Anonymous French illuminator - photo 1
Anonymous French illuminator - photo 2
Anonymous French illuminator - photo 3
Anonymous French illuminator - photo 4
Anonymous French illuminator - photo 5

Anonymous French illuminator

Lot 19
09.07.2025 10:30UTC +01:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1450444
Lot 19 | Anonymous French illuminator
Estimate value
£ 7 000 – 10 000
Anonymous French illuminator
Book of Hours, use of Rome, in Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on vellum [southwestern France, final third 15th century]
A lively, brightly-coloured provincial Hours from southwestern France.

167 x 107mm, i + 138 leaves, collation: 112, 210 (of 12 lacking iv and ix), 311 (of 12, lacking xi), 411 (of 12, lacking ix), 511 (of 12, lacking i), 612, 76 (of 8, lacking iv-v), 8-1112, 1211 (of 12, xii a cancelled blank), 136, modern foliation in pencil, vertical catchwords survive, 13 lines, ruled space: 86 x 58mm, one-line initials alternately in burnished gold or blue throughout, two-line initials in burnished gold on grounds of blue and red, larger initials in pink on grounds of burnished gold and blue with floral motifs, 5 full-page miniatures within three-sided borders (lacking 7 leaves with miniatures: after ff.16, 18, 32, 41, 44, two leaves after f.71, signs of use and some staining especially in upper margins of ff.92 onwards). Bound in 16th-century French blind-tooled leather over wooden boards (a little rubbed and scuffed).

Provenance:
(1) The calendar is relatively sparse, but there are several saints from southern and southwestern France: among these Robert, abbot of Chaise-Dieu, on 24 April; Quiteria, venerated throughout southern France and northern Spain, on 22 May; Radegund, venerated at Vienne, on 11 August; Ferreolus, venerated at Vienne, on 18 September; Faith, venerated in Conques, on 6 October; and Gerald of Aurillac on 13 October. The illumination also points to a more provincial production in southern France.

(2) A 17th-century hand copies out Etienne Leroy’s prayer to one’s guardian angel, beginning ‘Ange de Dieu qui m’as en garde’ on the first flyleaf and f.138v.

(3) Louis Pancou de Mouret: 19th-century inscriptions on inside upper cover, twice in the Calendar on f.10v ‘Louis Pancou’, on f.138v and again twice on inside lower cover. A Pancou de Mouret is recorded in Figeac, southwestern France, during the late 18th/early 19th century (see P. Calmon, Société et droit à Figeac de l'Ancien Régime au Second Empire, vers 1750-vers 1850, 2005, p.129). Several members of the Pancou family are recorded in Figeac and the department of Lot, indicating that the manuscript remained in the same area for at least 300 years.

Content: Calendar ff.1-12v; Hours of the Holy Spirit ff.14-16v; Hours of the Cross ff.17-18v; Hours of the Virgin, use of Rome, ff.19-71v: matins f.19, lauds f.33, prime f.42, terce f.45, sext f.48v, none f.51v, vespers f.55, compline f.61v; Office of the Dead, use of Rome, ff.72-107v; Seven Penitential Psalms and Litany ff.108-127v; Gospel extracts ff.127v-132v; indulgence of John XII, beginning ‘Hoc scriptum fuit repertum rome retro altare beati petri et papa iohannes xii’, ff.133-138.

The subjects of the full-page miniatures are as follows: Trinity f.13v; Adoration of the Magi f.48; Presentation in the Temple f.51; Flight into Egypt f.54v; Coronation of the Virgin f.61; Funeral Mass f.73v.
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