Manuscript on parchment (very stiff) of a Book of Hours; With Calendar in French
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in liturgical gothic verging on batarde, by one scribe., Crude miniatures by two artists whose compositions, figure types, and painterly technique reflect faintly the work of Jean Colombe, active in Bourges in the late fifteenth century. The miniatures by the first artist (all except ff. 74r and 138r) are in arched frames, in purple or crimson ink, occasionally with black cusping on the arch, tangential or close to upper bounding line, set within a 3/4 strip, either beige with alternating blue and pink flowers and black flecks, edged in black, or gold with blue and red trilobe leaves., Traced full or 3/4 borders, one (f. 25r) compartmentalized in gold and blue, with an angel bearing the arms of the Coquille family (azure, 3 escallops or [Coquille], impaled with ermine [Garnier]), red bounding line, filled with blue and green acanthus, flowers, strawberries, grotesques, gold balls, and pen flecks. Initials accompanying miniatures, 4- and 3-line, pink and blue with white highlights on gold, filled with a flower on a beige ground. The miniatures by the second artist (ff. 74r and 138r), probably an assistant to the first, are in thick crimson frames, with 3/4 borders as above, except with finer and stiffer acanthus, each with an initial, 4- or 3-line, gold on blue and crimson with white highlights. Calendar with zodiac signs and occupations of the months set within 3/4 borders, as above. 2-line initials, KL monograms, as above; name of month, dates, major feasts in gold, other feasts alternately in blue and red. Rubrics in crimson or in blue., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Tan calf case, heavily gold-tooled spine and doublures. Bound by C. Lewis (leading figure in English binding 1800-40). Dark red-brown cover (16th-17th centuries) inset on sides.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval