Rare and evocative traces of lived devotion in a refined, richly illuminated Book of Hours made for a woman possibly by a female artist.

ii (vellum) + 136 + i (vellum) leaves, initial flyleaf with traces of pilgrim badges, foliated in a modern hand in pencil 1–136, missing two leaves following f. 135, else complete [collation: bound too tightly to permit full collation, but composed chiefly of gatherings of eight], ruled in red ink in single column of seventeen lines (justification: 160 mm × 115 mm), written in a littera textualis script, rubrics in red, line fillers in blue and gold, capitals alternating in blue ink offset with red penwork, and gold offset in blue penwork, two- and four-line initials in burnished gold on red and blue ground embellished with white penwork infill, four-line initials with border embelishments of penwork vines, blue and pink blossoms and gold bezents, TWELEVE ILLUMINATED INITIALS of five lines in blue on gold ground with white penwork tracery and scrolling acanthus infill and gold, paired with TWELVE FULL PAGE MINIATURES in gold frames forming a full opening, all with full foliate border of fine penwork, densely inhabited by scrolling acanthus, blue and pink florals, fruit, insects, and birds, enriched by gold bezents. Eighteenth-century brown morocco binding over pastebords, covers ruled in gilt with double fillet frame, centered by blind stamp with a gilt tool of the Arma Christi lettered “INRI,” spine with three raised bands and compartments tools with small gilt ornaments, edges gilt, some abrasions and light cockling to leaves, else in good condition. Dimensions 181 mm × 125 mm.

Provenance
(1) Made in Flanders, presumably in Bruges, for a female client (Obsecro te in feminine “famule tue,” f. 34), c. 1467, as is indicated by the almanac dated 1467–1496.

(2) Early owner inscription: “Mademoiselle Moisson(?) 1620” in margin on f. 1.

(3) Private European Germany.

Text
ff. 1–6v, Calendar (localized to Bruges–Saint-Omer/Artois region); f. 7, almanac; f. 8, blank; ff. 9–14v,      Short Hours of the Cross; f. 15r, blank; ff. 16–20v, Short Hours of the Holy Spirit; ff. 22–37v, Mass for the Virgin; ff. 32–35, Obsecro te (“famule tue”); ff. 35v–37, O intemerata; ff. 38, blank; ff. 39–91v, Hours of the Virgin (Use of Rome; ff. 50–59v, Lauds, ff. 60–63v, Prime [beginning imperfectly], ff. 64–67, Terce; ff. 69–72, Sext; ff. 74–77v, None; ff. 79–85v, Vespers; ff. 87–91, Compline); f. 92–93, blank; ff. 94–109, Penitential Psalms; ff. 104v–109, Litanies and supplications; f. 110, blank; ff. 111–136v, Office of the Dead; f. 137, blank.

Illumination
The present manuscript comes from the workshop of Willem Vrelant, one of the most important and successful illuminators active in Bruges in the second half of the fifteenth century. It is attributed to the hand of one of his closest, most accomplished associates, the so-called Master of the Vraie Chronique descoce. Bernard Bousmann gave this painter the name of convention from the second volume of a Burgundian chronicle of Scotland, the Justification de la France contre l'Angleterre et la Vraie Cronicque descoce (Brussels, KBR MS 9469–70, colophon 1464) made for Duke Philip the Good (Bousmann, 1997). Previously, Caswell identified the master as the Saint Hadrian Master, named for a miniature in a Golden Legend now divided between Mâcon (Bibl. Mun. MS 3) and New York (Pierpont Morgan Library, M.672–M.675) (see Caswell 1993). The artist is also sometimes called the Master of the Polemical Texts (see van Buren, 2006). Van Buren has suggested that this artist may have been Vrelant’s wife, Marie Vrelant, whose name occurs in the documents after her husband’s death in 1481; this tantalizing idea still needs further research (suggested by van Buren, 2006, note 69; Rossi, 2024, “the example of Marie Vrelant”).

