Lot 88: To bid on this lot, please contact the... Lot 88

Lot 88: To bid on this lot, please contact the firm. No live bids will be accepted. OFFICE HOURS (FORMERLY KNOWN AS "DE COMMYNES" HOURS) Book of Hours (for use in Paris) In Latin and French, illuminated manuscript on parchment France, Bourges (and/or Loire Valley if we accept Jean Colombe's itinerancy), circa 1468-1470 and 1470-1475 With 23 historiated initials, 24 small calendar miniatures, 374 lateral marginal illuminations and 37 large full-page miniatures (including one three-quarter-page miniature). Illuminations attributable to Jean Colombe (active in Bourges, c. 1463-1493) and his collaborators. MATERIAL DESCRIPTION XII ff. + 220 ff. [232 ff. in all], preceded by a parchment endpaper, complete manuscript, although the first leaf from a quire ultimately not retained in the manuscript appears to have been added to quire iv, : (8 + 1), manuscript perhaps partly unfinished with ruled blank leaves intended to accommodate additional miniatures opposite the Virgin and Child (fol. 20) and opposite the Salve regina prayer (fol. 184), these blank leaves are as follows: ff. 18v-19v and ff. 183-183v [nota bene: no missing text to report]. Collation: i6, ii6, iii1 [singleton inserted], iv9 (8+1), v-xxix8, xxx4, xxxi6 (last leaf of this quire is ruled blank, laminated as lower counter-guard), all leaves with miniatures have text on spine except for a miniature painted on thicker parchment (fol. 1) inserted after the calendar. Very regular bastard script in brown ink, text copied on 16 lines per page, ruled in pale red ink (calendar leaf justification: 82/84 x 90 mm; text leaf justification: 52 x 85 mm), calendar with KL initials decorated in liquid gold on a blue or dark red background and writing in blue and gold ink, headings in pale red or blue ink, numerous small initials (1 to 2 lines high) in liquid gold on a blue or dark red background, some decorated with arabesque, floral or foliage motifs, line tips decorated in liquid gold on a blue or dark red background, some line tips and initials painted in color with floral motifs, small birds or strawberries on a gilded background (fol. 28v) that stand out from the general aesthetic and recall a "vignetting" of certain Foucaultian works (see, for example, the ornate initial of Boccaccio, whose illuminations are attributed to the Master of Boccaccio of Munich (c. 1460-1465), manuscript preserved in Munich, BSB, cod. Gall. 6, fol. 200v, or certain baguettes in the same manuscript; similar motifs were used in the illuminated frame of a painted manuscript by Colombe, Vatican, BAV, ms Rossiano 198, fol. 30 (see Guernelli, 2017, pl. 22)); with four larger initials, 4 lines high, painted in gold and blue cameo, of great finesse and Fouquetian style, featuring putti, zoomorphic hybrids (ff. 11v, 13v, 15v, 17v), reminiscent of those in the Raguier (?)-Robertet Hours (New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M 834). With 23 historiated initials outlined in liquid gold and painted in color or in blue or gold monochrome (4 to 5 lines high), 24 calendar miniatures, enriched by an abundant series of miniatures painted in the lateral margins of the text pages (in all, 374 lateral marginal miniatures, listed below), 37 large miniatures (one of which is three-quarters page, fol. 216), some in gilded architectural frames with niches featuring statuettes, putti and Gothic architectural decoration, others in simple frames imitating wood or with simple gilded decoration (ff. 1, 10v, 192v, 197 and 208v (although the latter simple frame is painted green in imitation of marbled decoration)). Bound in 17th-century Lavallière morocco (light brown), five-ribbed spine with partitions and fleurons (cold decoration), double framing of straight cold fillets with four fleurons at the outer corners of the central framing, rosette in the center of the boards with fan motif, central composition set in a framing of straight diamond-shaped fillets, traces of original silver decoration (?), traces of nails indicating original clasps (missing), gilt edges. Red morocco, velvet-lined, hinged conservation case. On the conservation box, a piece of morocco verso with gilt lettering: "Heures miniaturées par Jehan Foucquet et ses élèves à l'occasion du mariage de Philippe de Commynes et d'Hélène de Jambes" ("Miniature hours by Jehan Foucquet and his pupils on the occasion of the marriage of Philippe de Commynes and Hélène de Jambes"). Manuscript in superb condition, with dense, vibrant colors. The following points should be noted: manuscript trimmed a little short