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Manuscripts, Theses
[Illuminated vernacular Dutch prayerbook] : [manuscript]
- Language
- Dutch
- Available as
- Physical
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Details
- Format
- Manuscripts, Theses
- Language
- Dutch
- Publication
-
- [Low Countries] : [approximately between 1471 and 1539]
- Physical Details
-
- 1 volume (280 unnumbered leaves) : vellum, color illustrations ; 17 x 12 cm
- OCLC
- on1456874630
- Title devised by cataloger.
- The text commences with a complete calendar, followed by numerous prayers devoted to Christ, the Passion, and the Virgin, as well as a litany and prayers devoted to the apostles and other saints. Rubrics are abundant. The three original full-page miniatures included here focus on the suffering of Christ, depicting Christ Carrying the Cross, the Arma Christi with Christ as the Man of Sorrows, and the Crucifixion (the added vellum miniature repeats the image of the Arma Christi). Despite a long tradition of prayerbooks like this with a heavy focus on the Virgin, the Mother of God appears just four times in this manuscript: twice in historiated initials, in the Crucifixion miniature, and as one of the two added illustrations. The vast majority of this manuscript was completed by one primary scribe writing in a large, open hand in the last quarter of the 15th century; there are also brief sections in three other distinct (thicker, smaller, more closely spaced) slightly later hands. Based on the presence of prayers attributed to Pope Sixtus IV (pope from 1471-84), the manuscript must have been completed sometime after his ascension to the papacy. An additional clue to its origins can be gleaned in one of the sections completed by a different scribe, which concludes with the signature "Frater Thomas Petri" and the date "Anno xxxix." This probably refers to the year 1539, with Thomas Petri's text being added at this later date (it begins on f. 92r, on the same page and immediately after a section penned by the primary, unnamed scribe).
- Rubrics in red, numerous one- and two-line initials in red or blue, a number of two- and three- line initials painted blue and white on a pink ground, a few slightly larger initials in the same style, With 12 historiated initials measuring between three and five lines long, Three full-page miniatures depicting the Arma Christi, Christ Carrying the Cross, and the Crucifixion, each with a full border of flowers, fruits, and insects in the trompe-l'oeil style, and five text leaves also with full borders in the same style or with bands or diapered patterns of various colors, along with a small woodcut pasted onto a leaf at the bottom, and one full-page miniature on vellum (both hand colored, both early, but later than the manuscript proper). Final leaf with early comments in Dutch.
- Binding: plain 19th century calf over wooden boards, raised bands, brass clasps, paper endleaves.
- Provenance: two bookplates (one armorial) from former owner Victor Davis Stibolt (1924-1965). With two old catalogue descriptions pasted on front pastedown.