Manuscript fragment on parchment of the Penitential Psalms (incomplete), probably written as part of a Book of Hours
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in liturgical gothic script., Carefully executed initials, 3-line, on blue or pink rectangles outlined in black, mark the beginning of each psalm; partial cusped borders, also in blue and pink, attached to each. Initials infilled with intertwining vines, often on gold ground, sometimes with small animals; modest use of gold dots inside rectangular grounds and borders. 1-line initials of blue with red penwork with blue dots and of gold with blue penwork and red dots. Line-fillers in combinations of red, blue and gold (various linear and flower designs)., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Bound in a piece of blind-tooled brown calf, once part of a 17th-18th century binding. Front pastedown and flyleaf from a Bible concordance, version 3 (France, ca. 1300). Back pastedown from 15th-century antiphonal, with musical notation, containing a portion of the office for Nicolas (6 Dec.).
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Antiphonaries, Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (extremely fine; trimmed).
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in round gothic script by one scribe., Miniatures, borders, and initials of very high quality, executed by an artist of the Ghent-Bruges school. In the calendar, 24 miniatures, painted so that the written space appears to be superimposed on a full-page picture; the sign of the zodiac for each month is set in a small gold or grey oval above the second page for each month. Each calendar page enclosed in a gold and brown frame., Six miniatures with full borders, in frames. The manuscript almost certainly contained 16 more full-page miniatures that are now missing (see MS 287A). Twelve illuminated initials, 5-line, letters formed of curling acanthus on pink and/or blue, brown and green, or blue and green grounds; borders of flowers or architectural elements. Border decoration on every page without a full border: one bird, flower, grotesque, piece of jewelry, insect, or, occasionally, a household utensil, in each of the three outer margins, traced and painted on the following verso. 2- and 1-line initials in the same style as 5-line initials, with blue or pink grounds. Ribbon line fillers in the same style. Rubrication in pale crimson: in calendar, for months, dates, and important feasts., Water has caused ink to run in the upper left of f. 151r; no loss of text., and Binding: Nineteenth century (?). Gilt, gauffered edges. Previously bound in brick colored velvet, over wooden boards; remains of velvet on turn-ins. An elaborate clasp with round blue sapphire and the initials "V. M." joined by a love knot on the inner side. Rebacked.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment. One of a number of Books of Hours almost certainly made in Flanders for the English market. During the 16th century, some references to Thomas of Canterbury were erased or altered, and the word "pape" in the Calendar was changed to "ape".
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in liturgical gothic bookhand., Decoration: Twenty-three fine miniatures (originally twenty-five) tipped in, in red, blue and gold frames, with gold quatrefoils in the corners; each with a 3/4 bar border, red and blue, with a full border of English-style acanthus, red, blue, pink and gold against cusped gold grounds, especially at corners and centers, surrounded by green, red, blue and pink flowers and berries, and ivy in black pen with gold and blue leaves, some with birds, in red bounding lines. Twenty-three historiated initials, 6-line, pink and blue with white highlights on gold grounds with black cusping. 6-line initials, pink and blue, with white highlights, filled with acanthus on gold, against pink and blue grounds, framed in gold and edged with black cusping. 3-line initials, gold, edged in black, on pink and blue grounds with white filigree. 1-line initials and line endings in the same manner. Calendar with 3-line KL monograms, as above, with hair-spray extensions and bar border, outer margin, and with hair-spray terminals. Kalends, Ides in blue and gold; important feasts in red., Shows signs of use (water stains, rubbing), but no serious damage to text or illumination., and Binding: 16th-17th centuries. Wound sewing on five large, tawed-skin supports, the backs of the gatherings cut in about 3 mm. on either side of the supports and at the kettle stitches. Dull gilt edges and traces of blue endband tie-downs. Covered in gold, striped velvet with two ribbon ties.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
