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Detailed record for Harley 4485
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| Title |
Livre de l'ordre de Saint Michel (Rules of the Order of Saint Michel) |
| Origin |
France, Central (Paris) |
| Date |
c. 1510 - c. 1520 |
| Language |
French |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Artists |
In the style of the workshop of Jean Pichore. |
| Decoration |
1 full-page miniature in an architectural frame, in colours and gold (f. 9). 2 large decorated initials, in colours and gold (ff. 9v, 37). Small initials in gold on red or blue grounds. |
| Dimensions in mm |
260 x 185 (180 x 115) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 45 (+ 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf at the beginning and 1 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Pre-1600. Purple velvet; traces of four textile ties at the edges; rebacked; gilt edges. |
| Provenance |
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley 'Nov: 30: 1721' (inside upper cover). Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), III, no. 4485. |
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