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Detailed record for Harley 2943
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| Title |
Prayer book |
| Origin |
Netherlands, N. (Haarlem? or Beverwijk?) |
| Date |
1486 |
| Language |
Dutch |
| Script |
Gothic |
| Artists |
Nicholas Spierinc |
| Decoration |
6 full-page miniatures with full foliate borders including human figures and/or animals, in colours and gold, for major divisions (ff. 17v, 49v, 68v, 89v, 112v, 127v). 3 large historiated initials with three-sided foliate borders, including human figures and/or animals, in colours and gold (ff. 18, 50, 69). 1 smaller historiated initial with partial foliate borders, in colours and gold (f. 13). Large decorated foliate initials with three-sided foliate borders, including human figures and/or animals, in colours and gold (ff. 90, 113, 128). 29 large decorated foliate initials with partial foliate borders, many including human figures and/or animals, in colours and gold, for minor divisions (ff. 24v, 31, 33v, 35v, 38, 40v, 44v, 50v, 56v, 58v, 60, 61v, 62v, 64, 66, 74v [initial in gold on a red and blue ground], 77, 79, 81, 82v, 84, 86v, 96v, 99, 101, 103, 104v, 106v, 109). Small initials in red with purple pen-flourishing or in blue with red pen-flourishing, with green wash. Red double-line ruling. |
| Dimensions in mm |
195 x 135 (100 x 65) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 157 (+ 1 unfoliated medieval parchment leaf after f. 67; + 3 paper flyleaves at the beginning and 3 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Harleian binding of gold-tooled red leather; marbled endpapers; gilt edges. |
| Provenance |
Written by Nicolas Spierinc: signed and dated 'Spierinck 1486' (f. 18, cf. f. 69).
A member of the Lochorst family: their arms, partly effaced (ff. 49v, 50, 58v).
Added prayer in Dutch in a 17th-century hand (ff. 156-157v).
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 '12 die Septembris, 1722' (2nd flyleaf). 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), II, no. 2943.
Deutsche Handschriften in England, ed. by Robert Priebsch, 2 vols in 1 vol. (Hildesheim: Olms, 1979, first publ. Erlangen: Junge, 1896-01), II: Das British Museum mit einem Anhang über die Guildhall-Bibliothek, no. 21.
Paul Durrieu, La Miniature flamande au temps de la cour de Bourgogne (1415-1530) (Paris and Brussels: [n. pub.], 1921), pl. LIV.
Antoine de Schryver, 'Nicolas Spierinc Calligraphe et enlumineur des Ordonnances des Etats de l'Hôtel de Charles le Téméraire', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits 23 (1969), 434-58.
Andrew G. Watson, Catalogue of Dated and Datable Manuscripts c.700-1600 in the Department of Manuscripts, The British Library (London: British Library, 1979), I, no. 716.
The Golden Age of Dutch Manuscript Painting (New York: Braziller, 1990), pp. 233, 242-43 [exhibition catalogue].
Klaas van der Hoek, 'De Noordhollandse verluchter Spierinck: Haarlem en/of Beverwijk, ca.1485-1519', in Middeleeuwse handschriftenkunde in de Nederlanden 1988: Verslag van Groningse Codicologendagen 28-29 april 1988, ed. by Jos M. M. Hermans (Grave: Alfa, 1989), pp.163-82.
Klaas van der Hoek, 'The North Holland Illuminator Spierinck: Some Attributions Reconsidered', Masters and Miniatures: Proceedings of the Congress on Medieval Manuscript Illumination in the Nothern Netherlands (Utrecht, 10-13 December 1989), ed. by Koert van der Horst and Johann-Christian Klamt (Doornsprijk: Davaco, 1991), p. 281.
Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Book of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), no. 28. |
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ff. 17v-18
Annunciation |
f. 17v
Annunciation |
f. 17v
John of Patmos |
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ff. 17v-18
Annunciation |
f. 18
Virgin and Child |
f. 18
Historiated initial |
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f. 18
Augustus with the Tiburtine Sybil |
f. 37v
Decorated initials |
f. 38
Dog |
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f. 42
Decorated initials |
f. 49v
Pentecost |
f. 50
God |
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f. 57v
Coloured initials |
f. 58
Decorated initial |
ff. 58v-59
Heraldry |
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ff. 68v-69
Crucifixion; Resurrection |
f. 68v
Crucifixion |
f. 69
Resurrection |
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ff. 89v-90
Funeral service |
f. 112v
Last Judgement |
f. 113
Illuminated initial |
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f. 127v
Christ |
f. 128
Death |
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