Art Price Index: Exquisite Books of Hours

Published on 22 July 2022, by Nicolas Bousser

These richly decorated pages brought their owners closer to the divine and were a sign of social status.

€4,290,000France, Tours, c. 1495. Heures Petau, Book of Hours for the Roman Rite.... Art Price Index: Exquisite Books of Hours

€4,290,000
France, Tours, c. 1495. Heures Petau, Book of Hours for the Roman Rite. In Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, with 16 medallions in gold monochrome with highlights attributed to Jean Poyer (active 1490-1520).
Paris, Hôtel Drouot, June 16, 2018. Aguttes Auction House (Aristophil Collections). Ms Adeline.

The Book of Hours was the most widely produced type of book at the end of the Middle Ages. The result of a long process begun in the 14th century to make the liturgy accessible to the laity, it attained truly brilliant heights in the 15th century. Artists explored ever more inventive ways of decorating these precious volumes for private devotion, which contained the prayers for each day in the year. The Limbourg…

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