Stylistically, the painter closely follows Vrelant’s compositions but favors more columnar figures, increased angularity, and heavier outlining to reinforce contours. A close parallel to the present manuscript is British Library, Harley MS 1211 (c. 1465), a Bruges Book of Hours with a comparable decorative program that likewise opens with the Short Hours of the Cross. Notably, the crown device in the Pentecost border (f. 16) appears to recur as a workshop emblem (see The Hague, RKD, MS BPH 42). He (or she?) worked for some of the most prestigious patrons of the day including Duke Philip the Good, his Chroniques des comtes de Hollande et des évêques d'Utrecht, c. 1470 (Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS fr. 9002) and Raphael de Mercatellis, the abbot of Saint Bavo in Ghent, Recueil de traités astrologiques (Bibliothèque de l'université de Gand, MS 2)

The manuscript can be securely dated to 1467 or shortly thereafter, based on the almanac (Tabula Paschalis) on folio 7, which records Easter dates (and thus all movable feasts) over the years 1467–1496. Produced for a female patron, as indicated by the feminine form of the Obsecro te, the manuscript also preserves clear evidence of devotional use and pilgrimage. The front pastedown and flyleaf retain the outlines and minute punctures of at least twelve metal pilgrim badges, once carefully sewn in place (now removed). Such additions are well documented in late medieval Books of Hours, whose owners affixed lead or pewter badges from pilgrimage sites as souvenirs. The surviving patterns of holes suggest that a devout owner accumulated these tokens over an extended period. The manuscripts production for a female patron, stylistic characteristics, and closeness in date to the “Vrai Cronique” itself tempts a tentative attribution to Marie Vrelant as the Master of the Vraie Cronicque descoce (see Rossi, 2024).

The subjects of the miniatures are: f. 8v, Crucifixion of Christ; f. 14v, Pentecost with Virgin seated amidst the apostles; f. 21v, Virgin and Child, seated in church, with two angels playing music; f. 38v, Annunciation to the Virgin; f. 49v, Visitation; f. 63v, Annunciation to the Shepherds; f. 68v, Adoration of the Magi; f. 73v, Presentation in the Temple; f. 78v, Massacre of Innocents; f. 86v, Flight into Egypt; f. 93v, Last Judgement; f. 110v, Raising of Lazarus.

LITERATURE
Unpublished; Related literature: Jean Caswell, “Two Manuscripts from the Chroniques II Workshop, Chroniques de Hainaut, volume II and the Morgan-Mâcon Golden Legend,” Revue Belge d’Archéologie et d’Histoire de l’Art 62 (1993), pp. 17–45; Bernard Bousmanne and Pierre Cockshaw, eds., “Item à 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, Turnhout, 1997, esp. Pp. 55–60 and ills. 9–11; Anne H. van Buren, “Collaboration in Manuscripts: France and the Low Countries,” in Making and Marketing: Studies of the Painting Process in Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Netherlandish Workshops, ed. Molly Faries, pp. 83-08, Turnhout, 2006, esp. p. note 69; Ilona Hans-Collas, Pascal Schandel, Hanno Wijsman and François Avril, eds., Manuscrits enluminés des anciens Pays-Bas méridionaux, Paris; Louvain, 2009, pp. 41–43; Bernard Bousmanne and Thierry Delcourt, eds., 2011. Miniatures Flamandes 1404–1482. Paris, 2011 cat. 17, pp. 185–86; Pierre Cockshaw, “Le ‘Maître de la Vraie Chronique d’Écosse’ au XVe siècle,” in L’ordre de la Toison d’or, de Philippe le Bon à Philippe le Beau (1430–1505): Idéaux et représentations, ed. Pierre Cockshaw, 259–68, Turnhout, 2011; Carla Rossi, Beyond the Margins: Female Illuminators in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Bradford, UK, 2024.

We thank Senior Consultant Sandra Hindman and Peter Bovenmyer for their assistance in preparing this sale.