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Detailed record for Harley 2865
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| Title |
Book of Hours, Use of Rome |
| Origin |
France, Central (Paris) |
| Date |
c. 1480 - c. 1490 |
| Language |
Latin, with some French |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Artists |
Attributed to the circle of the Master of Jacques de Besançon (see Backhouse 2004). |
| Decoration |
19 full-page miniatures with large initials in gold on red or blue grounds and full foliate borders including hybrid figures, animals, birds, etc., in colours and gold (ff. 13, 18, 23, 25v, 27v, 29v, 34, 43v, 46v, 49v, 53, 57, 59v, 69v, 72v, 77, 86, 104v, 106); 1 full-page miniature probably missing after f. 9. 14 small miniatures with three-sided foliate borders, in colours and gold, for suffrages (ff. 103v (x2), 104, 105, 105v (x2), 106v (x2), 107 (x2), 107v (x2), 108, 111v). Small initials (1-2 lines) and line fillers in gold on red or blue grounds. |
| Dimensions in mm |
155 x 110 (100 x 60) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 130 (ff. 1 and 3 are parchment flyleaves; + 1 paper flyleaf at the beginning and 1 at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
BM/BL in-house. Marbled brown leather; gilt and gauffered edges. |
| Provenance |
Inscription, 16th/17th? century (f. 130v).
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 '16 die Januarij A.D. 1720/21.' (f. 1). 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. |
| Notes |
Added prayer in a 16th century hand (f. 2r-v). |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), II, no. 2865.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 17.
Janet Backhouse, Illumination from Books of Hours (London: British Library, 2004), fig. 15. |
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f. 18
Visitation |
f. 53
Last Supper |
f. 86
Death |
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