[MANUSCRIPT]
Book of Hours, Use of Bruges(?). Manuscript on vellum, likely Bruges/Western Flanders: second or third quarter of the fifteenth century. Full brown morocco gilt, covers ornately gilt, flat spine with a vinework design. 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches (12 x 8.5 cm); 76 ff., single column, 20 lines written in a lettre batarde in brown ink. Capitals in liquid gold on blue or terracotta-red grounds, line fillers in same. With fifteen miniatures within arch-topped gilt frames above (generally) three or four lines of text and within full borders of naturalistic foliage and vinework, with birds, insects and zoomorphic drolleries. Light binding wear, within a few minor smudges, most notably to the Crucifixion on f. 31, some minor stains and handling marks. The manuscript was trimmed at an early date, just touching the fore-edge of some miniatures.
The Calendar, which is surprisingly sparse, shows St. Luce [Lucian] for October 17 highlighted in gold, which is consistent with Bruges use; St. Barnabas on June 11 is also highlighted in gilt, although a common saint held in especial veneration in Bruges, and a number of other saints are highlighted thus whose use is consistent with a Bruges, or at least a Western Flanders origin. However, St. Donatian, the patron saint of Bruges, is not to be found. The miniatures (detailed list on request) have an unusually delicate pastel palette.