Book of hours : use of Utrecht : in Dutch

Item Information

Title:
Book of hours : use of Utrecht : in Dutch
Title (uniform):
Book of hours
Description:
Illuminated book of hours, likely produced in Zwolle between 1475 and 1480 and containing miniatures and illuminations attributed to the Masters of the Zwolle Bible.
Creator:
Catholic Church
Former owner:
Beresford Hope, A. J. B. (Alexander James Beresford), 1820-1887
Illuminator:
Masters of the Zwolle Bible, active 1460-1480
Former owner:
Martinus Nijhoff (Firm : Hague, Netherlands)
Date:
[1475–1480]
Format:
Manuscripts
Books
Genre:
Illuminations
Books of hours
Manuscripts, Dutch--Netherlands
Manuscripts, Medieval--Netherlands
Morocco bindings
Gold tooled bindings
Gothic scripts
devotional calendars
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction)
Places:
Netherlands > Overijssel (province) > Zwolle
Extent:
155 leaves : parchment, ill. ; 168 x 130 (91 x 68) mm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/ht253v50z
Terms of Use:
No Copyright - United States icon No Copyright - United States
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
[Zwolle]
Language:
Dutch
Table of Contents:
1. fol. 1-1v: blank.
2. fol. 2-13v: calendar (use of Utrecht, completely full)
3. fol. 14-14v: blank.
4. fol. 15-46v: (Hours of the Virgin)
5. fol. 15-22v: Matins (Hours of the Virgin)
6. fol. 22v-29: Lauds (Hours of the Virgin)
7. fol. 29-31v: Prime (Hours of the Virgin)
8. fol. 32-34: Terce (Hours of the Virgin)
9. fol. 34-36v: Sext (Hours of the Virgin)
10. fol. 36v-39: Nones (Hours of the Virgin)
11. fol. 39-43: Vespers (Hours of the Virgin)
12. fol. 43-46v: Compline (Hours of the Virgin)
13. fol. 47: blank.
14. fol. 47v: full-page miniature, The Agony in the Garden.
15. fol. 48-66: Hours of Eternal Wisdom.
16. fol. 66v: blank.
18. fol. 67: blank.
19. fol. 67v: full-page miniature, The Crucifixion.
20. fol. 68-87v: Long Hours of the Cross.
21. fol. 88-88v: blank.
22. fol. 89-109: Hours of the Holy Spirit.
23. fol. 109v: blank.
24. fol. 110-127v: Penitential Psalms and Litany.
25. fol. 110: blank.
26. fol. 110v: full-page miniature, Judgment Day.
27. fol. 111-127v: Psalms, Litany and additional prayers (ends imperfectly; lacking one folio after fol. 127)
28. fol. 128-155v: Office of the Dead (Matins and Lauds only) (begins imperfectly in Matins, with "...mijn boesheit sich..."; lacking one folio before fol. 128 and another - its conjugate - after fol. 133)
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Bibliographic record created by BPL staff based on description by Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis and by James H. Marrow's entry in the 2016 Beyond words catalog (no. 127).
Origin: Written in Zwolle, for the use of Utrecht, ca. 1475-80. According to Beyond words exhibition catalog (no. 127), "the book can be localized on stylistic grounds to Zwolle in the eastern Netherlands. The painter of the miniatures and their accompanying painted border decoration is one of the Masters of the Zwolle Bible." The Masters of the Zwolle Bible are named for the Bible commissioned for the Brethren of the Common Life at Zwolle between 1462 and about 1476.
Notes (ownership):
Provenance: Early-modern number "607" in brown ink on fol. i verso; "27" in black ink on final flyleaf; 18th-century(?) label inside front cover with shelfmark in brown ink, "N. 12/ N.G.G." (perhaps "N. 9.9."); Beresford-Hope sale, Sotheby's London, 23 March 1882, lot 23. Pencil annotations and BPL acquisition note on verso of front flyleaf.
Notes (acquisition):
Immediate source of acquisition: Purchased by BPL in 1957 from Nijhoff.
Notes (date):
This date is inferred.
Notes (object):
Collation: Parchment, fol. ii (ca. 18th-century paper) + 155 + ii (ca. 18th-century paper) ; 1⁶ 2⁸ 3⁸⁺¹ 4-5⁸ 7-8⁸ 9⁸⁺¹ 10-12⁸ 13⁸⁻¹ 14⁸⁺¹ 15⁸ 16⁶ 17⁸⁻² 18-19⁸ 20⁶. The three full-page miniatures at fol. 47, 67 and 110 are tipped-in singletons. Fol. 20, a text page, is also a singleton. Lacking one leaf before fol. 101 and the outermost bifolium of quire 17, i.e. one leaf before fol. 128 and after fol. 133 ; modern arabic pencil foliation, upper outer corner of each page.
Layout: Single column, 19 lines; bounding and writing lines in light brown or maroon plummet; bounding lines extend to top and bottom edges.
Script: Written in a gothic textualis formata in black ink with red rubrics.
Decoration: All attributed to the Masters of the Zwolle Bible. Five nine-line historiated initials in gold and colors with full acanthus border with marginal angels and animals, one at the beginning of each Office (lacking that for the Office of the Dead), and three full-page miniatures (possibly lacking one for the Office of the Dead): Virgin and Child (fol. 15, historiated initial) -- Agony in the Garden (fol. 47v, full-page miniature) -- Christ with a book (fol. 48, historiated initial) -- Crucifixion (fol. 67v, full-page miniature) -- Christ as the Man of Sorrows (fol. 68, historiated initial) -- Moses receiving the ten commandments (fol. 89, historiated initial) --Judgment Day (fol. 110v, full-page miniature) -- David at prayer (fol. 111, historiated initial). One-line initials, mid-line throughout, alternating gold and blue; two-line gold initials throughout filled with red on a blue background or vice versa, with white filigree highlighting and small gold and penwork sprays into margin; each hour begins with a three-line initial in similar style with 1/4-border of vines and small flowers, 28 in all.
Binding: Ca. 18th-century red morocco double panelled in gilt with elaborately-tooled borders and cornerpieces; spine compartments panelled and tooled in gilt. The endpapers are marbled followed by blank paper flyleaves without watermarks. All text block edges are gilt.
Notes (bibliography):
Bibliography: Edith Wright, "A Utrecht Book of Hours," BPL Quarterly (1960): 97-102; The golden age of manuscript painting (New York, 1990), ex. 248-249, example 86; Jeffrey Hamburger, et al., eds. Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections. (Chestnut Hill: McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 2016), no. 127.
Notes (language):
In Dutch.
Identifier:
06_01_018709
Call #:
RARE BKS MS q Med.172
MS 1597 (no longer used)
Barcode:
39999065109819