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Guide To Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library
HM 1126View all images for this manuscript BOOK OF HOURS, use of Amiens
1. ff. 1-12v: Full calendar in French, with major feasts in red.
2. ff. 13-27 [f. 13r-v, blank]: Pericopes of the gospels; oratio de beata maria, Obsecro te…et michi famulo tuo…[Leroquais, LH 2:346]; oratio de beata maria, O Intemerata…orbis terrarum. De te enim…[Wilmart, 494-95]; f. 27v, ruled, but blank.
3. ff. 28-83v: Hours of the Virgin, use of Amiens; 9 lessons at matins.
4. ff. 84-99v: Penitential psalms and litany, including Quentin, Firmin, Maurice and Fuscianus among the martyrs; Firmin, Honoratus, Romanus
and Salvius among the confessors; Ulphia among the virgins.
5. ff. 100-104v [f. 100r-v, blank]: Short hours of the Cross.
6. ff. 105-109 [f. 105r-v, blank]: Short hours of the Holy Spirit.
7. ff. 110-154v [f. 110r-v, blank]: Office of the Dead, use of Amiens.
8. ff. 155-162: Douche dame de misericorde…[Leroquais, LH 2:310-11]; Quiconque veult estre bien conseillies…[Sonet 1760; prologue to the prayer:] Dous dieux dous peres sainte trinite 1 dieu biaux sire dieux…[Leroquais, LH 2:309-10].
Parchment, ff. i (parchment) + 162 + i (parchment); 196 × 146 (95 × 66) mm. 112 28(+1, f. 13) 36(through f. 27) 4-118 128(+9, f. 100) 138(+5, f. 105, and 10, f. 110) 14-198 206(-5, 6).
Catchwords in center lower margin in script of text. 16 long lines, ruled in pale red ink. Written in 2 sizes of liturgical gothic book hand.
Eighteen large miniatures above 4 lines of text in arched compartments with serrated tops; the U-shape frame around text and
miniature sprouts from the initial, and consists of a narrow gold and color strip on the inner margin and wider bands of gold
decorated with colored trilobe leaves or other flowers on the other 2 sides; at the 4 corners are bursts of acanthus leaves,
mainly blue and gold; the outer borders are of black ivy spray, flowers, berries and gold motifs. The miniatures, all but
one related to the style of Maître François,1 are; f. 14, John on Patmos, depicted clearly as an island; f. 15v, Luke; f. 17v, Matthew; f. 19v, Mark; f. 28 (Hours of the
Virgin), Annunciation; f. 49 (Lauds), Visitation, with Elizabeth kneeling in prayer before the Virgin; f. 58 (Prime), Nativity,
with the infant lying on the hem of Mary’s cloak, while Joseph holds a candle; the confines of the shed correspond to the
shape of the picture; f. 63 (Terce), Annunciation to the shepherds, one of whom holds bagpipes, and a shepherdess; f. 66v
(Sext), Adoration of the Magi with Joseph holding his hat; f. 70 (None), Presentation in the temple; f. 73v (Vespers), Flight
into Egypt, with an idol falling off its column in the background; f. 79v (Compline), Coronation of the Virgin by an angel,
who leans over a low gothic-styled wall, while God the Father, wearing a papal tiara, blesses; blue swirling clouds at the
bottom of the picture; f. 84 (Penitential psalms), David in prayer, and an angel with upright sword above; f. 101 (Hours of
the Cross), Crucifixion in the center of the picture, with Mary and John to Christ’s right, the soldiers on his left, one
of whom has a man-faced shield; f. 106 (Hours of the Holy Spirit), Pentecost, with Mary at a prie-dieu, centered between 2
pale blue columns and 2 groups of apostles; f. 111 (Office of the Dead), Funeral service in a church; f. 155 (the 7 Joys of
the Virgin), by a different artist, the Virgin, enthroned, holds the Child on her lap, while the owners, man and wife, kneel
in prayer, and 2 angels read praises of the Virgin from a scroll; f. 160 (the 7 Requests), by the first artist, the Father
and Son, dressed identically, sit on a throne, holding an open book on which the Dove is perched; blue clouds swirl at the
lower corners of the picture.
4-line initials in white-decorated blue or pink on a gold ground infilled with colored trilobe leaves. 2-and 1-line initials
in gold on white-patterned dark pink or blue grounds with infilling of the other color; ribbon line fillers of the same colors.
Rubrics in an orange-tinged red. Traced borders on every page the length of the text. Quire 19 (ff. 151-58) with different
border and miniature.
Bound, s. XVIex, in French brown morocco tooled in silver with leaf sprays and interlaced fillets, originally 2 fore edge straps to pins
on lower cover, only 1 remains; gilt edges.
Written during the second half of the fifteenth century for use in Amiens, presumably for a man and wife, as suggested by the miniature on f. 155.
On the front pastedown is the bookplate of John Ragsdale, s. XVIII. Belonged to Robert Hoe: Cat. (1909) p. 53; his sale, Anderson, New York, 1911, pt. I, n. 2132 to G. D. Smith.
Precise source and date of acquisition by Henry E. Huntington unknown.
Bibliography: De Ricci, 94.France, s. XV2 Notes1 We thank Prof. James Marrow for this information.
Abbreviations
C. W. Dutschke with the assistance of R. H. Rouse et al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, 1989). Copyright 1989.
Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, California. Electronic version encoded by Sharon K, Goetz, 2003. All rights to the cataloguing and images in Digital Scriptorium reside with the contributing institutions. |