BELT MS 37 [Book of hours : Use of Rouen].
Item Overview
- Title
- BELT MS 37 [Book of hours : Use of Rouen].
- Uniform title
- Book of Hours
- Date Created
- ca. 1520
- Place of Origin
- Rouen, France
- Language
-
Latin
French - Collection
- Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts
Notes
- Description
- Manuscript book of hours for the use of Rouen, written and illuminated in Rouen, France sometime during the 15th century. Includes the typical common elements of a book of hours: church year calendar in French; readings from the Gospels; Hours of the Virgin, a set of eight devotional texts in Latin, one to be recited at each of the eight canonical hours of the day; penitential psalms, litany of saints, prayers for the dead, and prayers to the Virgin. Script: Latin text in gothic hand in black, with instructions in red ink, 15 lines per page; months of the calendar illuminated in gold, with saints' days written in red or blue ink. Illustrations: includes 11 large miniatures within arched frames, of scenes from the life of Christ (Annunciation, Nativity, Crucifixion, Pietà€), as well as portraits of the four Evangelists, King David with his harp, and St. Michael overcoming the devil; donor portrait on verso of leaf 53; all miniatures vividly colored and illuminated in red, blue, green, rose, black, and white; enclosed by richly painted and illuminated borders of arabesques, leafy branches, flowers and strawberry vines; illuminated floral borders along text margins; large and small illuminated rose and blue capitals. Binding: bound in blind-stamped calf over boards by Cambridge stationer and bookbinder Nicholas Spierinck, with date of 1520 supplied by Ferrari; upper and lower boards decorated with small blind-tooled square stamps containing figures of beasts and birds, and the device of binder with his initials "N" and "S," arranged in intersecting horizontal and vertical rows; vellum endpapers; all edges gilt. In modern beige cloth and brown leather clamshell box having gold-stamped spine title "Book of Hours." Provenance: From the library of Viscount Lee of Fareham, White Lodge, Richmond Park. A gift to Dr. Elmer Belt from Evelyn Cushman, 1954. Dr. Belt's illustrated bookplate on recto of front endleaf, with caption "From the House of Belt."In Latin and French.