In Latin., Script: Written in two sizes of liturgical gothic by two scribes. Scribe 1) ff. 1r-22v and 28r-130r; Scribe 2) ff. 22v-26v. Many later marginal notes throughout, including titles at the top of each page., One very crude full-page miniature on f. 71v (Office of the Dead): mourners at a bier. Set in a narrow arched frame of gold edged in black, in a border of pink, blue, and green acanthus leaves (concentrated at corners), flowers in same colors, infilled with black ink hair-spray with gold dots; the whole rather carelessly done. 6- and 5-line initials (ff. 57r and 72r): blue with white highlights, on gold ground, infilled with blue, green, and pink trilobe leaves, with segmented bar border (strapwork corners) in blue, white, pink, black, and gold; full border as for miniature. Other illuminated initials (5- to 2-line, as above) with segmented bar borders without strapwork, and full borders as for full-page miniature. 5-line initials (ff. 35r and 38r) gold, on pink and blue ground with white highlights; in inner margin, a simple bar border sprouting black hair-spray with gold leaves at top and bottom. 2-line initials: gold on pink and blue grounds with white highlights. 1-line initials within text sometimes marked with a red stroke. Line fillers: occasionally a red cable after a rubric or, in the litany, oblique red and blue strokes with dots attached (perhaps added later, as colors do not match those of 1-line initials). Rubrics in orange-tinted red., Mold at bottom of ff. 122-130; text not damaged., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown calf, blind- and gold-tooled.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Books of hours, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript fragment on parchment of a Book of Hours containing: the Hours of the Virgin; full-page miniature of mediocre quality depicting the Adoration of the Magi; full-page miniature of mediocre quality depicting the Office of the Dead; the Office of the Dead; and Suffrages
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in a hybrid gothic script mixing elements of littera bastarda and littera cursiva formata., and Decoration: rubrics written in red in the same script as the text; punctuated with the punctus; hyphenation is in the same ink as the text.
Manuscript fragment on parchment from a Book of Hours including the Suffrage for St. Paul
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in gothic script (littera textualis)., and Decoration: Historiated 7-line initial "O" on the recto in blue with white highlights filled by a depiction of the apostle Paul standing on a green field with a gold ground; Paul holds a book in his left hand and a sword in his right; the 2-line initial at the beginning of the antiphon is in red, surrounded by brown penwork; 1-line initials are in black; rubrics are written in red in the same script as the text; punctuated with the punctus; hyphenation is in the same ink as the text.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of a Book of Hours (in Latin with rubrics partially in French), containing: an unidentified office; St. Laurence (10 August); St. Nicholas (6 November); and St. Catharine of Alexandria (25 November).
Description:
In Latin and French., Script: written in two sizes of gothic script (littera textualis formata)., and Decoration: 2-line initials in gold on a blue ground decorated with white filigree; initials filled with red and decorated with white filigree; 1-line initials are in black highlighted with yellow; rubrics written in red in the same script as the text; punctuated with the punctus; hyphenation is in the same ink as the text; the outer margin is modestly decorated with vine tendrils in black with green and gold leaves and blue, red, and pink flowers and berries.
Manuscript fragment on parchment of a book of hours containing St. Nicholas (6 November) and St. Catharine of Alexandria (25 November).
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in gothic script (littera textualis)., and Decoration: two miniatures of mediocre quality, one for each saint; the miniature of St. Nicholas shows him in bishop's clothing, holding a staff and a book, and standing next to a tub with two children in it; St. Catharine is depicted as crowned, holding a book and a sword; on the floor behind her is the wheel upon which she was tortured; the antiphons and orations begin with a 2-line initial in gold on an alternating ground of blue with white filigree or red; punctuated with the punctus; hyphenation is in the same ink as the text; rubrics written in red minuscule; upper, lower, and outer borders decorated with blue and gold vines, red vines with blue and red or gold and blue with gold flowers in the inner margin on the recto only.
Manuscript fragment on parchment bifolium (thick) of Passion of St. Bartholomew (25 August). Text is continuous
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in neat but somewhat uneven Beneventan script. Passages added in cramped text hands, (ca. 1250), in lower margins, f. 2r-v., Leaves trimmed with some loss of text along upper and outer margins; portions of f. 2v illegible due to paste and offset impressions of leather turn-ins and wooden boards., and Bifolium used as flyleaf and pastedown.