Illuminated manuscript on vellum, in Latin and French. 82 folios, complete. Foliated 1-82 in modern Arabic numerals upper right corner rectos (i6 ii-x8 xi4), 184 x 123 mm., no catchwords or signatures, justification 115 x 74 mm., written in a formal rounded liturgical hand on 23 long lines ruled in red ink, one-line initials in liquid gold on alternating red and blue grounds, similar line fillers, two and three-line initials in white on liquid gold grounds with floral infilling, text pages with borders in outer margins consisting of floral motifs, birds, and grotesques on liquid gold grounds, pages with miniatures with similar full borders, 24 calendar miniatures, 15 full-page miniatures. Small losses of pigment from the face of Eve (f. 14v); otherwise in excellent condition. 19th-century binding of blue morocco, signed on spine “Villador fecit” (“Villador made this”), gilt-tooled with royal coat of arms of Charles X, and interlocking Cs front and back , fleurs-de-lys stamps on turn-ins, white silk moiré doublures and flyleaves, with accompanying custom case, tooled in blind on rear: “par Lanthois/avec sa louanges” (“by Lanthois/with his praise”) and with this inscription gilt-tooled on the front: “Hommage de Fidelite/et de Respect/a sa Majeste Charles X/Roi de France” (“Homage of Fidelity an Respect/to his Majesty Charles X/King of France”).

Contents: ff.1r-6v Calendar in French, ff. 7r-10v Gospel sequences, ff. 10v-12v, Obsecro te, ff. 13r-14r O intemerata, ff. 15v-27v Hours of the Virgin, Matins and Lauds, ff. 28r-28v Matins from Hours of the Cross, ff. 29r-29v Matins from Hours of the Holy Spirit, ff. 30v-46v Hours of the Virgin, Prime-Compline, ff. 47v-58v Penitential Psalms and Litany, ff. 59v-76r Office of the Dead, ff. 76v-80r Prayers to the Virgin, ff. 80r-82v Suffrages to the Holy Trinity, Saint John the Baptist, Saint John the Evangelist, Saints Peter and Paul, Saint Nicholas, Saint Anne, and Saint Barbara.

Calendar miniatures: f. 1r Aquarius and Feasting (January), 1v Pisces and Warming oneself by the fire (February), f. 2r Aries and Trimming vines (March), f. 2v Taurus and Sitting in the garden (April), f. 3r Gemini and A Couple riding (May), f. 3v Cancer and Scything hay (June), f. 4r Leo and Harvesting wheat (July), f. 4v Virgo and Threshing wheat (August), f. 5r Libra and Sowing seed (September), f. 5v Scorpio and Treading grapes (October), f. 6r Sagittarius and Hunting acorns (November), f. 6v Capricorn and Slaughtering the pig (December).

Full page miniatures: f. 7r The four evangelists, f. 14v Adam and Eve being tempted by the serpent, the Annunciation to the Virgin, f. 15r Tree of Jesse, at the top the Virgin holding the child and being crowned by angels, f. 21v The Sibyl and the Emperor Augustus seeing a vision of the Virgin and child, f. 28r Crucifixion, f. 29r Pentecost, f. 30r The Nativity, f. 33v Annunciation to the Shepherds, f. 36r Adoration of the Magi, f. 38v Presentation in the Temple, f. 41r Flight into Egypt, f. 43v Coronation of the Virgin, f. 47r David and Uriah, f. 59r The Last Judgement, f. 76v Virgin and child enthroned with angels and kneeling laywoman.

Provenance:

1. Copied in Rouen, France, for use in Rouen (Rouen saints in calendar and figuring prominently in the litany, Hours of the Virgin use of Rouen). Illuminated by a follower of the Master of Echevinage of Rouen. The anonymous female patron appears in the miniature on f. 76. Although gold fleurs-de-lys appear in the border decorations on ff. 47 and 59, similar features are found in other Rouen books of hours of the same period.

2. Charles X, King of France (reigned 1824-1830). Binding and presentation inscription on custom case.

3. Lieutenant General Hyacinthe François Joseph Despinoy (1764-1848); lot 23 in his sale Paris, J. Techener, November 12-December 22, 1849.

4. Sold at Sotheby, Wilkinson & Hodge December 13, 1892, for GBP 50 to B.F. Stevens; The Publishers’ Circular, Vol. 57, December 17, 1892.

5. Unidentified printed description in English, probably nineteenth-century, mounted to reverse of front flyleaf.

A fine example of a Rouen Book of Hours with important royal provenance. The city of Rouen was a major center of manuscript production in late fifteenth-century France and is known especially for its Books of Hours. These prayerbooks for the laity were produced in large numbers by commercial workshops for sale to individuals. Although the basic contents were more or less standard, as seen for example in this manuscript, the books could be customized by inserting the names of favored saints, choosing the liturgical use of the offices, and making a personal selection of prayers. The present manuscript was not only made in Rouen but was made for Rouen. The use of the Hours of the Virgin is use of Rouen, and saints venerated in Rouen figure prominently in the calendar and litany. It may well have been made for the laywoman shown kneeling with the Virgin and child on f. 76v.

The manuscript offers an outstanding example of the style of illumination attributed to the workshop of the Master of the Echevinage of Rouen, one of the most prolific workshops of the later fifteenth-century. Books of Hours were usually illustrated with multiple miniatures, as many as the patron could afford. Here the Hours of the Virgin are accompanied by the usual sequence depicting Christ’s infancy and ending with the coronation of the Virgin, but the present manuscript is unusual in pairing the Annunciation, the usual introduction to Matins, with a rather larger miniature of Adam and Eve being tempted by the serpent–type and antitype–and the two images appear opposite a depiction of the Tree of Jesse, symbolizing Christ’s Old Testament ancestry. The choice of David and Uriah, rather than David in prayer or David and Bathsheba, for the penitential psalms, and of the Last Judgement for the Office of the Dead, are also unusual.

The outstanding quality of this manuscript is undoubtedly what led it to be selected in the nineteenth-century as a gift for the French king, Charles X. After the defeat of Napoleon in 1814, France returned to government by monarchy. A younger brother to Louis XVI, who was executed under the French Revolution, Charles succeeded to the throne in 1824, when he immediately began to assert the conservative, not to say reactionary, policies that led to the July Revolution of 1830 that deposed him. Although it is not known who the donors of this manuscript may have been, it was undoubtedly intended as a tribute to Charles’s reputation as an ultra-royalist and strong supporter of the prerogatives of the Catholic Church.