Add MS 62523

BOOK OF HOURS: of Sarum Use, England; circa 1450-1460. Latin. See F. Procter and C. Wordsworth, Breviarum ad usum insignis ecclesiae Sarum (1879-86). The borders are the work of an immigrant artist known as the 'Caesar Master', whose name derives from his work on a copy of Caesar's De bello gallico (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS. Chigi H. VII.215), who exerted a considerable influence upon English illumination of the third quarter of the 15th cent. The Calendar and Litany feature numerous English saints. In the lower border of f. 7 is a lodged hart in a golden collar which may represent the badge of the unidentified original owner (the head of a similar hart also occurs on f. 16v of Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, MS. Chigi H. VII. 215). The obit of John Alburgh, 27 Nov. 1475, occurs in the Calendar at f. 6. A note on f. 1v, written in a youthful 18th-cent. hand, reads 'Katherine Blount. Given me by Worthy Mrs Pope'. Although Katherine Blount remains untraced it may be of relevance that Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was a close friend of Martha Blount (1690-1762) of Mapledurham, near Reading. Pope bequeathed her 60 of his books and the residue of her property passed to her nephew, Michael Blount. Purchased at Sotheby's, 22 June 1982, lot 72.

Vellum; ff. i+114. Sec. fol.: 'Primus mandantem'. 186 x 125mm. Marbled endpapers, with one paper flyleaf at the front and two at the back of the volume. Gatherings (15) of 8, except i6, ii8 (wants 6), v8 (wants 8), vi8 (wants 2), xiii8 (wants 5). Ruled (single bounding lines) in ink for single columns of 21 lines. Written space 110 x 70mm. Script is a Gothic textualis quadrata by one scribe, who also wrote Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Lat. 4681 (which contains borders by the Caesar Master, or his workshop). Catchwords at mid-foot. 18th cent. brown calf gilt binding with red label on the spine. Sewn on 5 cords.

Contents:

1. ff. 1-6v. Calendar (includes the Sarum Feast of the Relics, on the first Sunday after 7 July, and astronomical information).

2. ff. 7-37v. Hours of the Virgin, of Sarum Use, incorporating Memorials to the Saints into Matins.

3. ff. 38-42v. Penitential Psalms (these, with the Gradual Psalms and the Litany, forming the trina oratio).

4. ff. 42v-44. Gradual Psalms.

5. ff. 44-48v. Litany of the Saints. This includes Sts Swithin, Birinus and Edith and is identical with that of another project in which the Caesar Master was involved, namely the Wingfield Psalter-Hours, New York, Public Library, Spencer MS. 3, formerly Yates Thompson MS. 28, which belonged to Anne Neville, wife of Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham (d. 1460), see Illustrations from One Hundred Manuscripts in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson IV (1914), pls. lxxvii-lxxxii.

6. ff. 49-68v. Office of the Dead.

7. ff. 69-77v. Psalter of St Jerome.

8. ff. 78-87v. Commendation of Souls.

9. ff. 88-95v. Psalms of the Passion.

10. ff. 96-101. The Fifteen 'O's.

11. ff. 101v-105v. Prayers to the Trinity.

12. ff. 105v-107. 'O Intemerata'.

13. ff. 107-114v. Memorials to the Saints.

The decoration consists of ten (of an original fourteen) half-page miniatures (the iconography of which represents a highly unusual programme for a Book of Hours), in arched or rectangular frames, with full borders of naturalistic foliage sprouting roses, pinks, violets and strawberries, contrasting with stylized foliate sprays and scrolling acanthus. The borders are inhabited by animals such as rabbits, peacocks, eagles and the owls characeristic of such borders (the 'owl border style' being particularly associated with the Caesar Master and his followers), with putti and insets containing busts of human figures reading books, stylized heads and grotesques, such as a monkey de-lousing a boy's head (f. 7). A partial border of strawberry leaves sprouting roses also occurs (f. 53v), accompanied by an initial containing a grotesque male head with protruding tongue, in pink camaieu against pale blue and white. Nine 4-line historiated or decorated initials accompany the miniatures and are of red or blue modelled with white set against burnished grounds. Three 3-line initials in red, blue and white also occur. Numerous minor 2-line initials in gold on bi-partite red and blue grounds with white tracery, extending into partial foliate borders of penwork with gold, green and red/brown leaves. Litterae notabiliores of gold with penwork flourishing or of blue with red flourishing. Some line-fillers in blue and gold, some with terminals resembling halberd heads. For a discussion of the Caesar Master's work see K. Scott, The Mirroure of the Worlde, Roxburghe Club (1980). His borders combine Italian and northern features. His origins are obscure, but he is thought to have arrived in England during the 1440s. Other examples of his work include Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, 42-1950, and one border in Eton College, MS. 102. One of his distinctive owls occurs on f. 88 and is unusual in that it wears a cloak. The roses are thought to derive from those engraved on the backs of cards by the Master of the Playing Cards in the 1430s. The miniatures (which display more overt northern influence) may also be his work, but more research is needed on this question.

Subjects of the miniatures and initials are as follows:

1. f. 7. Matins. The Marriage of the Virgin, set in the interior of a Gothic church. The initial D contains a reading bearded man with upraised hand (perhaps an Apostle).

2. f. 26v. Prime. Christ disputing with the doctors. The initial D contains a thistle-like bud.

3. f. 29. Terce. Christ and the Samarian woman at the well. The initial D contains a sun in splendour.

4. f. 30v. Sext. The Marriage at Cana (an extremely unusual subject for a Book of Hours, although it also occurs in the Grandes Heures of Jean de Berry and the Le Clerc Hours; see Leroquais, Livres d'Heures I, 1927, p. liv, and Sotheby's sale cat., 22 June 1982, lot 81). Accompanied by a minor initial D.

5. f. 32v. None. The Transfiguration. The initial D contains a Veronica head.

6. f. 34. Vespers. The Entry into Jerusalem. The initial D seems to contain erased blue script.

7. f. 49. Office of the Dead. A Requiem Mass. The initial D contains foliate decoration.

8. f. 69. Psalter of St Jerome. St Jerome and his lion. The initial V contains foliate decoration.

9. f. 78. Commendation of Souls. The Last Judgement in the form of the weighing of the souls, with the souls of a man and woman, shown deceased, being rescued from devils by angels. The initial B contains a thistle-like bud.

10. f. 88. Psalms of the Passion. A priest, accompanied by a cardinal, before an altar, adoring Christ as the Man of Sorrows rising from the tomb (perhaps the Mass of St Gregory). The initial D contains foliate decoration.