48 - [Illuminated manuscript Book of Hours] OFFICIUM BEATÆ MARIÆ VIRGINIS SECUNDUM USUM ECCLESIÆ ROMANÆ, CUM CALENDARIO. France, probably Paris, circa 1515–1525. Manuscript in Latin on parchment, 136 folios (13.4 × 8.5 cm) in 20-line format. 18th-century red morocco leather binding, richly decorated ribbed spine, covers framed by a wide gold lace border with small ironwork, all edges gilt; havana calfskin slipcase decorated with gold friezes.

[Illuminated manuscript Book of Hours] OFFICIUM BEATÆ MARIÆ VIRGINIS SECUNDUM USUM ECCLESIÆ ROMANÆ, CUM CALENDARIO. France, probably Paris, circa 1515–1525. Manuscript in Latin on parchment, 136 folios (13.4 × 8.5 cm) in 20-line format. 18th-century red morocco leather binding, richly decorated ribbed spine, covers framed by a wide gold lace border with small ironwork, all edges gilt; havana calfskin slipcase decorated with gold friezes. IMPORTANT, RICHLY ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT FROM THE FIRST QUARTER OF THE 16TH CENTURY, ATTRIBUTED TO THE GROUP OR WORKSHOP OF ÉTIENNE COLAUD. Copied in an elegant humanistic script in black ink, with headings in red and ruling in pale red ink, the text is lavishly decorated with painted initials highlighted in gold. The manuscript is in remarkably fresh condition with vibrant colors. The manuscript includes: a Latin calendar (ff. 1–8), fragments of the four Gospels (ff. 10–21), prayers to the Virgin Mary “Obsecro te” and “O intemerata,” and the Hours of the Virgin (ff. 27–69v), penitential psalms and litanies of the saints (ff. 69v–84), the Office of the Dead (ff. 84–115), the Hours of the Cross (ff. 115–119v), the Hours of the Holy Spirit (ff. 119v–123), Hours of the Immaculate Conception (ff. 123–126), prayers to the saints (ff. 126–135). The calendar includes Italian saints (St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Simeon of Trent, St. Peter of Verona, St. Nicholas of Tolentino, St. Magne) as well as a particularly prominent presence of saints from the Franciscan Order (St. Bernardine, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Clare with her translation on October 2, St. Francis with his octave). Since several grammatical forms in the prayers are in the masculine, the manuscript may have been intended for a male patron. EXTENSIVE ILLUSTRATION COMPRISING 16 LARGE MINIATURES AND 21 SMALL ONES, for a total of 37 paintings. The large compositions, set within classical architectural frames, depict: 1. The Trinity surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists, with their names in French (f. 9v°). 2. The Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (f. 13v°). 3. The Annunciation (f. 26v°). 4. The Visitation (f. 40). 5. The Nativity (f. 48). 6. The Announcement to the Shepherds (f. 51v°). 7. The Adoration of the Magi (f. 55). 8. The Presentation in the Temple (f. 58). 9. The Flight into Egypt (f. 61). 10. The Coronation of the Virgin (f. 66). 11. David in Prayer (f. 70). 12. Job on His Muck (f. 84v°). 13. The Crucifixion (f. 115). 14. Pentecost (f. 120). 15. The Meeting of Joachim and Anne at the Golden Gate (f. 123v°). 16. The Holy Trinity (f. 126 v°). In addition, 21 SMALL MINIATURES illustrate the opening prayers and the intercessions of the saints: Saint Luke (f. 10v°) – Saint Matthew (f. 11) – Saint Mark (f. 12v°) - Virgin and Child (f. 21) - Virgin and Child in Majesty (f. 23v°) - God the Father (f. 127) - Salvator Mundi (f. 127v°) - Holy Spirit (f. 128) - Saint Veronica presenting the veil (f. 128v) - Saint Michael slaying the dragon (f. 129v) - Saint John the Baptist in the Desert (f. 130) - Saint John the Evangelist (f. 130v) - Saints Peter and Paul (f. 130v) - The Martyrdom of Saint Stephen (f. 131) - The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence (f. 131v) - The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (f. 132) - Saint Nicholas as a bishop (f. 133) - Saint Anne with the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus (f. 133) - Saint Mary Magdalene (f. 133v) - Saint Catherine of Alexandria (f. 134) - Saint Barbara (f. 134v). The decoration bears strong similarities to the work of Étienne Colaud’s circle. A comparison with the Roman Book of Hours bearing Étienne Colaud’s subscription, dated 1512–1513 and now in a private collection, is particularly revealing: it features a very similar iconographic program, both in the major scenes from the cycle of the Virgin and the Passion and in the sequence of small miniatures accompanying the prayers to the saints. The treatment of the figures, the rosy skin tones, the bold rendering of the eyelids and folds, the bold color palette, and the preference for architectural frames in the Renaissance style also bring this manuscript closer to that corpus. See Marie-Blanche Cousseau, “Étienne Colaud, Parisian Illuminator and Bookseller: On a Book of Hours Bearing His Subscription,” *Bulletin du bibliophile*, 2010, no. 1, pp. 11–35, 16 fig.; id., Étienne Colaud and Parisian Illumination during the Reign of Francis I, Tours, Presses universitaires François-Rabelais, 2016, particularly Appendix 3: “Codicological Record of the Book of Hours Bearing Étienne Colaud’s Subscription.” Two devotional images from an 18th-century prayer book depicting Saint Sebastian and the scales of the Last Judgment were later pasted onto the endpapers. Provenance: Handwritten inscription on a flyleaf: “F. G. H. Culemann, Hannoverae, 1858,”