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Egerton MS 2019
- Record Id:
- 032-001982946
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001982946
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000053.0x00014f
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100171734710.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Egerton MS 2019
- Title:
- Book of Hours, Use of Paris
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
Hours of the Virgin, in Latin, with calendar and prayers in French:
ff. 1r-12v: Calendar in French;
ff. 13r-20r: Cursus evangeliorum;
ff. 20v-29v: Prayers to the Virgin, including 'Obsecro te' and 'O Intemerata';
ff. 30r-103v: Hours of the Virgin;
ff. 104r-141v: Penitential Psalms;
ff. 142r-195v: Vigils of the Dead;
ff. 196r-206v: Prayers in French;
ff. 207r-235v: Memorials of Saints.
Decoration:
24 calendar roundels, in colours and gold (ff. 1r-12v). 4 full-page miniatures accompanied by historiated initials and full foliate borders including roundels with related scenes, in colours and gold at major text divisions (ff. 30r, 104r, 135r, 142r). 36 full-page miniatures, accompanied by large decorated initials and full foliate borders, in colours and gold (ff. 13r, 15v, 17r, 19r, 20v, 25r, 56r, 68r, 75r, 80r, 85r, 90r, 98r, 126r, 196r, 203r, 207r, 208r, 209r, 210r, 211r, 213r, 215r, 216r, 217r, 218v, 219v, 220v, 222r, 223r, 224r, 226v, 229r, 231r, 232r, 234v). All text pages with three-sided foliate borders in colours and gold; at the beginning of the nine lessons in the Hours of the Dead are full foliate borders, each including three miniatures depicting scenes from the book of Job in the outer margins, in colours and gold (ff. 156v, 157v, 158v, 165v, 166v, 167v, 175r, 176r, 177v). Decorated initials in colours and gold. Small initials and line-fillers in gold on red and blue grounds. Rubrics in blue.
The subjects of the miniatures are:
ff. 1r-12r: Two roundels for each month, one with the astrological symbol and the other with the activity of the month;
f. 13r: St John the Evangelist writing, with his symbol, the eagle, warding off a winged demon behind him;
f. 15r: St Luke writing with his symbol, the bull, lying at his feet, a scroll in its mouth;
f. 17r: St Matthew enthroned, writing, dipping his quill into a pot of ink held by his symbol, a young winged man; above the throne is a shield with the arms of France;
f. 19r: St Mark writing, with his symbol, the lion, standing before him with a scroll in its mouth;
f. 25r: The Virgin and Child with two angels playing musical instruments;
f. 30r: The Annunciation, with the archangel Gabriel arriving from the right, holding a scroll on which is inscribed a message, with the Virgin Mary kneeling with an open book to the left, in prayer;
f. 56r: The Visitation, with Sts Mary and Elizabeth together in a landscape with two other figures;
f. 68r: The Nativity with St Joseph and angels;
f. 75r: The Angel Gabriel appears to the shepherds;
f. 80r: The Adoration of the Magi;
f. 85r: The Presentation in the Temple;
f. 90r: The Flight to Egypt;
f. 98r: The Coronation of the Virgin;
f. 104r: David penitent, praying to the Holy Trinity within a walled garden, with his harp and crown on the ground beside him;
f. 126r: The Crucifixion, with Christ at the centre and the two thieves, one on each side, crucified alongside him, with a skull and bones at the bottom of the Cross;
f. 135r: The Pentecost, with an enthroned Virgin Mary sitting in prayer with a book open on her lap, eleven nimbed figures surrounding her wearing brightly coloured robes and the Holy Spirit above; in a roundel on the lower right is a baptism, in which water is poured over the infant child's head at the centre, with the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, the priest and his assistant, and the Holy Spirit above;
f. 142r: A burial with sextons lowering a body into a grave (centre) surrounded by smaller miniatures of death and devils, including a priest giving the Last Sacrament (centre right) and Death on a black horse throwing a dart at a Pope, and Emperor, a King and a Queen (below);
ff. 156v-177v: Scenes from the life of Job, including: f. 157v: a sacrifice (above), a demon before the Almighty (centre) and a battle scene (below); f. 158v: a demon setting fire to shepherds and their flock (above), a demon flying over a battle scene containing two camels (centre), and a demon and wind causing buildings to collapse onto the inhabitants of a town (below); f. 165v: Job on the dungheap;
f. 196r: The Virgin and Child with angels;
f. 203r: The Trinity, in which the enthroned Almighty holds the body of the crucified Christ who bears the nail wounds in his hands and feet, wears a crown of thorns and touches his chest wound from which blood pours, whilst the Holy Spirit looks upon Christ from his shoulder, surrounded by an aura of red containing the heads and wings of angels praying;
f. 207r: St Michael killing a winged monster;
f. 208r: St John the Baptist is beheaded at the door of a prison while a woman (?Salome) is given a plate;
f. 209r: The martyrdom of St Lawrence;
f. 210r: The martyrdom of St Stephen;
f. 211r: The martyrdom of St Sebastian;
f. 213r: St Christopher carrying the Christ Child across the river;
f. 215r: The martyrdom of St Katherine with a wheel;
f. 216r: St Margaret of Antioch emerging from a dragon;
f. 217: The martyrdom of St Apollonia;
f. 218v: St Genevieve; with a book;
f. 219v: St Avoye in prison;
f. 220v: St Mary Magdelene;
f. 222r: The Trinity with God the Father holding the wounded Christ;
f. 223r: The three Holy Women at the tomb;
f. 224r: St Jude with an axe;
f. 226v: A bishop and martyr of Athens;
f. 229r: A confessor and bishop of Athens;
f. 231r: An abbot and a monk holding books;
f. 232r: A virgin martyr being beheaded;
f. 234r: All the Saints with the Virgin and God the Father.
