[BOOK OF HOURS] - Lot 163

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  3. [BOOK OF HOURS] - Lot 163
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Lot n° 163
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[BOOK OF HOURS] - Lot 163
[BOOK OF HOURS] Office de la Vierge à l'usage de Troyes; Office des morts à l'usage de Troyes; Calendrier à l'usage de Troyes France, Champagne (Troyes ?) and Paris (?), circa 1460-1475 and late 19th or early 20th century FAMOUS MANUSCRIPT OF THE VIRGIN WITH THE UNICORN, CONSIDERED BY SCHWERDT TO BE ONE OF HIS JEWELS. BUT TWO MINIATURES were painted around 1900, INCLUDING THAT OF THE VIRGIN WITH THE LICORN, PLACED BY HIM AS THE FRONTISPICE OF HIS CATALOGUE. Small in-4 (177 x 126 mm). COLLATION: 99 ff. preceded and followed by two paper endpapers, lacunar manuscript, bound partly out of order, quires of 8 leaves (current collation, many leaves reassembled on tabs: i6, ii6, iii4, iv6, v4, vi4, vii5, viii4, ix4, x7, xi8, xii8, xiii8, xiv8, xv4, xvi8, xvii4). PAINTING: with 4 large, arched illuminations at the top: 2 15th-century miniatures on ff. 33, 42v (circle of the Master of Michault by Guyot II Le Peley) and 2 modern miniatures overpainted by a forger on leaves with 15th-century illuminated borders (ff. 13 and 32v). 1. f. 13: Three hunters on horseback, one sounding an olifant, followed by other shoemakers in background. Seated Virgin with unicorn resting on her lap. Note that the recto of this folio is ruled white [late 19th-century miniature, forger]. 2. f. 32v : Family kneeling in prayer in a chapel in front of open books: a man, a hunter wearing an olifant and carrying a sword, his wife and their two children [late 19th-century miniature, artist forger]. 3. f. 33: Nativity [original 15th-century miniature]. 4. f. 42: Adoration of the Magi [original 15th-century miniature]. ORNAMENTATION: Gothic script in dark brown ink, 16 lines per page, some calligraphic flourishes/cased initials (e.g. f. 71, f. 91, with head in profile wearing a hat), capitals in the text highlighted in pale yellow, headings in red, line ends in dark pink and blue with white highlights and burnished gold besants, numerous initials 1- to 2 lines high in burnished gold on dark pink and blue backgrounds with white highlights, large initials introducing the major textual divisions in blue with white highlights, set with a colored vine leaf decoration on burnished gold backgrounds (4 lines high), calendar in red and dark brown ink, KL initials in burnished gold on dark pink and blue backgrounds with white highlights, illuminated borders in the outer margin (every other leaf) with colored acanthus leaves, scrolls, vine leaves in burnished gold and small colored floral motifs on reserved backgrounds, same borders on all four sides (with the addition of zoomorphic hybrid creatures and birds that appear to be from the 15th century and are original ; two zoomorphic figures hold coats of arms on ff. 32v and 33), framing leaves with miniatures (ff. 13, 32v, 33, 42v; one border on four sides on fol. 16v). TEXT : ff. 1-12v: Calendar, in French, red and brown ink; note the following saints: Saint Parre (January 6); Saint Frobert [founder of Montier-la-Celle abbey] (January 7); Saint Rémi (in red, January 13; in brown, October 1); Saint Maur (in red, January 15); Saint Savinien [or Sabinien, martyr of Rilly; first apostle of Christianity in the diocese of Troyes] (red, January 24); Saint Savine ["consanguine sister of Saint Savinien"] (January 29); Saint Nicier [Saint Nizier of Lyon] (April 2); Saint Croix (twice: in red, May 3 and September 14); sainte Hélène (in red, May 4); sainte Mastie (Mastidie) [Mathie, patron saint of Troyes] (in red, May 7); saint Nicolas (May 9; in red, December 6); saint Falle [saint Phal or Fidolus] (May 16); saint Lyé (May 25); sainte Syre [two saints are known: one saint Syre de Troyes or de Rilly and the other saint Syre de Châlons or de Meaux] (June 7); La Couronne Dieu (August 11); saint Mammert (August 17); saint Fiacre [founder of a monastery near Meaux, dependent on the abbey of Sainte-Croix] (August 30); saint Loup (September 1); saint Virilien (September 13); saint Liénard (November 6); saint Audry (in red, November 30). ff. 13-16: Prayer, Obsecro te [complete text], feminine form: "...Et michi famule tue..." (fol. 15) ff. 16v: O intemerata [incomplete, end missing], explicit: "[...] atque misteriis celestibus ultra omnes inibitus...". ff. 17-44: Office de la Vierge (Office of the Virgin Mary), very incomplete, with leaves sometimes bound out of order, but nevertheless in keeping with the liturgical usage of Troyes, mixed with the Hours of the Cross (missing in its entirety) and the Hours of the Holy Spirit (only two leaves present). Hours of the Virgin: matins, ff. 17-23 and f. 70; lauds,
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