latin calendar (ff. 1–8), fragments of the four Gospels (ff. 10–21), prayers to the Virgin ‘Obsecro te’ and ‘O intemerata’, and the Hours of the Virgin (ff. 27–69v), penitential psalms and litanies of the saints (ff. 69v–84), the Office of the Dead (ff. 84–115), the Hours of the Cross (ff. 115–119v), the Hours of the Holy Spirit (ff. 119v–123), Hours of the Immaculate Conception (ff. 123–126), intercessions of the saints (ff. 126–135). The calendar features Italian saints (St Thomas Aquinas, St Simeon of Trent, St Peter of Verona, St Nicholas of Tolentino, St Magne) as well as a particularly prominent presence of saints from the Franciscan Order (St Bernardine, St Anthony of Padua, St Clare with her translation on 2 October, St Francis with his octave). As several grammatical forms in the prayers are in the masculine, the manuscript may have been intended for a male patron.
EXTENSIVE ILLUSTRATION COMPRISING 16 LARGE MINIATURES AND 21 SMALL ONES, making a total of 37 paintings. The large compositions, set within architectural frames in the classical style, depict:
1. The Holy Trinity surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists, with their names in French (f. 9v°).
2. The Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (f. 13v°).
3. The Annunciation (f. 26v°).
4. The Visitation (f. 40).
5. The Nativity (f. 48).
6. The Announcement to the Shepherds (f. 51v°).
7. The Adoration of the Magi (f. 55).
8. The Presentation in the Temple (f. 58).
9. The Flight into Egypt (f. 61).
10. The Coronation of the Virgin (f. 66).
11. David in Prayer (f. 70).
12. Job on his dungheap (f. 84v°).
13. The Crucifixion (f. 115).
14. Pentecost (f. 120).
15. The Meeting of Joachim and Anne at the Golden Gate (f. 123v°).
16. The Holy Trinity (f. 126 v°).
In addition, 21 SMALL MINIATURES illustrate the opening prayers and the intercessions of the saints: Saint Luke (f. 10v°) – Saint Matthew (f. 11) – Saint Mark (f. 12v°) – Virgin and Child (f. 21) – Virgin and Child in Majesty (f. 23v°) – God the Father (f. 127) – Salvator Mundi (f. 127v°) - The Holy Spirit (f. 128) – Saint Veronica presenting the veil (f. 128v) – Saint Michael slaying the dragon (f. 129v) - Saint John the Baptist in the Desert (f. 130) - Saint John the Evangelist (f. 130v) - Saints Peter and Paul (f. 130v) - The Martyrdom of Saint Stephen (f. 131) - The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence (f. 131v) - The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (f. 132) - Saint Nicholas as a bishop (f. 133) - Saint Anne with the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus (f. 133) - Saint Mary Magdalene (f. 133v) - Saint Catherine of Alexandria (f. 134) - Saint Barbara (f. 134v).
The decoration bears strong similarities to the work of Étienne Colaud’s circle. A comparison with the Roman Book of Hours bearing Étienne Colaud’s subscription, dated 1512–1513 and now in a private collection, is particularly revealing: it features a very similar iconographic programme, both in the major scenes from the cycle of the Virgin and the Passion and in the sequence of small miniatures accompanying the prayers to the saints. The treatment of the figures, the rosy skin tones, the bold rendering of the eyelids and folds, the bold colour palette, and the preference for architectural frames in the Renaissance style also link this manuscript to that corpus. See Marie-Blanche Cousseau, ‘Étienne Colaud, Parisian illuminator and bookseller: on a book of hours bearing his subscription’, *Bulletin du bibliophile*, 2010, no. 1, pp. 11–35, 16 figs.; id., Étienne Colaud and Parisian Illumination during the Reign of François I, Tours, Presses universitaires François-Rabelais, 2016, in particular Appendix 3: ‘Codicological record of the book of hours bearing Étienne Colaud’s inscription’.
Two devotional images from an 18th-century prayer book, depicting Saint Sebastian and the scales of the Last Judgement, were subsequently pasted onto the endpapers.
Provenance: Handwritten inscription on a flyleaf: ‘F. G. H. Culemann, Hannoverae, 1858’, referring to Friedrich Georg Hermann Culemann (1811–1886), a prominent bibliophile and collector from Hanover.
The volume subsequently appeared in the sale of part of the Culemann library, Sotheby’s, Wilkinson & Hodge, London, 7–10 February 1870, lot 563, where it was described as ‘A most exquisite specimen of French art’.
It subsequently passed into the collection of Samuel Addington, who loaned it in 1874 to the Burlington Fine Arts Club’s exhibition of illuminated manuscripts, where it was listed as no. 90.
Engraved bookplate by W. L. Andrews on the lower inside cover.
An old catalogue entry from the Parisian bookshop C. Coulet & A. Faure also accompanies the volume; it describes it as having been produced in ‘a French workshop, probably in Paris’ and highlights the remarkable richness of its colouring. The copy was acquired from this bookshop in 1968.
See original version (French)
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About the sale
Antique and modern books: catalogued sale
Auction location
Auction time
11/14/2026 at 10:30 AM
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