Charming, palm-sized Book of Hours at the height of Bruges illumination and densely illuminated.

ii (vellum) + 157 + ii (vellum) leaves, complete [collation: i⁶, ii⁶, iii⁸⁺², iv⁷⁺¹, v⁸⁺¹, vi⁸⁺¹, vii⁵, viii¹⁰⁺¹, ix⁴, x¹², xi⁴, xii¹², xiii⁴, xiv⁸, xv⁴, xvi⁵, xvii¹⁰, xviii⁶, xix⁸, xx¹⁰, xxi⁷], all full-page miniatures on tipped-in singletons, written in a fine Gothic script in dark brown ink of fifteen long lines, ruled in light red ink (justification 65 × 45 mm), rubrics in pale red, line-fillers in blue and gold, numerous painted initials in blue or gold with pen flourishing in red or dark blue respectively, numerous two-line initials in highly burnished gold on alternating pink and blue grounds patterned with white tracery, one five-line blue initial on a burnished gold ground with pink and blue foliate infill (f. 41), five six-line initials incorporated into full-border pages with silver twig or foliate motifs on gold grounds, FORTY-ONE SMALL MINIATURES and HISTORIATED INITIALS framed by three-quarter borders of blue and gold acanthus leaves on speckled grounds intertwined with floral motifs and burnished gold bezants, SIX FULL PAGE MINIATURES with full-page miniatures (tipped in on single leaves), surrounded by and facing full-page illusionistic borders of the Ghent-Bruges type with silver and liquid-gold acanthus stems, sprays of flowers and fruit, insects, birds, and animals (some in trompe-l’œil) on painted liquid-gold and silver grounds. Bound in a nineteenth-century blind-stamped brown calf binding, boards semé with leafy motifs, spine sewn on four raised bands with blind-stamped ornament and gilt title “Hore Sancte Crucis,” gilt and gauffered edges, some scuffing to binding, hinges slightly loose, interior very fresh. Dimensions 136 mm × 80 mm.

Provenance
(1) The Calendar and style of illumination secure a Flemish origin for this manuscript, while the original owner(s) and family are depicted in contemporary dress on f. 141. Bruges was likely both the place of production and intended use of the manuscript, as suggested by the Calendar and the identities of the illuminators.

(2) Inscription faintly legible (sixteenth century?) on f. 13, with the motto Beauté rend désir and the name “N. de Costdenhould” (?).

(3) Armorial bookplate (nineteenth century) pasted on upper pastedown: “Bibliothèque de Mr. de Badts de Cugnac,” with the motto Ingratis servire nefas. Probably identifiable with the Lille bibliophile de Badts de Cugnac (1841–1888). A private chapel adjoining the family château at Marcq-en-Barœul, near Lille, erected by the family in 1843, was declared a historic monument in 1951.

(4) Les Enluminures, Catalogue 13, Picturing Piety: The Book of Hours, by Roger S. Wieck, with Sandra Hindman and Ariane Bergeron-Foote, Paris and Chicago, 2007, no. 10.

(5) Private Collection, United States.

Text
ff. 1–12v, Calendar, in Latin, in light red and brown ink, with noteworthy saints confirming use in Bruges: Aldegundis (Jan. 30), Amand and Vedast, in red (Feb. 6), Silvinus (Feb. 17), Roman Martyrs (Feb. 28), Gertrude (March 17), Ursmar (April 17), Quentin (May 2), Boniface (June 5), Medard (June 8), and Basil, in red (June 14; see Wieck 1988, pp. 153–156); f. 13, blank, inscribed with the motto “Beauté rend désir” and the name “N. de Costdenhould” (?); ff. 14–22v, Hours of the Cross; f. 23, blank; ff. 24–30v, Hours of the Holy Spirit; f. 31, blank; ff. 32–39, Office of the Dead; f. 40, blank; ff. 41–46, Mass of the Virgin; ff. 46v–53, Gospel Sequences; f. 54, blank; ff. 55–117v, Hours of the Virgin (ff. 55–67v, Matins; ff. 68–81v, Lauds; ff. 82–87v, Prime; ff. 87v–92v, Terce; ff. 92v–97v, Sext; ff. 97v–102v, None; ff. 102v–111v, Vespers; ff. 111v–117v, Compline); f. 118, blank; ff. 119–133, Penitential Psalms; ff. 133–140, Litany and prayers; ff. 140–140v, Suffrage to the Holy Trinity; ff. 141–141v, Suffrage to the Holy Cross; ff. 141v–142, Suffrage to John the Baptist; ff. 142–143, Suffrage to Saints Peter and Paul; ff. 143–144, Suffrage to Saint James; ff. 144–145v, Suffrage to Saint Christopher; ff. 145v–146v, Suffrage to Saint Sebastian; ff. 147–148, Suffrage to Saint Adrian; ff. 148–148v, Suffrage to Saint Anthony; ff. 149–149v, Suffrage to Saint Francis; ff. 150–150v, Suffrage to Saint Nicholas; ff. 150v–151v, Suffrage to Saint Anne; ff. 152–152v, Suffrage to Saint Catherine; ff. 153–153v, Suffrage to Saint Barbara; ff. 154–154v, Suffrage to Mary Magdalene; ff. 155–155v, Suffrage to Saint Margaret; ff. 155v–156v, Suffrage to Saint Apollonia; ff. 156v–157, Suffrage to All Saints; f. 157v, blank.

