OFFICES OF THE VIRGIN, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on vellum, [Eastern Flanders], 1542.

A highly personalised 16th-century devotional book, comprising an unusual collection of Marian offices and opening with a portrait of the patron, apparently a noble member of the de Pamele family of eastern Flanders.

184 x 127mm. ii + 177 + i leaves, complete, 17 lines, ruled space: 117 x 70mm, scattered contemporary textual corrections and marginal annotations, initials in red or blue throughout, six small miniatures with full-page borders, one full-page miniature within a pictorial border facing a decorated initial with a full-page border, (a figure erased from the border of f.38v, probably a fox preaching). Flemish 16th-century blind-stamped goatskin over wooden boards; tools used include the portrait, emblem and mottoes of Emperor Charles V (c.f. Goldsmith, Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings, I, no 185), (lacking clasps, a little worn).

Provenance: (1) Commissioned by a member of the de Pamele family of eastern Flanders, perhaps the chevalier Josse de Blondel Joigny, baron de Pamele (d.1555): our patron is depicted on f.2 kneeling before a pre-dieu carrying the quartered coat of arms of Joigny de Pamele (gules an eagle argent, 1 & 4, and gules three fesses or, 2 & 3) with his knightly accoutrements, a helmet and sword, prominently displayed. A colophon added at the end of the offices of the Virgin on f.169v records the completion of the manuscript in 1542 in Pamele (‘de pamella’; the town absorbed into the modern-day city of Oudenaarde by the end of the 16th century). By inheritance to:
(2) Maria van Locquenghien (d.1597), Augustinian canoness of the Onze Lieve Vrouw ter Rosen gheplant in Jericho convent in Brussels, her ownership inscription on the pastedown of the upper board. Maria’s father, Jean de Locquenghien (1517/1518-1573/1574) was a burghermaster of Brussels and cup-bearer to the Emperor Charles V, whose emblems adorn the 16th-century binding; her mother, Anne van der Gracht (1517-1574), was heiress to the de Pamele barony. ?By descent to her great-niece:
(3) Marie de Middelton (d.1664), wife of Charles de Locquenghien, baron de Melsbroek (d.1670): the note in Dutch on f.176v records the birth of ‘our daughter’ Catherine de Locquenghien on 8 February 1626; Catherine later became a Bridgettine nun in Brussels.
(4) Jean-François van de Velde (1779–1838), bishop of Ghent; his catalogue, v.II (Ghent, 1832), no 15039.
(5) Jean de Meyer, his sale, Ghent, 2 November 1869, lot 71.
(6) 19th-century pencilled sale notes in French on the inner boards; one reading ‘Lot 1436’.
(7) Cortlandt F. Bishop (1870-1935), aviator and book collector, his ex-libris.

Content: Added prayers in Latin in a 16th-century hand ff.i-1; Office of the Conception of the Virgin ff.2-38; Office of the Birth of the Virgin ff.38-61; Office of the Presentation of the Virgin ff.62-80; Office of the Annunciation to the Virgin ff.81-99; Office of the Visitation of the Virgin ff.99v-120; Office of the Purification of the Virgin f.120v-142; Office of the Assumption of the Virgin ff.142v-169; Collect to the Virgin ff.170-176; further added prayers in Latin in a 16th-century hand ff.177-i.

Illumination:
The style of the illumination leaves open the possibility that the manuscript could have been painted in Ghent – the closest centre of artistic production to Pamele [now Oudenaarde] – Antwerp, or even Brussels: by 1542, some years into the age of printing, manuscript illumination had become somewhat homogenous in style.

The full-page miniature depicting the Meeting at the Golden Gate within a border containing a portrait of the patron and scenes from the Life of the Virgin is on f.1v.

The subjects of the six small miniatures are as follows: Birth of the Virgin f.38v; Presentation of the Virgin f.62; Annunciation f.81; Visitation 99v; Purification in the Temple f.120v; Coronation of the Virgin f.142v.

Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.