Accession number
MS M.1154
Object title
Book of hours (MS M.1154).
Created
Besançon, France, ca. 1450.
Binding
French mottled calf, ca. 1800, with spine compartments gilt, tan morocco title label gilt, red paper endleaves, gilt edges.--Cf. Sotheby's.
Credit line
Melvin R. Seiden Collection, 2007.
Description
153 leaves (1 column, 12 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 220 x 150 mm
Provenance
Written for female use ('famula tua', fol.146v; 'peccatrix', fol.150v), for the Use of Besançon; late 18th-century armorial bookplate and inscription of [Charles Seguin], comte de Tallerange; sale (Christie's, November 27, 1991); Heribert Tenschert (his Leuchtendes Mittelalter, V, 1993, no. 18); sale (London, Sotheby's December 3, 2002).
Notes
Ms. book of hours for the Use of Besançon; written and illuminated in Besançon, France, in the mid fifteenth century.
Artist: Simon Bening.
Decoration: 1 design for a large miniature (fol. 24r); line fillers and illuminated initials throughout quire 4 (fols. 21r-28v).
The illumination of M.1154 is unfinished. The manuscript was illuminated in separate gatherings, and only quire 4 has been executed. It includes a detailed design for a large miniature and full border sketched very lightly in pencil or metalpoint and then drawn in some detail in ink. The design shows the Nativity of Christ, with the Child lying on the ground and Joseph holding a candle, with the ox and the ass peering over a wattle fence behind. It marks the opening of Terce.--Cf. Sotheby's.
The Calendar singles out St.Claude of Besançon in red (6 June) and the Litany includes SS.Ferreolus and Ferrutio, third-century martyrs of Besançon, and St.Antidus, bishop of Besançon.--Cf. Sotheby's.
Collation: 153 leaves (2 blank), an inserted leaf missing after fol. 28v, else complete. Present collation: i-ii6, iii-iv8, v-vi10, vii6, viii-x8, xi8+1 [fol. 84 an added leaf], xii-xix8, xx2. With some catchwords; misbound; correct order of gatherings should be i-iii, v, viii-xi, iv, xii, vi-vii, xiii-xx (i.e., fols.1-20, 28-37, 55-87, 21-28, 88-95, 39-54, 96-153); modern pencil foliation erratic.--Cf. Sotheby's.
Artist: Simon Bening.
Decoration: 1 design for a large miniature (fol. 24r); line fillers and illuminated initials throughout quire 4 (fols. 21r-28v).
The illumination of M.1154 is unfinished. The manuscript was illuminated in separate gatherings, and only quire 4 has been executed. It includes a detailed design for a large miniature and full border sketched very lightly in pencil or metalpoint and then drawn in some detail in ink. The design shows the Nativity of Christ, with the Child lying on the ground and Joseph holding a candle, with the ox and the ass peering over a wattle fence behind. It marks the opening of Terce.--Cf. Sotheby's.
The Calendar singles out St.Claude of Besançon in red (6 June) and the Litany includes SS.Ferreolus and Ferrutio, third-century martyrs of Besançon, and St.Antidus, bishop of Besançon.--Cf. Sotheby's.
Collation: 153 leaves (2 blank), an inserted leaf missing after fol. 28v, else complete. Present collation: i-ii6, iii-iv8, v-vi10, vii6, viii-x8, xi8+1 [fol. 84 an added leaf], xii-xix8, xx2. With some catchwords; misbound; correct order of gatherings should be i-iii, v, viii-xi, iv, xii, vi-vii, xiii-xx (i.e., fols.1-20, 28-37, 55-87, 21-28, 88-95, 39-54, 96-153); modern pencil foliation erratic.--Cf. Sotheby's.
Contents
fols. 1r-12v: Calendar, in French-- fols. 13r-19v: Gospel Sequences-- fols.28r-37v, 55r-68r: Hours of the Virgin [Use of Besançon], incorporating the Hours of the Cross, with Matins-- fols. 68r-84r: Lauds-- fols. 85r-87v, 21r-23v: Prime-- fols. 24r-28v: Terce-- fols. 88r-91v: Sext-- fols. 92r-94v, 39r-40r: None-- fols. 41r-47r: Vespers-- fols. 48r-54v: Compline-- fols. 96r-100v: Hours of the Holy Ghost-- fols. 101r-103r: Seven O's of Saint Bernard-- fols. 104r-119r: Penitential Psalms-- fols. 119r-125r: Litany-- fols. 126r-143v: Office of the Dead, in shorter form [3 lections, consistent with the Use of Besançon]-- fols. 144r-151v: Obsecro te and O intemerata, for female use. --Cf. Sotheby's.
Script
large Gothic liturgical hand
Language
Latin and Middle French
Resources
Century
Catalog link
Classification
Department