Illumination
This manuscript captures a transition in Bruges illumination during the years following the death of Willem Vrelant, when artists continued to draw upon his successful models while embracing the more painterly and naturalistic styles emerging in the final decades of the fifteenth century. The bookseller who coordinated the illumination of this Book of Hours was remarkably cleaver. All of the small miniatures are by an artist trained in the tradition of Willem Vrelant and display his characteristic palette of royal blue, raspberry, chartreuse, and occasional gray. Equally typical are the Vrelant-like borders composed of flat blue and gold acanthus, with occasional flowers, set against dotted grounds. Considering the date of the manuscript in the 1480s, these represent a conservative style that had dominated Bruges illumination during the 1460s. For the large miniatures and their facing borders, however, the bookseller adopted a more avant-garde approach, selecting an artist working in the fashionable contemporary styles of the 1470s and early 1480s. This painter appears to have been influenced by the figural style and palette of Loyset Liédet (active 1448–1478) and the Master of Edward IV (active 1470s–1480s). Compared with the Vrelant-trained hand, this artist employs a more colorful palette and stockier figure types, often with expressive, somewhat haggard faces. The borders surrounding the miniatures and their facing pages feature fashionable trompe-l’œil acanthus painted in gray and white on gold grounds, interspersed with strawberries, violets, and other naturalistic motifs.

Several uncommon features in the text and illustration confirm that the book was specially commissioned, and the patron with his family appears in one of the small miniatures, shown kneeling in prayer before the Cross (f. 141). Particularly unusual are the additional six small David miniatures (ff. 120–131), which complement the traditional large image of the kneeling king (f. 118v) introducing the Penitential Psalms, and the additional Passion miniatures (ff. 15–18v), which supplement the full-page Crucifixion (f. 13v) introducing the Hours of the Cross. A textual rarity is the substitution of the Monday Hours of the Dead (ff. 32–39) for the more common and substantially longer Office of the Dead. The accompanying burial miniature (f. 31v) is also unusual in depicting the deceased being interred while still enclosed within a coffin, rather than wrapped in a shroud according to common medieval practice.

The subjects of the six full-page miniatures are: f. 13v, Crucifixion; f. 23v, Pentecost; f. 31v, Burial Scene; f. 40v, Virgin and Child; f. 54v, Annunciation; f. 118v, David in Prayer. The subjects of the forty-one small miniatures are: f. 15, Christ before Pilate; f. 16v, Flagellation; f. 17v, Christ Carrying the Cross; f. 18v, Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John; f. 111v, Flight into Egypt; f. 120, David in Prayer; f. 122, David in Prayer before a Lectern; f. 124v, David and Bathsheba; f. 127, David in Prayer with Kneeling Men; f. 130, David in Prayer before a Lectern; f. 131, David in Prayer with Uriah (?) in the background; f. 140, Trinity; f. 141, kneeling figures (the patrons?) in prayer before the Cross; f. 141v, Saint John the Baptist; f. 142, Saints Peter and Paul; f. 143, Saint James; f. 144, Saint Christopher Carrying the Christ Child; f. 145v, Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian; f. 147, Saint Adrian; f. 148, Saint Anthony; f. 149, Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata; f. 150, Saint Nicholas Resuscitating the Three Boys; f. 150v, Saint Anne Teaching the Virgin to Read; f. 152, Saint Catherine; f. 153, Saint Barbara; f. 154, Mary Magdalene; f. 155, Saint Margaret Emerging from the Dragon; f. 155v, Saint Apollonia; f. 156v, All Saints.

LITERATURE
Unpublished; Related literature: James D. Farquhar, “The Vrelant Enigma: Is the Style the Man?,” Quaerendo 4 (1974), pp. 100–108; Georges Dogaer and James H. Marrow, Flemish Miniature Painting in the 15th and 16th Centuries, Amsterdam, 1987, pp. 116–117; Roger S. Wieck, Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life, New York, 1988; Bernard Bousmanne, “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; Anne H. van Buren, “Willem Vrelant: Questions and Issues,” Revue belge d’archéologie et d’histoire de l’art 68 (1999), pp. 3–30; Roger S. Wieck, “The Death Desired: Books of Hours and the Medieval Funeral,” in Death and Dying in the Middle Ages, ed. Edelgard E. DuBruck and Barbara I. Gusick, New York, 1999, pp. 431–476; Thomas Kren and Scot McKendrick, eds., Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe, Los Angeles, 2003, pp. 230–33, 295–305, 335–43; Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, “Marketing Books for Burghers: Jean Markant’s Activity in Tournai, Lille, and Bruges,” in Flemish Manuscript Painting in Context: Recent Research, Elizabeth Morrison and Thomas Kren, eds., Los Angeles 2006, 143–45; Rosalind Brown-Grant, “Visualizing Justice in Burgundian Prose Romance: The Roman de Gérard de Nevers Illuminated by Loyset Liédet and the Wavrin Master,” Gesta 57 (2018), pp. 69–93; Scot McKendrick, “Contextualising the Art and Innovations of the Master of Edward IV in the Blackburn Hours (Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Hart MS 20884),” in A British Book Collector: Rare Books and Manuscripts in the R.E. Hart Collection, Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, Cynthia Johnston ed., London, 2021, pp. 93–143; Dominique Vanwijnsberghe, “Les Heures dites de la reine de Suède: Jean Markant et l’enluminure à Lille au début du XVIe siècle,” in Lumières du Nord: Les manuscrits enluminés français et flamands de la Bibliothèque nationale d’Espagne, Samuel Gras and Anne-Marie Legaré, eds., Villeneuve d’Ascq, 2021, pp. 245–80. 

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