MASTER OF THE LEE HOURS (Ghent and Bruges, active c. 1450-1470)
The “de Saulx” Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [Southern Netherlands, Bruges, c. 1460]

Deluxe Book of Hours from the golden age of Burgundian illumination by an artist much favored at the court of Duke Philip the Good.

145 × 215 mm, ii (paper + vellum) + 242 + ii (paper + vellum) leaves, sporadically foliated in a modern hand in pencil in both upper and lower margins, lacking four leaves (likely with miniatures of Saint Catherine, Adoration of the Magi, Coronation, and funeral scene) after ff. 70, 121, 138, and 196, otherwise complete [collation: i6, ii6+1, iii6+1, iv8, v8, vi6+1, vii8, viii8, ix8, x2+1, xi8-1, xii8, xiii8, xiv8, xv8, xvi8, xvii8-1, xviii8, xix8-1, xx4, xxi8, xxii2+1, xxiii8, xxiv2, xxv8, xxvi8, xxvii6, xxviii8, xxix2, xxx8-1, xxxi8, xxxii8, xxxiii8, xxxiv8, xxv4, xxxvi2+1], catchwords mostly trimmed away, ruled in red ink for a single column of 17 lines (justification: 115 mm × 75 mm), written in a textualis formata script, with contemporary and later sixteenth- and seventeenth-century additions on ff. 13, 70v, 164, 186, and 239–241, dashed capitals touched in yellow, line fillers in gold on red and blue grounds with white penwork, three Lombard capitals in red and blue ink on patterned ground of purple penwork with marginal extensions to f. 239, one-, two-, three-, and four-line initials in gold on red and blue grounds decorated with white penwork, many accompanied by partial borders of scrolling acanthus, florals, and gold, TWENTY-FOUR CALENDAR VIGNETTES, with calendrical monograms in burnished gold and vertical panels of burnished gold initials on red and blue grounds, accented by densely ornamented foliate borders with floral motifs, FIFTEEN HISTORIATED INITIALS of seven lines in blue and rose heightened with white penwork filigree and geometric designs, enclosed by full borders of scrolling acanthus, florals, fruit, and gold bezants, FIFTEEN HALF-PAGE MINIATURES in arch-topped frames surmounting illuminated initials of six lines in blue and rose, surrounded by full borders of scrolling acanthus, florals, and fruit, inhabited by amphorae, birds, and figures. Nineteenth-century blind-stamped binding in brown morocco, covers framed by multiple fillets and panels of repeating quatrefoil and foliate tools, enclosing a central panel of pointillé ornament, the spine divided into compartments by raised bands with similar tooling, edges gilt, interior lined with patterned silk pastedowns within a gilt-tooled turn-in border, housed in a brown linen box with label “BOOK OF HOURS / FRANCE / FIFTEENTH CENTURY,” light cockling and occasional minor discoloration to lower margins, light worming to rear flyleaf, otherwise in excellent condition, with gold and pigments vivid and the parchment crisp. Dimensions 215 mm × 145 mm.

Provenance
(1) Written and illuminated almost certainly for a man living in Bruges or its vicinity (the Obsecro te in the masculine), who may be depicted with his family kneeling together before a monstrance in the Hours of the Holy Sacrament (f. 42). The calendar and litanies feature important saints from Bruges and the surrounding region, with elevated feasts for Donatian, patron saint of the city (14 October and 30 August; also appearing in the litanies), and Basil (14 June), whose relics were venerated at the Chapel of Saint Basil, now the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

(2) Multiple prayers, psalms, and supplications added in early hands throughout, preserving patterns of use: f. 69v, prayer to Saint Catherine in looping cursiva (probably 16th century); f. 164, prayer to Saint Michael in running cursiva (sixteenth century); ff. 185v–186v, Psalm 90 in a humanist script (probably early sixteenth century); f. 240, devotional petitions and the Anima Christi in a professional textualis (late fifteenth century).

(3) Jean de Saulx-Tavannes (1555–1630), Knight of the King’s Order and son of Gaspard de Saulx-Tavannes, Maréchal de France of the powerful de Saulx family of Dijon. He became an honorary councillor in the Parlement of Burgundy and later joined the Catholic League against Henry of Navarre. The de Saulx family necrology added to f. 13 in a late sixteenth-century hand.

(4) Gabrielle Desprez de Monpezat (d. 1653), second wife of Jean de Saulx-Tavannes, who inscribed the names and birthdays of seven of her ten children on f. 241v.

(5) Jörn Günther, Hamburg, Catalogue 8, 2006, no. 20, priced at 180,000 Euros.

(6) Private European Collection.

