Streeter-Piccard hours, use of Sarum, 1425 - 1450

Two prayers, in French, in two different hands on fol. 8v

The fourteen illuminations in this text are painted in the style of the Master(s) of Otto van Moerdrecht (fl. c. 1420-50); the prior identification with Nicolas Brouwer (because of the "b" stamp) has been shown to be incorrect; we are indebted to James D. Farquhar for his helpful comments on this text and its illuminations; the illustrated leaves, with the possible exception of Saint Barbara on f. 9v, and the Funeral Mass on f. 63v, include the artist's stamp associated with this Utrecht workshop, a red circle on which a gothic b may be discerned, in the lower right corner directly beneath the frame of the illustration; the illustrations in this manuscript are unusual since, unlike most of the extant examples of stamped illustrations which are separate additions added to a text, many of these images are an integral part of the text.

Farquhar in his article"Identity in an Anonymous Age: Bruges Manuscript Illuminators and Their Signs," points out that this atelier has been linked with several other books of hours including MS 106 Upholland College, Wigan England; MS Canon. Liturg. 17, Bodleian Library, Oxford; MS 12009, from the Merseyside Museum of Liverpool; and Reid MS 45, the Worcester Book of Hours, in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Parchment support, ff. ii (modern paper) + 97 + ii (modern paper).

Early eigthteenth-century gold-tooled French crimson morocco, fully gilt spine and edges. HEURES/ MANUSC in gold, on spine.

i+97+i; 186 x 140 mm bound to 190 x 148 mm.

Single column, twenty-five lines, ruled in ink with single vertical bounding lines, and double upper horizontal bounding lines full across; written area: 122 x 76 mm; Calendar thirty-four lines, four columns, single bounding lines except for double upper horizontal bounding lines.

Gothic -- semi-quadrata script.

Fourteen full-page miniatures with borders on three sides; borders on top and bottom throughout; ten- to thirteen-line illuminated initials beginning each section; six-line illuminated initials I, outside the written area, throughout; two-line illuminated initials and 1-line initials with red penwork flourishes throughout; rubrication in red.

The first four images are the customary inserts and thus blank on the recto; the final two images are also inserts. The remaining eight illustrations, for the Offices of the Virgin and the Dead, and the Penitential Psalms are integral to the text. These illustrations are all framed in the same way as the inserts, but the floral motif which surrounds the three outer margins is like that described for f. 14r; on the inner margin of these paintings three small penwork vinestems emerge, each splitting into two and terminating in two gold trefoil leaves. Opposite these pages (ff. 24r, 30r, 32r, 34r, 36r, and 37r) the text is decorated with matching floral borders in the top and bottom margins with similar penwork vinestems in the inner margin,one extending from the center of the initial and one from the center of the text, and 12-line initials, gold on a pink and blue split ground. On all the leaves except f. 24r, a gold, pink, and blue baguette extends down the inner margin from the initial, and the lower vinestem grows out of that. Many 7-, 6-, 5-, and 2-line gold initials on pink and blue; 1-line versicles either blue on red or or gold on black penwork grounds. Rubrication throughout, rather more than usual.

The worshop palette is distinctive, with grey-green, bright orange, greyish-pink and blue predominating with gold accents. The figures may be discerned by their gracefully attenuated limbs, their long, sweet, oval faces shadowed with grey-green, and their small mouths, half-moon eyes and large gold halos outlined in black. The landscapes are equally recognizable, grey-green and often hilly with rushing water in the foreground and dark red or gold skies.

Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.