Books and missals (9)

Officium Virginis Mariae secundum usum romane ecclesie. Membranous manuscript, Brescia, c. 1480. 16mo. 106 x 80 mm. French twentieth-century "Jansenist" binding in dark red morocco signed "Alix" in the front counterplate, ribbed spine with gilt title "Livre d'Heures," double gilt fillet hinging, counterplates covered in marbled paper squared with gilt fillet, marbled flyleaves, gilt edges. Sheets: 1 white, 101, 102 white. Numbering in pencil by back hand, writing mirror ca. 65 x 50 mm, 14 lines per page in Gothic lettering in black and red ink.Work consists of: 1 sheet white; Calendar, sheets 1-14; sheets 15-16 white; Virgin's Officio, sheets 17-78: Penitential Psalms and Litany, sheets 79-96; Orations, sheets 97-101, sheet 102 white. Nine full-page miniatures, numerous filigreed Initials of the height of two lines, in gold or blue, accompanied by decorations extending into the margin in light gray or red ink, respectively; many smaller filigreed Initials in gold, of the height of one line, and in blue with thin decorations in red ink.The full-page miniatures are:The Incipit Sheet, Virgin and Child within floral frame with four figures at the corners, the polychrome flowers surrounded by geometric decorations on a white ground;Incipit of the Psalms, with a kneeling king offering a golden crown;Seven Large Initials in gold and polychrome miniature, five rows high, within large frame with polychrome flowers and phytomorphic motifs, on a filigreed ground studded with gold bisants. Splendid Officiolo Miniato with very elegant filigree decoration. Overall, all the ornamentation in the volume is very fine. In the large miniature of the Incipit Officium Verginis Marie the Virgin and Child is in the center of the page framed by gold frame; the wide margins of the folio are finely decorated and lumed with gold. In the corners are four portraits on a gold background: a young man at upper left, appearing to be St. John the Baptist; at upper right, an unidentified saint, depicted as a Bishop of the Catholic Church; below right, St. Paul with canonical attributes, book and sword; below left, St. Peter with the Keys to Heaven. In the gold roundel in the lower center is the Monogram of Christ IHS. Concerning School attribution and dating, we get the information from the Catalogue of the Exhibition "Miniated Treasures ... of Bergamo and Brescia": at card 63 is presented a Missal of the Biblioteca Civica Queriniana ms. C II 3 whose ornamentation and illustration, believed to be of the Lombard School, is very close to the present codex: this Missal was made for the Cathedral of Brescia. Comparing the illuminations in the Missal reproduced in the Catalogue with the illuminations in our Codex, a remarkable similarity of style emerges: manner of working the initials in white lead; filigree friezes with large flowers and leaf viluppi and a kind of large ochre pistil; parts of the frieze on gold foils; the frames, (which in our codex are partly cut out). Drawing and colors. The figures St. Saturninus, Annunciation and Psalmist in the water also appear to be consonant with the Madonna and Child, the saints in the frame and the Psalmist. The miniaturist's name does not appear, but it is a workshop active in the city at that time. In the file, written by Marubbi, two Breviaries similar to the Missal are named-one Franciscan (Sotheby's London 1989 sale, lot. 53) and one Dominican (Christies 1990, lot. 21).Cf. Illuminated Treasures. Codices and incunabula from the ancient fonds of Bergamo and Brescia, exhibition catalog, edited by M.L. Gatti Perer, M. Marubbi, (Bergamo, Brescia 1995) Cinisello Balsamo Silvana Editoriale 1995, pp. 174-175. The lot is sold with valid export permit. Illuminated manuscript on vellum, Brescia ca. 1480. In- 16mo. 106 x 80mm. Twentieth-century French "Jansenist" binding in dark red morocco signed "Alix" on the front pastedown, spine with raised bands with gilt title "Livre d'Heures," squares with double gilt border, marbled paper-covered pastedowns framed by gilt border, flying endpapers marbled, gilt edges. Sheets: Leaf 1 blank, 101 leaves, leaf 102 blank. Later hand pencil numbering, area of text approx. 65 x 50 mm, 14 lines per page in gothic letter in black and red ink.Work composed as follows: 1 blank sheet; Calendar, sheets 1-14; sheets 15-16 white; Office of the Virgin, sheets 17-78: Penitential Psalms and Litanies, sheets 79-96; Prayers, sheets 97-101, sheet 102 blank. Nine full-page illuminations, numerous watermarked Initials two lines high, in gold or blue, accompanied by decorations extending along the margin in light gray or red ink, respectively, many smaller gold Watermarked Initials, height a line, and in blue with subtle decorations in red ink.The full page illuminations are:The i