Book of Hours, Use of Rome, Devotion to the Seven Last Words, attributed to Bede — 15th century, late; Italian, Florence

Title

Book of Hours, Use of Rome, Devotion to the Seven Last Words, attributed to Bede — 15th century, late; Italian, Florence

Shelfmark

MS. Buchanan g. 1

Place of origin

Italian, Florence

Date

15th century, late

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Parchment, generally of very fine quality.

Physical extent

ii (modern paper, detached) + ii (modern parchment) + 259 + ii (modern parchment) + ii (modern paper).Decoration somewhat cropped (main text) (calendar)

Hands

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

Decoration

Headings in red (not identical to the red of the pen-flourishing of initials).

Six (of an intended eight?-see below) historiated initials of varying size; each surrounded by full borders divided into panels by gold fillets (similar in arrangement to MS. Buchanan e. 7); some with a 'yhs' monogram of S. Bernardino in the upper border: (fol. 13r) Hours of the Virgin. Nine-line initial D[omine] with the Virgin and Child; the outer border with three prophets, two of them holding scrolls, inscribed 'SACER'(?) (Zacharias?), and 'SACHIEL'(?) (Ezekiel?), the lower border with two angels supporting a wreath enclosing a blank shield (Pächt & Alexander, 2, pl. XXIX no. 324). (fol. 82r) Penitential Psalms. Seven-line initial D[omine] with King David playing the psaltery; the outer border with the severed head of Goliath; two prophets, one holding a scroll inscribed 'IERM' (Jeremiah); the lower border with a deer resting in a landscape. (fol. 107r) Office of the Dead. Eight-line initial D[ilexi] with a funeral scene: a priest and four other clerics standing over a shrouded corpse; the outer border with three further clerics and five skulls, the lower border with an elderly white-bearded man holding and contemplating a skull; all are tonsured, and wear grey habits, the priest has an orange and gold cope over his. (fol. 154r) Gradual Psalms. Six-line initial A[d] with the Presentation of the Virgin by Joachim and Anne, at the steps of the temple; the outer border with three Old Testament figures, holding scrolls inscribed 'IXAIE'(?) (Isaiah?), 'ABRAAM' (Abraham), and 'MOIXE' (Moses), the lower margin with a horned deer resting in a landscape. (fol. 166r) Hours of the Holy Spirit. Seven-line initial D[omine] with Pentecost; the outer border with four figures, one holding a scroll inscribed 'ABACVCO' (Habacuc), the lowermost figure in a landscape which is continuous with the scenes in the lower border: a saint pointing to rays of light, with a kneeling youth, perhaps in a dry river-bed, the figure in the lower right corner also apparently looking towards the source of light; the upper border with the cross-nimbed Dove. (fol. 180r) Long Hours of the Cross. Eight-line initial D[omine] with the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and John; the border with St. Peter, the Virgin, and Mary Magdalene (or John the Evangelist?), the latter in a landscape continuous from the lower border, which has the Man of Sorrows displaying his wounds. On fol. 207v there is a ten-line space preceding the prayer to St. Sebastian, next to which there is a note in the margin in Italian, in small cursive script in red ink, presumably intended for an illuminator: '[q]ui ua sancto | sebastiano.'. The top ten lines of fol. 205v have also been left blank, presumably also for a miniature (perhaps representing the Mass of St. Gregory?), but no marginal note is evident there. One six-line historiated initial, with a three-sided foliate and floral border: (fol. 77r) Hours of the Cross. Crucifixion, with the Virgin and John; the lower border with a gold cross amid the foliage and flowers. Five-line foliate and floral initials on a square gold field at the start of the hours of Lauds to Compline of the Hours of the Virgin (fols. 24v, 35r, 39r, 42v, 45v, 49r, 56r); similar (mostly) four-line initials at the hours of Lauds to Compline of the Long Hours of the Cross (fols. 190r (six-line), 192r (five-line), 194r, 196r, 198r, 200r, 202v); a four-line initial in blue with red penwork to the exposition on the Salve regina (fol. 240r); similar three-line initials to the Mass of the Virgin and selected prayers (fols. 210r, 221r, 233v (red with purple penwork), 252r); similar two-line initials to the KL monograms in the calendar; similar two-line initials alternately in blue with red penwork, or red with purple penwork, to psalms, lessons, canticles, hymns, etc.; plain one-line initials alternately in red or blue, to verses and other minor textual divisions. Pächt & Alexander attributed the illumination to 'the same hand as London, BL, Add. MS. 19417. Closely related to the style of Giovanni di Giuliano Boccardi.' (on whom see Levi d'Ancona, Miniatura e miniatori a Firenze, 149–54). Prof. Alexander now suggests that the style of the present manuscript is perhaps closer to that of Mariano del Buono di Jacopo (1433–1504?) (on whom see ibid, 175–81; and Annarosa Garzelli, 'Le immagini, gli autori, i destinatari', in La miniatura fiorentina del Rinascimento, 1440–1525: un primo censimento ed. Annarosa Garzelli (Inventari e cataloghi toscani, 18–19: 2 vols., Florence, 1985), I, 5–391, and pls., at 189–215; and cf. MS. Buchanan e. 7, attributed to the same artist). The comparison with BL, Add. MS. 19417 remains valid.

Binding

19th-century Parisian signed binding by (Alphonse?) Simier (see the note under MS. Buchanan f. 4). Sewing not clearly visible; red, white, and green endbands; bound in dark blue leather over pasteboards; each cover with a gilt scrollwork and foliate panel design; the spine with four false raised bands, dividing it into five compartments, each with a simple panel in gilt, the second compartment lettered: 'PRAECES PIAE'; 'SIMIER.R[ELIEUR].DU ROI' stamped at the bottom of the spine, on fol. i verso, and on the bottom turn-in of the lower board; one red silk bookmark; the edges of the leaves and boards gilt; two wove paper endleaves and two modern parchment endleaves at each front and back of the volume. The turn-ins of a previous binding have left slight impressions around the edges of the first and last original leaves.

Acquisition

Given to the Bodleian by his widow, Mrs. E. O. Buchanan, in 1939, when it was accessioned as MS. Lat. liturg. e. 22; re-referenced as MS. Buchanan g. 1 in 1941.

Provenance

Probably made without a specific patron in mind: the shield for a coat of arms on fol. 13r has been left blank.

Unidentified 17th-century(?) owner prior to the present binding: responsible for the ink foliation, which has been cropped.

Unidentified 18th/19th-century French bookseller (?), after the date of the present binding: inscribed in pencil in the lower gutter corner of fol. ii recto: '1345'.

Messrs. Boone, London booksellers, (see Introduction): inscribed in pencil in the top right corner of the upper pastedown and in the top left corner of the lower pastedown with their price-code (cf. MSS. Buchanan e. 2 and e. 3).

John (or Thomas?) Buchanan, bought from Boone on 16 April 1862 for £30 (see Introduction): inscribed in pencil with the 'Descriptive list' number, '1.', in the upper left corner of the upper pastedown, on a mark apparently made by a small rectangular adhesive label.

Rt. Hon. T. R. Buchanan (1846–1911)