A collection of German prayers, most likely copied for a lay patron ca. 1500-1520. (pal)

According to the colophon at the end of the Gospel of John, this copy was completed by Ibrāhīm ibn Būluṣ ibn Dāwūd al-Ḥalabī in Cairo. It is written in a clear nasḫī script; the illustrations, provided by the Aleppo illustrator and icon-painter Ğirğis bin Ḥanāniyā, portray the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, as well as 43 scenes from the life of Jesus. The Arabic title, "This book is the holy, pure Gospel and the illuminating, shining light", is given at the end of the Gospel of John. This codex is currently on long-term loan from the Pandeli family to the library of St. Gall Abbey. (wid)

This liturgical manuscript (Sharaknots or Sharakan) contains a collection of over a thousand hymns, organized into eight groups, for use in the Armenian Church. Many of these hymns were composed by prominent figures in the Armenian Church, while others are early translations from sacred hymns of the early Christian Church. The texts include Armenian khaz notation. This manuscript was written by the scribe Simeon in the year 1662 in the city of Brnakot, in the province of Siounik, an important center for liturgical manuscript production in southern Armenia. The book decoration consists of 8 headpieces, 120 ornamental and zoomorphic initials, and numerous simple red initials. The manuscript features its original Moroccan limp vellum binding with blind tooling. (ber)

Liturgical manuscript (Sharaknots), written by the copyist Awetis in Khizan in the province Van in the year 1647 (1096 according to the Armenian calendar). It contains 11 large miniatures and 28 miniatures in the margins, executed and signed by the painter Yovanes Gharietsi. He was one of the most fascinating artists of the late School of Vaspurakan. The manuscript is part of certain hymnals, created for private customers in the region of Lake Van and characterized by bright colors and interlace ornamentation. The manuscript features the Armenian Khaz-notation. The text contains the collection of hymns in use in the Armenian Church, in the same order as in a Hymnarium printed as a first edition in Amsterdam in the year 1664. Three more hymnals of this type, also the result of the collaboration of these two artists, are known: two in Jerusalem and one in Jerewan. Attached in the beginning and at the end are two sheets of parchment containing a part of the Proprium de Sanctis from a Latin breviary from the 13th/14th century. (ber)

This volume contains a collection of 213 documents from the years 1324-1327, copied by nine notaries in a tiny, very careful cursive script. The collection contains the documentation of property rights of the Castropola de Sergi, the lords of Pula (Croatia), regarding their properties in the area of Pula, in Istria and in Venice. The notarial documents are organized according to the city or location where the property was located; the place name is noted in the top margin of the first page of the section; each section contains a detailed list of properties and their associated auxiliary buildings, together with their exact locations. (tog)

Sephardic Bible in Hebrew, produced in the first half of the 14th century in Spain, probably in Castile. The manuscript opens and closes with Masoretic lists (ff. IIr-IXv and 463v to 466v), which, framed by illuminated borders, form “carpet pages”. The biblical text, copied into one or two columns, is accompanied by the Small and Large Masora (rules from the rabbinic tradition regarding the reading and vocalization of the sacred texts), which were written in tiny letters in the margins and in the gutters. These micrographic elements are sometimes enlivened in the lower margins of the pages (about 70 occurrences) or on all four sides of the pages (e.g., ff. 42r-43r, 461v-463r), where they form magnificent geometrical figures and interlace. The first biblical books are introduced by titles that are executed in browned gold on background fields of pink and blue with white scrollwork (f. 1v/Gn, 33v/Ex, 59v/Nb, 77v/Dt, 102v/Js, 125v/Jg). According to a note of ownership (f. 467v) dated 1367 (?), this Hebrew Bible was probably owned by David ha-Cohen Coutinho, member of a family of Portuguese marranos. In the 15th century, it was the property of Moses Abulafia, until his widow sold it, as shown by the sales contract, dated and signed in 1526 in Thessaloniki and placed in the beginning of the book (f. Ir). In the 16th century, the Bible was owned by the Talmudist and Rabbi Abraham di Boton of Thessaloniki (f. 467v). Thereafter its presence is attested in the Zaradel Synagogue of Alexandria in the 19th century (R. Gottheil, „Some Hebrew Manuscripts in Cairo“ in: Jewish Quarterly Review 17, 1905, p. 648). After the Bible entered the fine arts market, it has been in a private collection since 1996. (rou)

