Book of hours
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.