The miniatures are attributed to the Dunois Master (ff. 104r, 135r, 142r, 222r, 229r), the Master of the Munich Golden Legend (ff. 1r-56r, 75r-98r, 126r, 156v-177v, 196r-224r, 232r), and the Master of the Salisbury Breviary St Stephen Style (ff. 68r, 223r, 226v, 231r, 234v) (see Reynolds, ‘The Workshop of the Master of the Duke of Bedford' (2006), p. 453, n. 35).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Egerton Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-001982946", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Egerton MS 2019: Book of Hours, Use of Paris" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001982946
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-001982946
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- A parchment codex, 235 folios
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100171734710.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- French
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1440
- End Date:
- 1450
- Date Range:
- 1440-1450
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript.
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 195 x 140 mm (text space: 100 x 65 mm).
Foliation: ff. 235 (+ 1 paper, 18 parchment, and 2 original unfoliated flyleaves at the beginning, and 2 original, 20 parchment, and 1 paper unfoliated flyleaves at the end). The images
Script: Gothic.
Binding: Post-1600. Red velvet with silver metal-work and clasps containing on the inside the date 1887 and the initials T. J. C. (the digital images of the closed and opened clasps are numbered f. [xlvi-xlviii]); gilt edges.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: France, Central (Paris).
Provenance:
Probably made for a woman: the suffrage to St Christopher uses feminine forms (f. 213v); the border on f. 135 includes a woman kneeling before a Franciscan confessor, although the 'Obsecro te' uses masculine forms (f. 23r). The shield of France is depicted above the throne of St Matthew on f. 17r.
Unidentified owner, 1787: engraved 'T. J. C.', and 'A^o^ 1787' (inside of clasps).
Bought by the British Museum from Messrs Glasier, 21 June 1866 (note on first original flyleaf), using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829)).
- Information About Copies:
-
Full digital coverage available for this manuscript: see Digitised Manuscripts at http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts.
Select digital coverage available for this manuscript, see Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/welcome.htm.
- Publications:
-
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1853-1875 (London: British Museum, 1877), no. Eg. 2019.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 17.
A Guide to the Exhibition of Some Part of the Egerton Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1929), no. 21.
Janet Backhouse, Books of Hours (London: British Library, 1985), fig. 43.
Patricia Basing, Trades and Crafts in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 1990), figs 8, 56-58.
Judith Pearce, 'Liturgy and Image: the Advent Miniature in the Salisbury Breviary', in Medieval Texts and Images: Studies of Manuscripts from the Middle Ages, ed. by Margaret M. Manion and Bernard J. Muir (Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991), pp. 25-42 (p. 32, no. 25).
Peter Rolfe Monks, 'The Rolin Master's Hand in London BL MS Additional 25695', in Medieval Texts and Images: Studies of Manuscripts from the Middle Ages, ed. by Margaret M. Manion and Bernard J. Muir (Chur: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1991), pp. 57-70 (p. 61).
François Avril and Nicole Reynaud, Les Manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520 (Paris: Flammarion, 1993), p. 36.
Christopher de Hamel, The British Library Guide to Manuscript Illumination: History and Techniques (London: British Library, 2001), pls 62-63.
Justin Clegg, The Medieval Church in Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2003), p. 17, fig. 13.
Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2003), fig. 82.
Pamela Porter, Courtly Love in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2003), front cover, p. 64.
The Splendor of the Word: Medieval and Renaissance Illuminated Manuscripts at the New York Public Library, ed. by Jonathan J. G. Alexander, James H. Marrow, and Lucy Freeman Sandler (London: Harvey Miller, 2005), p. 250 n. 7 [exhibition catalogue].
Greg Buzwell, Saints in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2005), pp. 10, 30.
Catherine Reynolds, ‘The Workshop of the Master of the Duke of Bedford: Definitions and Identities’, in Patrons, Authors and Workshops: Books and Book Production in Paris around 1400, ed. by G. Croenen and P. Ainsworth (Leuven: Peeters, 2006), pp. 437-72 (pp. 453, 458-59, fig. 72).
Catherine Reynolds, 'Netherlandish Patterns in Fifteenth-Century Paris: Campin, van der Weyden and the Bedford Workshop', in Von Kunst und Temperament, Festschrift zu Ehren Eberhard Königs 60. Geburtstag, ed. by Mara Hofmann and Caroline Zöhl (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), pp. 217-26 (p. 220).
Joe Flatman, Ships and Shipping in Medieval Manuscripts (London: British Library, 2009), pl. 39.
Virginia Reinburg, French Books of Hours: Making an Archive of Prayer, c.1400-1600 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), p. 246.
Laurent Ungeheuer, ‘Le Maître de la Légende dorée de Munich, un émule du Maître de Bedford: Collaborations et indépendance d’un enlumineur parisien entre 1420 et 1450’, Revue de L’Art, 195 (2017), 23-32 (p. 25) [online at https://www.academia.edu/15766707/Le_Ma%C3%AEtre_de_la_L%C3%A9gende_dor%C3%A9e_de_Munich_enlumineur_parisien_du_milieu_du_XVe_si%C3%A8cle; accessed June 2017].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)