Book of Hours, Use of Rome and the Carmelites(?) — 15th century, late; Italian, Florence

Title

Book of Hours, Use of Rome and the Carmelites(?) — 15th century, late; Italian, Florence

Shelfmark

MS. Buchanan e. 7

Place of origin

Italian, Florence

Date

15th century, late

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment; the lower margin of fol. 158 cut away.

Physical extent

i (paper) + 196 + ii (paper). (the calendar somewhat smaller).

Hands

Written in a rounded gothic bookhand, in two sizes of script according to liturgical function

Decoration

Headings in red, guides to rubrics and coloured initials in a tiny cursive script; capitals touched in pale yellow wash.

Four seven-line historiated initials; each below a coloured panel with the heading of the text, mostly in square capitals of humanistic style; and surrounded by a four-sided border containing further scenes in panels framed in gold:(fol. 1r) Hours of the Virgin. Initial D[omine]: the Virgin and Child, half-length; a bird on the Virgin's hand; the upper border with putti flanking the Redeemer, and seraphim at the corners; the lower border with two putti flanking a coat of arms (see under Provenance), with a vase of flowers and an angel at the corners; the right border with a deer lying on the ground, with a putto above and below; with some flaking and rubbing (Pächt & Alexander, 2, pl. XXIX no. 325a).(fol. 81r) Hours of the Cross. Initial D[omine]: the Man of Sorrows, standing in the tomb; the upper border with two putti holding the flaming 'yhs' roundel of St. Bernardino of Siena; the lower border with Christ on the Cross in a landscape, bleeding profusely; the right border with Mary Magdalene mourning, and further putti; with some smudging. (fol. 109r) Penitential Psalms. Initial D[omine]: King David playing the psaltery, held at his chest; the borders with several putti; the lower border with David beheading Goliath; the right border with a deer lying on the ground. (fol. 130r) Office of the Dead. Initial D[ilexi]: a half-length skeleton holding a scythe (the silver blade oxidised); the borders with several skulls and putti, and four other figures, two of them each holding a skull, another holding a scroll; the border in a different style to the others, having lush acanthus foliage, without gilt framing, but with individual gilt-framed panels for the figures and one skull. Four-line painted foliate initials with burnished and painted gold, at the start of each hour from Prime to Compline in the Hours of the Virgin (fols. 29r, 35r, 41ar, 45r, 50v, 61r); similar three-line initials to the same hours in the Hours of the Cross (fols. 92r, 98r, 100v, 103r, 105v); three-line initials in gold with blue penwork, or blue with red penwork, respectively, to Lauds of the Hours of the Virgin and the Cross (fols. 13v, 90r); two-line initials alternately gold with blue penwork, or blue with red penwork, to psalms, lessons, KL monograms in the calendar, etc.; one-line initials alternately in gold or blue, to verses and other minor textual divisions. The illumination is attributed by Garzelli to Mariano del Buono di Jacopo (1433–1504?) (on whom see Levi d'Ancona, Miniatura e miniatori a Firenze, 175–81; and Garzelli, 'Le immagini ...', I: 189–215).

Binding

Sewn on three cords, with pink silk endbands; bound in brown leather with gilt tooling over pasteboards, almost entirely obscured by 19th(?)-century red velvet; the spine flat; the pastedowns, and the first and last flyleaves, are lined with pink silk; the last flyleaf (fol. 197) with a large watermark 'h'; the edges of the leaves gilt and gauffered. Boxed, using funds provided by the Friends of the Bodleian, 1994.

Acquisition

Given to the Bodleian by his widow, Mrs. E. O. Buchanan, in 1939, when it was accessioned as MS. Lat. liturg. e. 28; re-referenced as MS. Buchanan e. 7 in 1941.

Provenance

A member of the Florentine Bellacci family, with Carmelite links: with their(?) coat of arms (fol. 1r): vert, a bend argent (now oxidized to black), with three uncertain five-pointed objects gules, the shield within a wreath held by two putti (Pächt & Alexander, 2, pl. XXIX no. 325a); this matches the Bellacci arms if the five-pointed objects were intended to represent cinquefoils (see Michel Popoff, Florence (1302–1700) (Répertoires d'héraldique italienne: Paris, 1991), 163 no. 467; cf. 48 no. D 301), or roses (Rietstap, Armorial général, I, 156, and Planches, I, pl. CLXVII; Crollalanza, Dizionario storico-blasonico, I, 108; Angelo M. G. Scorza, Enciclopedia araldica italiana (Genoa, [1953?-]), IV, 112; also illustrated as such in MS. Ital. d. 25, fol. 105v). The Use of the Office of the Dead is most probably Carmelite (see under Text).

Adolphe Labitte, 19th-century Paris bookseller: the lower silk pastedown-lining inscribed in brown ink 'Baa' 'Uss' separated by a horizontal line, presumably his pricecode (cf. MS. Buchanan e. 5, fol. 159r, and MS. Buchanan e. 14 fol. 72r).

? Thomas Buchanan (d. 1864): perhaps bought with MS. Buchanan e. 5 and [pr. bk.] Buchanan e.136 in Paris in October 1857.

John Buchanan: inscribed in pencil with the 'Descriptive list' number, '7.', in the top left corner of fol. i verso.

Rt. Hon. T. R. Buchanan (1846–1911)