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1450 · réf. 0226 — BOOK OF HOURS USE OF SARUM In Latin and French illuminated manuscript on parchment. Bruges Flanders c. 1450 with substantial additions made in France in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Five miniatures by the Masters of the Gold Scrolls subgroup of the Master of Berlin Kunstbibliothek MS Grisebach 4 and one later French miniature in the artistic milieu of Antoine de Lonhy fl. c. 1446–1490. 193 × 134 mm. vi 124 leaves. Written principally in textualis formata in brown ink with rubrics in red and numerous initials in burnished gold blue and rose with penwork and foliate decoration. FIVE HALF-PAGE MINIATURES from the original Bruges campaign set within burnished-gold arches and surrounded by elaborate borders of scrolling vines acanthus flowers gold ivy leaves and bezants. ONE THREE-QUARTER-PAGE MINIATURE of the Mass of Saint Gregory was added in France at a later date. Made in Bruges around 1450 for the English market as demonstrated by its calendar for the Use of Sarum. The five surviving original miniatures depict the Massacre of the Innocents f. 7 Virgin and Child f. 13v Funeral Mass f. 38v Adoration of the Magi f. 57v and Resurrection f. 73. Gregory T. Clark attributes the illumination to a refined subgroup of the Masters of the Gold Scrolls centered around the Book of Hours Berlin Kunstbibliothek MS Grisebach 4. After reaching France the manuscript was extensively personalized. A striking miniature of the Mass of Saint Gregory with a kneeling female patron and impaled arms was added to the front of the volume. Stylistically it belongs to the immediate artistic milieu of Antoine de Lonhy and may possibly be by the artist himself. Additional French and Latin prayers protective texts healing charms and two versions of the Obsecro te—one for a female supplicant and another for a male—document its continued use by successive owners. Offsets from former pilgrimage badges preserved between its pages provide particularly evocative evidence of medieval devotional practice. An early ownership inscription appears most likely to read "I. Damas" or "H. Damas" while a later red-wax armorial seal appears to correspond with the heraldic tradition of the Damas family suggesting a possible long or recurring association with the family although continuous ownership cannot presently be demonstrated. The manuscript contains the Calendar Use of Sarum; Hours of the Virgin imperfect; Short Hours of the Cross; Mass of the Virgin; Seven Penitential Psalms; Litany; Office of the Dead; and substantial supplementary devotional material. Several leaves and miniatures are lacking particularly within the Hours of the Virgin. Nineteenth-century black silk velvet binding over pasteboards fitted with four pierced silver corner pieces and an elaborate silver clasp depicting the Agnus Dei beneath the Banner of the Resurrection. Housed in a twentieth-century red cloth clamshell box. Parchment generally sound with occasional stiffness and cockling moderate soiling and staining and occasional rubbing to initials and marginal decoration. The five original Bruges miniatures remain exceptionally fresh retaining brilliant color and crisp execution. The later Mass of Saint Gregory miniature has significant rubbing and wear to the background with minor modern interventions and restoration. PROVENANCE: Produced in Bruges for the English market c. 1450; unidentified female French patron later fifteenth century; Damas family late fifteenth or early sixteenth century and possibly later; subsequent female and male users documented by added prayers; private collection Switzerland. FOR FULL DESCRIPTON PLEASE SEE MY WEBSITE Illuminated Manuscript / Book of Hours