In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in small, neat, gothic bookhand; note in his hand on f. 209r, too trimmed to be legible., Approximately half the historiated initials have been excised. The initials, 51- to 9-line, painted gold, red and blue with white highlights and punctuated with gold dots, terminate in spiralling floral serifs, often with biting animal heads, with long projecting stems against cusped grounds. The figures are red, blue, orange and grey, against red or blue grounds, some of them diapered and decorated with groups of three white dots and gold dots. Illuminated initials, 51- to 5-line, occasionally for books (f. 74v [Joshua] and f. 175r [Nehemiah]), for the most part for the prologues, similar to the historiated initials, except infilled with interwining and angular vines with biting head terminals, red and/or blue against red or blue grounds with gold dots and set in frames of painted gold. 2-line calligraphic initials for chapters, red or blue with blue or red penwork, each attached to a column of superimposed I's, red and blue, running the full length of the text column, with penwork flourishes, especially at the terminals. Capitals for verses stroked in red. Running headings and chapter numbers in alternating red and blue letters or numbers., and Binding: Date? Resewn on four single, round, vegetable fiber cords which are frayed out and adhered inside the oak boards. There are no endbands, but traces of alum tawed endband cores and sewing supports remain in the holes in the boards. The spine is square. Some lettering in ink on the fore-edge. Covered in red-brown calf, with an exceptionally large stamp of the Virgin and child in an aureole within concentric frames, one with an inscription, on the upper board and diamonds filled with crosses, roses and IHS in circles on the lower. The latter ornaments are also stamped on the turn-ins underneath the pastedowns. Rebacked and edges repaired. Upper board detached. Not the original and possibly not an early binding. Rebacked in the Yale Conservation Studio in 1982. The upper and lower covers are lined with single leaves, pasted down, of a missale plenum (11th century?). Portions of Dominica VI post Pentecosten, Feria IV of that week (upper cover), an unidentified mass of the Sanctorale, Dominica III post Pentecosten (lower cover). Where they occur, the texts of the proper chants are notated in German neumes in campo aperto. Some of the chants are cited by incipit; these are usually not noted. The Alleluia for DMC III is Domine in virtute; that for DMC VI is Eripe me. (We thank K. D. Hartzell for his assistance with these fragments.)
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Missals
Manuscript on parchment. Formerly known as the "Fouquet Missal", based on the mistaken attribution of the illumination to Fouquet
Description:
In French., Script: Written by a single scribe in formal gothic bookhand., A richly decorated manuscript with an unusual and elaborate program of miniatures by at least four artists: the Master of the Vienna Mamerot, Jean Colombe, a hand close to the Masters of Morgan 96 and 366, and a fourth artist whose hand has not yet been identified in other manuscripts. Each large miniature (107 total) has a full border incorporating four marginal scenes (428 in all) with subjects which either amplify or follow closely from the action of the miniature, disposed with two rectangular scenes in the outer border and two roundels in the lower border. The subsidiary miniatures, framed in red, are surrounded by blue and gold acanthus, flowering vines in green, blue and red, ivy in black pen with gold dots, large, naturalistic flowers, and black hair-spray with gold dots. The borders are framed on the outer edges with a red bounding line, on the inner edges with a red or gold bounding line., 4- and 2-line initials throughout, shaded pink or blue with gold foliate decoration against blue or pink grounds with pink or blue curling leaves, heightened in gold. 1-line initials, gold, against pink or blue grounds with gold filigree. On ff. 6r-13v the 4- and 2-line initials, as well as line-fillers in the same manner, are painted over blue or red initials with red or blue penwork and line fillers in red, blue and gold. The overpainting of this archaizing decoration reflects a change in decorative scheme rather than an interval of three-quarters of a century between the writing and the illumination of the manuscript. Rubrics and some underlining in red throughout., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Quarter bound in brown goatskin. Blue/green cloth sides with silver fastenings and fittings. On fastenings small roundels with portraits of the evangelists; on clasp a roundel with Annunciation. Numerous Turk's head place-marks on fore edge. Earlier covers, 17th century, mounted inside boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Liturgy, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Missals
Manuscript on parchment, composed of four parts. Written at the end of the 14th century (Parts I, III) and in 1578 (Parts II, IV); the prominence of St. Maclovius (Macutus) suggests that Parts II and IV were produced in Brittany or Normandy
Description:
In Latin., Script: Parts I and III (ff. 1r-40v, 48r-72v): Written in liturgical gothic of two sizes, by one scribe. Parts II and IV (ff. 41r-47v, 73r-102v) were intended to be integrated into the earlier portion: Written in liturgical gothic of the late 16th century, in two sizes by a single scribe; the letters slant slightly toward the left., On f. 48r, a 5-line historiated initial (65 x 58 mm.), white-decorated red and blue on a gold ground, enclosing a priest serving Communion; from the corners sprout blue vines with white, gold, and red trilobe leaves, extending around 3 sides of the page. On f. 1r, an 8-line illuminated initial of white-decorated blue and red (63 x 65 mm.), filled with blue and red trilobe leaves, on a gold ground; the base of the letter is extended around the inner and lower margins as a gold, blue, red, and white bounding line; from the lower two corners of this line and the upper left corner of the initial sprout vines, as for the historiated initial. 3- and 2-line initials in orange-tinted red or blue; rubrics throughout. Square notes in brown on 4-line orange-tinted red staves (the red ink has bled so that the whole written space has an orange glow). Parts II and IV: 4- to 1-line initials in red and blue. Rubrics are sometimes set off on the right side of the page by a narrow vertical border in brown. Musical notation: square notes on 4-line staves, all in brown., and Binding: 1981. Quarter cloth case, retaining brown mottled paper covered boards, 19th century. Traces of earlier bindings.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Liturgy, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Missals
Manuscript on paper of Prayers to be said at various times during the Mass. Composed by Paul Pellisson-Fontanier (1624-93).
Description:
In French., Script: Written by the master calligrapher Jean Pierre Rousselet, a follower of Nicholas Jarry, active in Paris between 1677 and 1736., Two full-page miniatures and nine historiated headpieces in gouache, all in frames best described as resembling the frames of 18th-century mirrors; the frames blue and purple with white highlights and gold side-pieces decorated with red flowers in diamonds; floral swags at bottom. Tail pieces with swags, as above and filled with gold, on f. 48v with the Holy Spirit as a dove. 3- and 2-line initials, blue with white highlights on gold; 1-line initials in red. Titles in gold, red and blue capitals; running headings and rubrics in red., and Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Black goatskin, gold-tooled. A red label and salmon pink doublures and flyleaves. Gilt edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Pellisson-Fontanier, Paul, 1624-1693. and Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Liturgy, Devotional literature, French, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Missals