Register of the assets of the inhabitants of the communities Bergün, Filisur, Latsch and Stuls, compiled by the public notary and chancellor at the time, later Landammann (magistrate) and pastor Tumesch Zeuth; it was updated about every ten years, first in German and, towards the end, also in Romansh. Its significance is not well documented; perhaps originally it served as a basis for financing the communities’ buying their freedom from the Bishop of Chur in 1537, later perhaps it served as a key for distributing the communities’ income from, among other things, the Valtellina districts, from pensions, from tariffs on goods and tolls on roads, etc. Currently this is the oldest known manuscript from Bergün; it is the property of Werner Dübendorfer of Eglisau. The book containing its continuation, probably up to 1799, has been lost. (fal)

This parchment fragment from Martin le Franc’s Champion des Dames (Book I, v. 3901-v. 4062 + Book II, v. 4313-v. 4470) is from the 15th century. The text corresponds to that of the Deschaux edition (1999). Carefully copied in two columns, the different stanzas of the poem are introduced by colored initials, alternating red and blue, and by champie initials. Book II opens with a decorated initial on a gold background, badly worn due to the fragment’s use as binding for a land register during the 17th century. This land register belonged to Jaques Etienne Clavel, co-ruler of Marsens, Ropraz and Brenles (fol. 2r). (rou)

This small-format handbook about ritual slaughter is from 14th century Italy. It contains the laws of shekhitah (ritual slaughter) and of treifot (possible defects of kosher animals) by Judah ben Benjamin ha-Rofe Anaw from Rome (13th century). These laws are followed by excerpts of laws on shekhitah from the Torat ha-Bayit ha-Arokh, a legal work on the laws governing Jewish households by Salomon ben Abraham ben Adret from Barcelona (1235-1310). (iss)

A book of hours following the liturgical custom of Rome in Latin, with a calendar in French and a selection of saints venerated in Paris. It contains 17 miniatures created in Paris around 1408/10 in the artistic circle of the Master of Boucicaut, one of the most influential illuminators of the early 15th century. The Master of the Mazarine contributed to the ornamentation, as did pseudo-Jacquemart, who belongs to an older generation of artists and whose contribution can be recognized in the famous Books of Hours of the Duke of Berry. The image of David was painted on an inserted double leaf; it can be attributed to a follower of the artist who illuminated the Breviary of John the Fearless. (ber)

A book of hours in Latin and French, written in the second quarter of the 15th century in Paris, but not illuminated until 1490 in Paris or perhaps in Tours by various artists who shared the work. Two miniatures as well as the decoration of the calendar and of the Office of the Dead are the work of an artist from the circle of the Maître François, a close collaborator of the Master of Jacques of Besançon, who honors Notre-Dame in a veduta of the city of Paris (f. 93r). The luminous colors and the monumental forms of the other miniatures attest to the influence of Jean Bourdichon of Tours. This artist can probably be considered responsible for the Master of the Chronique Scandaleuse, who, during the creation of this manuscript, was still working under the guidance of Jean Bourdichon. (ber)

A book of hours following the liturgical custom of Rome, with a calendar in French. The miniatures are framed by borders decorated with plants that were executed with great botanical precision. This examplar from the late period of the French Book of hours, preserved in its entirety, was illuminated by an important master from this late phase of French book illumination. He was influenced by the Master of Claude de France und was recently identified as the Master of the Lallemant-Boethius. In the small pictures on the borders, he tries to compete with Jean Bourdichon, who introduced realistic flower borders in the marginal decoration of Anne of Brittany’s Grandes Heures and in other major works. The Master of the Lallemant-Boethius is also guided by Flemish book illumination of his time. On f. 1r one can read the name of Agnès le Dieu, the owner of the codex in the year 1605. (ber)

A book of hours following the liturgical custom of Rome, with a calendar containing a selection of saints for Langres. The manuscript was illuminated and dated in 1524 by a Master of Bénigne Serre, who was known by the name of his client, a highly-ranked official of the King of Burgundy. The artist was a hitherto unknown illuminator from the circle of the “1520s The Hours Workshop,” which framed the miniatures with Renaissance architecture or added naturalistic flowers and animals to borders. This manuscript contains a number of unusual images, e.g., for the Lauds of the Office of the Virgin, the meeting of Joachim and Anna at the city gate of Jerusalem replaces the usual image of the Visitation. In the 18th century, the manuscript was owned by the family Bretagne of Dijon, whose family members wrote a „Livre de raison“ on several appended pages. (ber)

