Unfinished Hours
[BOOK OF HOURS.]
Parts of the Hours of the Cross, Litanies, and Office of the Dead. Northern France (?Loire Valley), late fifteenth century.
Four complete vellum leaves from the same manuscript (c. 145 x 105 mm, text area c. 70 x 70 mm), two being consecutive, Latin text written in an elegant bâtarde bookhand in brown and red ink in single columns of 13 lines, ruled in pale red ink, capitals touched in pale yellow, four two-line leafy initials in gold and red on blue grounds, two one-line initials and two paragraph marks in blue with red pen flourishing or gold with blue flourishing, fore-edge borders to each page enclosing acanthus leaves in blue and gold, and flowers in blue, green, pink, and gold; six lines to verso of first leaf and nine lines to verso of second leaf left blank for miniatures; hole to blank margin of second leaf, slight rubbing, toning, and cockling, but overall in very good condition.
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Parts of the Hours of the Cross, Litanies, and Office of the Dead.
Four leaves from a small and elegant Book of Hours, with attractive initials and borders and with spaces left blank for small miniatures.
The text comprises part of the Office of the Holy Cross for Matins, with the prayer Domine Iesu Christe fili Dei vivi; part of the Litanies, with the prayer Deus cui proprium est misereri semper; and a portion of the Office of the Dead for Matins, first nocturn, with readings from Job 10.
Two blank spaces have been left for illustrations which were never executed: one at the opening of the Hours of the Holy Spirit for a depiction of the Pentecost, and another at the beginning of the Office of the Dead for a burial/funeral scene.