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Harley MS 2948

Record Id:

040-002048779

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-002048779

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000761.0x0000e4

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 2948

Title:

Book of Hours, Use of Paris

Scope & Content:

ff. 1r-12v: Calendar, Paris use (St Genevieve in red; 3 January), composite, alternately in red and blue with important feasts in gold.

ff. 13r-16v: Added prayers with a title 'L'exercise ordinaire du Crestien. Quand on se leve le matin' (17th century).

ff. 17r-20v: The Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary in French, rubric: 'Les vii joixs nostre dame,' incipit: 'Douce dame de misericorde.'

ff. 21r-23r: The Seven Requests to Jesus Christ in French, rubric: 'Les vii requests nostre seigneur', incipit: 'Doulx dieu doulx pere sainte trinite'.

ff. 23v-24v: Added prayer, incipit: 'Createur du monde qui a mis le soleil' (17th century).

ff. 25r-27r: Prayer 'Obsecro te', imperfect at the beginning, incipit: 'Et per illam sanctam in effabilem humilitatem.'

ff. 28r-31v: Prayer 'O intemerata'.

ff. 32r-38r: Excerpts from the Four Gospels, imperfect, the beginning of Luke is missing; ff. 33r-33v includes an added prayer (17th century).

ff. 39r-93v: Hours of the Virgin, imperfect, the beginnings of Prime, Sext and Vespers are missing.

ff. 93v-95v: Added three prayers, incipit: 'Je me presente devant vous mon Dieu'; 'Seigeur (sic) ayez pitie de moy'; and 'Mon dieu mon seigneur ie crie a vous du profond' (17th century).

ff. 96r-111r: The Seven Penitential Psalms.

ff. 112r-119r: Hours of the Cross.

ff. 119r-119v: Added prayer to the Holy Cross, incipit: 'O crux benedicta' (17th century).

ff. 120r-125v: Hours of the Holy Spirit.

ff. 126r-163v: Office of the Dead.

ff. 163v-164v: Added prayers: for the remission of sins, incipit: 'absolve quaesumus domine animae patris matris et fratris mei'; 'pro patre et matre', incipit: 'Deus qui nos patrem et matrem honorare'; 'Pro anniversario die', incipit: 'Deus indulgentiarum domine'; 'Salutation aus ames des catholiques trespasses', incipit: 'Ayez repos, Ames fidelles'; 'Oraison de Salomon', incipit: 'Je vous ay requis deux choses seigneur.'

ff. 166r-178v: Suffrages to saints, imperfect, beginning of a suffrage after St Sebastian (perhaps to St George) missing.

Decoration:

26 full-page miniatures with large decorated initials and full foliate borders, some probably originally left unfinished, in colours and gold (ff. 17r [heavily retouched], 21r, 28r [heavily retouched, faces originally unfinished?] 32r, 35r [heavily retouched, faces originally unfinished?], 37r, 39r, 59r, 73r, 80r, 89r, 96r, 112r, 120r [heavily retouched, faces originally unfinished?], 126r, 166r, 167r, 168r, 169r, 170r, 173r, 174r, 175r, 176r, 177r, 178r); 6 full-page miniatures missing at the beginning of the prayer 'Obsecro te', in the Gospel Lessons, the Hours of the Virgin and the Suffrages, after ff. 24 ('Obsecro te') 33 (Luke), 68 (Prime), 76 (Sext), 83 (Vespers), 171 (Suffrage). The first prayer after the calendar with full foliate borders, in colours and gold, throughout (ff. 17-23). Many text pages with partial foliate borders, in colours and gold. Large decorated initials, in colours and gold. Small initials and line-fillers in gold on red and blue grounds.

Some miniatures were probably left unfinished and completed later (see f. 17r); some initials (e.g. f. 149v) and borders are also partly unfinished (e.g. 169r-v). The illuminations are related to the styles of the Jouvenel Master and Jean Colombe of Bourges (see Backhouse, Illumination, 2004); one miniature was executed by another artist, possibly formed in Champagne? (f. 112r).

