April 22, 2009
A Highly Important Vrelant Book of Hours. Circa 1450-1460
Illuminated Manuscript on Vellum: Some of the finest Bruges Illuminations to appear on the market in recent years
THE MANUSCRIPT:
[Book of Hours] [s.l., s.d.; likely Bruges circa 1450-1460]; FOR ENGLISH USE, 203 x 145 mm, 130 leaves on Vellum., 16 (SIXTEEN) large eight-line initials with full page borders of the finest quality, attributable to Willem Vrelant or to school of Vrelant. The lavish borders are enlivened with birds, monkeys, peacocks, a dog, a reindeer, lions and bears, all magnificently executed in unusually fine and naturalistic tones. Early 16th century ownership inscription to blank fly-leaf of Elizabeth Harlaky[e]nden. Bound in 19th century blind-stamped morocco as depicted, in protective box. Condition: some light smudging to text, some darkening and staining, some minor tears with the last nine leaves repaired at lower right corner as shown, spine rubbed. Overall,
the whole book is in excellent condition, exceptionally wide-margined, and very attractive.
BORDER ILLUMINATION: The extensive illumination is in a style, attributable to or derived from Willem Vrelant, one of the leading illuminators in Bruges from at least 1454 until his death in 1481. Given their impressive quality, a full attribution to Vrelant of the luxuriant and complex borders is entirely reasonable, and the acanthus leaves show clear stylistic similarity with such masterpieces as the the Vrelant Book of Hours for Paris Use in The Free Library of Philadelphia, Rare Book Department, Widener 5, fol. 46. What is certain is that these superb borders are representative of the height of Bruges and Flemish border decoration and that they serve as an important link, worthy of further scholarly investigation, between the French and Flemish, as well as English, traditions of manuscript illumination. They are certainly among the finest such borders to appear on the market in recent years.
ENGLISH MARKET: Another fascinating and important aspect of the manuscript is that it was almost certainly created for the English market. The Sarum Rite (more properly called Sarum Use) was a variant of the Roman Rite widely used for the ordering of Christian public worship, including the Mass or Eucharist, in the British Isles before the English Reformation. There is an English (likely) pre-Reformation signature of Elizabeth Harlaky[e]nden, [d. 1539] [s.l., likely York] and wife of Thomas Harlakynden (d. 1558). Additionally, the calender notes St. Rumbolt, a very rarely found English Midlands Saint.
Bruges was of course very important as the central foreign market of the Anglo Flemish wool trade. Caxton, himself famously set up a press in there in 1474, printing The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, the first book printed in English. Thus manuscripts for English Use produced in Bruges are very important not only for the study of traditions of illumination, but also as a way of investigating the routes of the early Anglo book trade, as well as the roots of the earliest English printing itself.
WOMEN’S OWNERSHIP: The clear recorded evidence on this Book of Hours of a woman’s ownership, Elizabeth Harlaky[e]nden, is also rare . Without doubt, she was following the maxim of St. Jerome, made popular in the medieval period by Christian moralists, to educate young children. It parallels the famous example of the Psalter ordered by Blanch of Castille to teach her son, the future Louis IX of France. Margaret Schaus expounds more fully on several aspects of this as well as women book-owners as ambassadors of culture in her Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: an Encyclopedia, CRC Press, 2006. [$125,000]
