Sumptuous complete calendar triple graded in gold leaf, red, and blue and with full borders sparkling with burnished gold.

191 × 140 mm. Single quire of twelve leaves, each ruled in red ink for a single column of seventeen lines (justification: 108 × 66 mm), written in gothic lettre bâtarde in blue, red, gold, and black inks. Major feasts are marked in gold, secondary feasts in blue and red, Use of Paris, with local saints such as Saint Geneviève (3 Jan., in gold), Saint Denis (9 Oct., in gold), Saint Marcel of Paris (3 Nov.), and Saint Germain of Paris (28 May) all elevated to gold, one- and two-line initials in blue on burnished gold grounds, Kalends initials enriched with acanthus infill, and full borders on every leaf composed of rinceaux with sprays of gold bezants, stylized ivy, and flowering tendrils. Some marginal wear and minor losses to pigment or gold; overall in good condition.

Calendars in fifteenth-century Books of Hours functioned both as liturgical guides and as personal devotional tools, allowing the owner to follow the rhythm of the Church year and record anniversaries and commemorations. The prominent use of gold for Parisian saints and the high-quality border decoration indicate a commission of considerable expense, likely for an elite Parisian patron. Executed around 1450, the stylistic features—particularly the gilded ivy borders, palette, and decorative vocabulary—closely reflect the visual idiom developed in the circle of the Master of Jean Rolin II, a leading illuminator in Paris whose influence extended widely among mid-century workshops (on the Master of Jean Rolin II, see lots 41, 42, and 43).

Provenance
(1)Private Collection, California, USA.

LITERATURE
Unpublished; Related literature: Jacqueline Schaefer, “Le Maître de Jean Rolin: Un atelier parisien vers 1450,” Revue de l’art 119 (1998), pp. 33–44; Eberhard König, Das Stundenbuch des Kardinals Jean Rolin, Munich, 2002; Xavier Hélary, Les saints dans la liturgie et la société médiévales. Études sur les calendriers liturgiques du nord de la France (Xe–XVe siècle), Paris, 2022.

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