The subjects of the miniatures are:

f. 17r: The Virgin reading to Christ (as a child) and angels (the Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary).

f. 21r: The Trinity (the Seven Requests to Jesus Christ in French).

f. 28r The Virgin and Child with angels ('O intemerata').

f. 32r: St John at Patmos (Lesson from John).

f. 35r: St Matthew writing his Gospel (Lesson from Matthew).

f. 37r: St Mark (Lesson from Mark).

f. 39r: The Annunciation (Matins).

f. 59r: The Visitation (Lauds).

f. 73r: The Annunciation to the Shepherds (Terce).

f. 80r: The Adoration of the Magi (None).

f. 89r: The Coronation of the Virgin (Compline).

f. 96r: David and Goliath (Seven Penitential Psalms).

f. 112r: The Crucifixion (Hours of the Cross).

f. 120r: Pentecost (Hours of the Holy Spirit).

f. 126r: A procession of monks and mourners entering a church (Office of the Dead).

f. 166r: St Michael fighting with a devil.

f. 167r: St John the Baptist reading.

f. 168r: St Paul and St Peter.

f. 169r: St Christopher.

f. 170r: St Sebastian.

f. 173r: St Nicholas.

f. 174r: St Jerome with a lion.

f. 175r: St Martin and the beggar.

f. 176r: St Agnes.

f. 177r: St Barbara.

f. 178r: St Margaret emerging from a dragon.

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-002048779", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 2948: Book of Hours, Use of Paris" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-002048779

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 2948 : Book of Hours, Use of Paris

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[2949]/040-002048779

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

1 volume

Digitised Content:

Languages:

French
Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1455

End Date:

1485

Date Range:

c 1460-c 1480

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment.

Dimensions: 185 x 130 mm (text space: 95 x 65 mm).

Foliation: ff. 178 (+ 1 paper and 2 parchment flyleaves at the beginning and 2 parchment and 1 paper flyleaves at the end; + 2 unfoliated leaves after f. 125).

Collation: i⁴(ff. 10-4); ii¹²(ff. 5-16); iii⁸(ff. 17-24); iv^8-1 (ff. 25-31; 1 leaf excised before f. 25); v^8-1(ff. 32-38; 1 leaf excised after f. 33); vi-viii⁸(ff. 39-62); ix^8-1(ff. 63-69; 1 leaf excised after f. 68); x^8-1(ff. 70-76; 1 leaf excised after f. 76); xi ^8-1 (ff. 77-83; 1 leaf excised after f. 83); xii⁸(ff. 84-91); xiii⁴(ff. 92-95); xiv-xvi⁸(ff. 96-119); xvii⁸(ff. 120-125 + 2 unfoliated leaves after f. 125); xviii-xxii⁸(ff. 126-165); xxiii^8-1 (ff. 166-172; 1 leaf excised after f. 171); xxiv⁸(ff. 173-178).

Script: Gothic. Ruling in red ink.

Binding: Post-1600. Harleian binding of gold-tooled red leather; marbled endpapers; gilt edges.

Custodial History:

Origin:

France (Paris?).

Provenance:

Several prayers added in the 17th century on leaves originally left blank (ff. 13r-16v, 23v-24v, 33r-33v, 93v-95v, 119r-119v, 163v-165v).

Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681, d. c. 1753), bookseller, employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent, where his agent was George Suttie (see Wright 1972): sold to Harley on 12 September 1722.

The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley '12 dies Septembris A.D. 1722' (f. [ii] recto).

Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), Duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.

Administrative Context:

France (Paris?).

Publications:

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London, 1808-12), II, no. 2948.

C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 254.

Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), fig. 29.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)

Names:

Bentinck, Margaret Cavendish, duchess of Portland, née Harley, collector of art and natural history specimens and patron of arts and sciences, 11 Feb 1715-17 Jul 1785,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000115857160,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/2356861
Harley, Edward, second earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, 2 Jun 1689-16 Jun 1741,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000108078249,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/160524259
Harley, Henrietta Cavendish, Countess of Oxford and Mortimer, née Holles, patron of architecture, 4 Feb 1694-9 Dec 1755,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000030125833,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/6045563
Harley, Robert, first Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, 5 Dec 1661-21 May 1724,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000083423906
Noel, Nathaniel, bookseller, fl 1681, d c 1753