Two artists, active around 1440/50, contributed to the decorations of this book of hours: the older one, who created only the three miniatures on f. 13v, 105v and 140v, is part of the “Goldrankenstil,” while the younger one is characterized by greater physicality and more vibrant coloring because he was influenced by the innovations of the contemporary painting of the van Eyck brothers. This second artist is responsible for the completion of the Turin-Milan Hours in the year 1440 and also contributed to the Llangattock Book of hours. In 1813 the manuscript was given to the prioress of the Cloister of the Bernardine Sisters of Oudenaarde by the Prince of Broglie. (ber)

A book of hours following the liturgical custom of Rome, with a calendar for the use in Poitiers. All main miniatures are by the Master of Poitiers 30, whose name is derived from two of the miniatures he created in a missal for use in Poitiers, which is kept in the local city library. Earlier he was known by the name Master of Adelaide of Savoy, for whom he created the book of hours Ms. 76 in the Condé Museum in Chantilly. He belonged to the circle of the Master of Jouvenel des Ursins, but was most active in Poitiers, where he influenced later local book illumination. (ber)

A latin book of hours with calendar, containing a selection of saints for Paris as well as several French prayers. At the end of the book, there are tables for the changing holidays beginning with the year 1460; thus it can be assumed that the manuscript was completed around this time. The majority of the miniatures are by the Master of Coëtivy, who presumably also created all compositions and thus also the preliminary drawings. The hand of a second illuminator, who can be identified as the Master of Dreux Budé, is found in the faces of Mary in the image of the birth of Jesus (f. 83v), the Adoration of the Magi (f. 92v) and the Coronation of the Virgin (f. 107r). (ber)

The manuscript contains a psalter for use in Evreux, episcopal city and preferred residence of the kings of Navarre.This is a liturgical book which contains the calendar, the litany and the Office of the Dead, that is, the most important texts of a book of hours. The illumination is the work of an artist who was active in Paris around 1400 and who depicts elegant figures in a picturesque landscape, still on a gold background, while his color palette is already that of the 15th century. This hand is to be attributed to the workshop of the Parisian Josephus-Master. At least two miniatures – the jester miniature (f. 44r) and the miniature of the Office of the Dead (f. 131r) – are attributed to the pseudo-Jacquemart. (ber)

This book of hours, addressed to a woman, contains an entry that can only be read in ultraviolet light (f. 27v) and that mentions a Jaquette de la Barre; she probably was part of the Parisian family of organ builders who, between 1401 and 1404, built the organ of Notre-Dame. The miniatures were created around 1410 by a leading Parisian master, who can be identified as the Master of the Mazarin. Subsequently, borders were added to the manuscript, probably by a Provençal hand. Several scenes stand out from the conventional iconographic program: instead of the penance of David, there is the glory of Christ on Judgment Day (f. 101r); instead of the Mass for the dead, there is the Raising of Lazarus (f. 141r); also unusual is the depiction of the prayer of St. Jerome (f. 139v) in the full vestments of a cardinal. (ber)

Various artists contributed to the illumination of this book of hours. Some simple miniatures are the work of an artist who trained in the circle of the Master of John the Fearless. Many faces of Mary were created by the Master of Marguerite of Orléans, an important book illuminator around 1430. In the 15th century, the manuscript belonged to Guillaume Prevost, as attested by the baptismal entries written in the “Livre de raison” (f. 186v). (ber)

In addition to the unusual book for King Charles VIII described in Utopia Cod. 111, there is another book of hours that was painted by the same artist. Its border decoration remained incomplete, and all the large images follow not the usual canon of images for books of hours, but instead depict unconventional motifs. What strikes the eye in both manuscripts is the motif of the family tree of Adam, which creates an optical link between the volumes and which is not found in other of the book decorator’s manuscripts. The almost identical mass of foliage also suggests that the two volumes could belong together, produced for the king at a certain time interval from one another. The premature and unexpected death of Charles VIII after his accident at the Château d’Amboise may explain why the second manuscript was never completed. (net)