Text
ff. 1–12, Calendar (typical of Bruges: Saints Donatian and Basil in red; Saints Landoald and Walburgis non-rubricated); f. 13, necrology of the Saulx family (16th century); ff. 14–64v, Hours for the Days of the Week (ff. 14–20v, Sunday: Hours of the Trinity; ff. 21–29v, Monday: Office of the Dead; ff. 30–35, Tuesday: Hours of the Holy Spirit; ff. 36–41v, Wednesday: Hours of All Saints; ff. 42–48v, Thursday: Hours of the Blessed Sacrament; ff. 49–56, Friday: Hours of the Cross; ff. 57–64v, Saturday: Little Office of the Virgin); ff. 65–70v, Mass of the Virgin; ff. 71–77, prayers to Saint Catherine (beginning imperfectly); ff. 78–82, Gospel readings; ff. 83–143, Office of the Virgin (ff. 83–100v, Matins; ff. 101–112, Lauds; ff. 113–117v, Prime; ff. 118–122, Terce; ff. 123–125v, Sext [beginning imperfectly]; ff. 126–130, None; ff. 131–138, Vespers; ff. 139–143, Compline [beginning imperfectly]); ff. 144–165, Advent Office of the Virgin; ff. 155–158, Obsecro te (f. 157, famulo tuo); ff. 158v–160, O intemerata; ff. 161–164, Seven Joys of the Virgin; ff. 165–176, Penitential Psalms; ff. 177–185v, litanies and following supplications (f. 178, Saint Donatian; f. 178v, Saint Eligius; f. 179, Saint Amalberga); ff. 185v–186v, Psalm 90 (16th century); ff. 187–196v, suffrages; ff. 197–238v, Office of the Dead (beginning imperfectly); f. 239, prayer to the Archangel Raphael; f. 240, petitions and Anima Christi.

Illumination
This deluxe Book of Hours belongs to the distinguished group of manuscripts illuminated by the Master of the Lee Hours, one of the leading artistic personalities active in Bruges or Ghent in the middle decades of the fifteenth century. The artist takes his name from the celebrated Book of Hours formerly in the collection of Ronald Lee (London, Christie’s, 26 May 1965, lot 195), associated with Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy and his wife Isabelle of Bourbon. Like that aristocratic commission, the present manuscript reflects the sophistication of Burgundian manuscript production at its height.

It opens with a fully illuminated calendar containing both zodiacal signs and the Labors of the Months, followed by an exceptionally rich decorative program of fifteen historiated initials and fifteen arched miniatures, each surrounded by full borders of scrolling acanthus, flowers, animals, and lively marginal figures. In addition to the usual texts expected in a fifteenth-century Book of Hours, the manuscript also preserves an extensive devotional program, including the rather rare Hours of the Week (a series of supplementary offices assigning particular devotions to individual days), allowing the owner to structure private devotion throughout the weekly cycle as well as an elaborate series of illuminated suffrages to the saints. The calendar and litany firmly associate the manuscript with Bruges, giving special prominence to Saint Donatian, patron saint of the city (14 October, with his translation on 30 August), and Saint Basil, whose relics were preserved in the church of Saint Basil, today incorporated into the Basilica of the Holy Blood. The original patron remains unknown but may be represented with his family kneeling in adoration before the monstrance in the miniature introducing the Hours of the Holy Sacrament (f. 42). It was later owned by Jean de Saulx-Tavannes (1555–1630) of the powerful de Saulx family of Dijon, whose family's necrology is inscribed on folio 13v.

Despite his evident success and association with important Burgundian commissions, the Master of the Lee Hours has remained less well known than contemporaries such as Willem Vrelant, the Master of Guillebert de Mets, and the Gold Scrolls Group. First defined by James Douglas Farquhar (1976), who situated him within the artistic milieu of Vrelant and emphasized his engagement with the models of contemporary Flemish illuminators, the artist has more recently received renewed attention through the work of Gregory T. Clark. Beginning in the 1980s, Clark independently assembled a corpus of manuscripts around an artist he initially called the Buchanan e.5 Master, after a Book of Hours in Oxford, before adopting Farquhar’s designation. Through comparison with the painters responsible for Philip the Good’s Histoire d’Alexandre and related Burgundian manuscripts, Clark expanded the corpus of the Lee Hours Master style to nineteen Books of Hours and placed the group among the most significant producers of luxury devotional manuscripts in the southern Netherlands in the middle of the century. Importantly, Clark has emphasized the “Lee Hours Master style” rather than the work of a single isolated artist, recognizing the collaborative nature of Netherlandish manuscript production and the frequent exchange of patterns, compositions, and figure types among Ghent-Bruges workshops. This distinctive aesthetic is characterized by compact figures with rounded heads, softly modeled features, large expressive eyes with prominent pupils, and gentle physiognomies, together with atmospheric landscapes populated by distinctive rounded “cotton-ball” trees, red- and blue-roofed towns, and simplified but effective spatial recession.

