Western Manuscripts and Miniatures

Key early work, attesting to the initial development and dissemination of the style of the Gold Scrolls Masters, who dominated the market for devotional books in Bruges in the second quarter of the fifteenth century.

145 × 105 mm, i (paper) + 72 + ii (paper) leaves, foliated in modern pencil 1–72, ff. 10v, 19v, 27v, 30v, 40v, 54v, and 72v left blank [collation: i6, ii8, iii8-4 (missing four leaves between ff. 20v–21r and 24v–25r), iv8, v8, vi8, vii8, viii8, ix6, x6, plus four inserted leaves with miniature (ff. 7, 11, 43, 55), ruled in brown ink for eighteen lines of text in single column (justification: 67 × 124 mm), written in textura quadrata script, headings and major feasts in the calendar in red; verse initials alternately in blue with red penwork, or gold with blue penwork, two-line initials in gold on blue and red ground with white ornament, decorative program gives way to simpler pen-drawn initials in alternating red and blue ink between ff. 65r–72r, six-line initials of burnished gold on alternating red and blue ground beginning the minor hours, SEVEN FOLIATE INITIALS of six lines composed of burnished gold on alternating blue and red ground overlaid with white pen filigree beginning major hours, FOUR FOLIATE INITIALS of six lines painted in red and blue ink with white filigree on burnished gold ground with acanthus infill painted in blue, red, and green, these accompanied by full foliate borders of acanthus terminating in flowers and gold bezants, these facing FOUR FULL-PAGE MINIATURES in gold frames with full borders on inserted leaves, blank on the recto. Nineteenth-century panel binding over board, “SECU XIV” gilded on the spine. Cropping to border decorations, cockling, rubbing, and minor staining throughout, otherwise in good condition.

Provenance
(1) This manuscript was probably illuminated in or around Bruges between 1420 and 1430s by a member of the workshop responsible for the Meermanno Hours and for an anonymous French patron. Several feast days written in a contemporary hand have been added to the calendar including Lupus of Troyes, confessor (July 29), suggesting patronage from this region.

(2) Inscription from early owner in French on 13v “Boyre j'estoye escus (?) estrangier receu,” a saying reflecting on Jesus’s parable on the Sheep and the Goats from Matthew 25.

(3) Sotheby’s London, June 19, 2001, lot 39.

(4) Dr. Scott Schwarz, New York, his book plate and inventory number “MS 64” added to front pastedown. 

Text
ff. 1r–6v, Calendar; ff. 8r–10r, Hours of the Cross; ff. 12r–42v, Hours of the Virgin; ff. 44r–51v, Penitential Psalms; ff. 56r–67r, Office of the Dead; ff. 67v–70v, Office of the Holy Spirit; ff. 70v–71v, Prayer to the Virgin (in French) “Virge de dieu tres sancte dame”; f. 72r Prayer to Christ “Domine non sum dignus ut intres sub tectum meum” and Hymn to Virgin “Ave verum corpus natum ex Maria Virgine.”

Illumination
The four illuminations are attributed to a member of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls, likely from the same workshop responsible for the Meermanno Hours (The Hague, Huis van het Boek [formerly Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum], MS 10 F 11; see Clark 2018). Active in the Southern Netherlands (present-day Belgium) from approximately 1415 to 1450, the Gold Scrolls Masters are distinguished by their signature intertwining gold decorations, often juxtaposed against neutral backgrounds for striking contrast. While initially believed to be the work of a single master, scholars now recognize the Gold Scrolls style as a broader movement. The individual illuminators within the group remain anonymous, and no definitive anchor manuscript has been established to which all other attributions can be tied. Consequently, the Gold Scrolls group has expanded over the past decades without a clear division of works among individual artists or workshops.

The group's widespread popularity during the second quarter of the fifteenth century, underscoring the significance of Ghent and especially Bruges as sites of manuscript production. Its influence extended beyond the region, with numerous examples exported to England and France. Notably, the style’s archaizing tendencies, rather than embracing contemporary Flemish naturalism, perpetuated more traditional forms of manuscript illumination.

Stylistic details in this Book of Hours, such as the abruptly ascending landscapes, perfunctory cloud renderings, and tile patterning, suggest the manuscript’s origin in Bruges between 1420 and 1430, placing it among the Gold Scrolls group’s earlier works. These features, also seen in the Meermanno Hours (Use of Sarum) and other related Hours like Christie’s London, June 14, 2021, lot 16 (Use of Rouen) and Christie’s London, July 10, 2024, lot 26 (Use of Tournai), highlight the workshop’s role in the early export of this style to England and France.
 
The subjects of the four full-page miniatures are: 7v, Crucifixion (Hours of the Cross); f. 11v, Virgin and Child (Hours of the Virgin); f. 43v, Last Judgment (Penitential Psalms), f. 55v. Funeral Service (Office of the Dead).

LITERATURE
Unpublished. For further reading, see: Friedrich Winkler, Die Flämische Buchmalerei des XV und XVI Jahrhunderts: Künstler und Werke von den Brüdern van Eyck bis zu Simon Bening, Leipzig, 1925; Bert Cardon, “The Illustrations and the Gold Scrolls Workshop,” in Typologische Taferelen uit het Leven van Jezus: A Manuscript from the Gold Scrolls Group (Bruges, ca. 1440) in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, Ms. Morgan 649, eds. B. Cardon, R. Lievens and M. Smeyers, Louvain, 1985, pp. 119–204; Georges Dogaer, Flemish Miniature Painting in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Amsterdam, 1987, pp. 27–31; Maurits Smeyers, L’Art de la miniature flamande, VIIIe aux siècle, Tournai, 1998, pp. 234–236; Bernard Bousmanne and Theirry Delcourt, eds. Miniatures Flamandes, 1404–1482, Paris, 2011; Gregory Clark, “Mass Production: The Masters of the Gold Scrolls,” in Splendour of the Burgundian Netherlands, eds. A. M. W. As-Vijvers and A. S. Korteweg, The Hague, 2018, pp. 96–109.

We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale and Gregory Clark for consultation on this entry.

Collection of Dr. Scott Schwartz