MOSKAUER STUNDENBUCH. [THE MOSCOW BOOK OF HOURS].

(ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS - EARLY, FACSIMILE).

([Gütersloh/Munich]: Coron Exclusiv Facsimile Publishing, [2007]). 197 x 140 mm. (7 3/4 x 5 1/2"). 235 leaves. Without the commentary volume in German. No. 66 OF 980 COPIES.

Publisher's replica calf, covers richly decorated in gold in a Renaissance strapwork and foliate style, raised bands, spine panels gilt with central trefoil, all edges gilt. Housed in the original very attractive brown leather jewel case with a gilt and enamel crest on upper lid. LAVISHLY ILLUMINATED with more than 1,200 one- or two-line initials in colors and gold; with dozens of leaves featuring panel borders of swirling blue and gold acanthus leaves and multi-colored flowers and berries; with calendar leaves highlighted by full floral borders, the rectos with a small arch-topped miniature of the labor of the month, the versos with the zodiacal sign; and with 17 FULL-PAGE MINIATURES ACCOMPANIED BY FULL BORDERS of foliage and flowers inhabited by insects, snails, dogs, unicorns, and grotesques. ◆In mint condition.

This is a beautifully produced facsimile of one of the crown jewels in the collection of the Russian State Library, a 15th century Parisian Book of Hours with especially striking miniatures in the style of Van Eyck. Among these are featured the four Evangelists (Mark, unusually, painting an icon of the Virgin), the Virgin and Child with two angels, the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Annunciation to the Shepherds, Presentation, Coronation of the Virgin, King David, the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ before Pilate, Pentecost, Christ and the Apostles appearing to the patron of this manuscript, and a bloody beheading of St. Barbara. The action and detail in these scenes are remarkable. In the Annunciation to the Shepherds, for example, we see, not the usual half dozen sheep with a couple of dazed keepers, but a huge flock of white and black sheep guarded by five men and one woman, gazing in shock at the Heavenly Host appearing in a gold and orange sunburst above. (One of the herders seems so rattled by the experience that he is swigging from a skin of wine.) The patron who commissioned this manuscript is shown in his miniature clad in armor, kneeling at a prie-dieu, his helmet topped with a unicorn's head by his side. He was likely a member of the Burgundian court, whose support for the illuminators of Paris resulted in many of the most beautiful 15th century Books of Hours. (ST17769g)

Price: $1,500.00