The present manuscript, with its unusually complete cycle of highly finished miniatures, historiated initials, and calendar illustrations, stands as one of the finest witnesses to this important artistic circle and to the flourishing of luxury manuscript illumination in the golden era of the Burgundian court. Although we cannot identify the original patron, he must have been of high status, based not only on the luxury and sophistication of the work but on its transmission less than a century later to a Knight of the King’s Order and member of the Burgundian parlement in Dijon, Jean de Saulx.

The subjects of the twenty-four calendar vignettes are: f. 1, January: a husband and wife feasting (labor), with Aquarius (zodiacal sign); f. 2, February: a man chopping wood (labor), with Pisces (zodiacal sign); f. 3, March: men turning the soil (labor), with Aries (zodiacal sign); f. 4, April: a man holding a flowering branch (labor), with Taurus (zodiacal sign); f. 5, May: courtly riders “Maying” (labor), with Gemini (zodiacal sign); f. 6, June: a man mowing grass (labor), with Cancer (zodiacal sign); f. 7, July: a man reaping grain (labor), with Leo (zodiacal sign); f. 8, August: a man threshing grain (labor), with Virgo (zodiacal sign); f. 9, September: a man crushing grapes (labor), with Libra (zodiacal sign); f. 10, October: a man sowing winter grain (labor), with Scorpio (zodiacal sign); f. 11, November: pannage (labor), with Sagittarius (zodiacal sign); f. 12, December: butchering oxen (labor), with Capricorn (zodiacal sign).
The subjects of the fifteen historiated initials are: f. 187, Saint Michael in an initial ‘P’; f. 187v, Saint John the Baptist in an initial ‘P’; f. 188, Saint Peter in an initial ‘B’; f. 188v, Saint Christopher in an initial ‘P’; f. 189v, Saint Sebastian in an initial ‘O’; f. 190v, Saint George in an initial ‘G’; f. 191v, Saint Nicholas in an initial ‘B’; f. 192, Saint Anthony in an initial ‘U’; f. 192v, Saint Francis in an initial ‘F’; f. 193, Saint Anne in an initial ‘U’; f. 193v, Saint Mary Magdalene in an initial ‘A’; f. 194v, Saint Margaret in an initial ‘G’; f. 195, Saint Barbara in an initial ‘O’; f. 195v, Saint Clare in an initial ‘O’; f. 196, Saint Apollonia in an initial ‘U’.
The subjects of the fifteen miniatures are: f. 14, Trinity (beginning the Hours of the Trinity); f. 21, Raising of Lazarus (beginning the Office of the Dead); f. 30, Pentecost (beginning the Hours of the Holy Spirit); f. 36, All Saints (beginning the Hours of All Saints); f. 42, laypersons praying before a monstrance (beginning the Hours of the Blessed Sacrament); f. 49, Crucifixion (beginning the Hours of the Cross); f. 57, Virgin and Child on a crescent moon (beginning the Little Office of the Virgin); f. 65, Enthroned Virgin and Child, flanked by angels (beginning the Mass of the Virgin); f. 83, Annunciation (beginning Matins); f. 101, Visitation (beginning Lauds); f. 113, Nativity (beginning Prime); f. 118, Annunciation to the Shepherds (beginning Terce); f. 126, Presentation in the Temple (beginning None); f. 131, Massacre of the Innocents (beginning Vespers); f. 165, David in prayer before God (beginning the Penitential Psalms).

LITERATURE
Published: Jörn Günther, Neue Kunst und alte Bücher=New Art and Old Books, Catalogue 8, Hamburg, 2006, no. 20; Gregory T. Clark, “The Painters of Philip the Good’s Alexander,” in New Perspectives on Flemish Illumination, Lieve Watteeuw, Jan Van der Stock, and Bernard Bousmanne eds., Leuven, 2018, pp. 80–99 (see pp. 90–94, checklist no. 11); Related literature: James Douglas Farquhar, Creation and Imitation: The Work of a Fifteenth-Century Manuscript Illuminator, Fort Lauderdale, 1976; Anne H. van Buren, James H. Marrow, and Silvana Pettenati, Heures de Turin-Milan, Inv. No. 47, Museo Civico d’Arte Antica, Turin and Lucerne, 1996, pp. 346–48 and 353, no. 41; Bernard Bousmanne, “Item a Guillaume Wyelant aussi enlumineur”: Willem Vrelant, un aspect de l’enluminure dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux sous le mécénat des ducs de Bourgogne Philippe le Bon et Charles le Téméraire, Brussels, 1997, pp. 263–64; Thomas Kren, ed., Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe, Los Angeles and London, 2003, pp. 88–89.

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

This lot is located in Chicago.

MASTER OF THE LEE HOURS (Ghent and Bruges, active c. 1450-1470) The “de Saulx” Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [Southern Netherlands, Bruges, c. 1460]

MASTER OF THE LEE HOURS (Ghent and Bruges, active c. 1450-1470)
The “de Saulx” Hours, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment [Southern Netherlands, Bruges, c. 1460]