[JEHAN PUCELLE] - LIVRE D'HEURES A L'USAGE DE ROME. - Lot 1

[JEHAN PUCELLE] - LIVRE D'HEURES A L'USAGE DE ROME. MANUSCRIPT IN LATIN AND FRENCH, PARIS, CIRCA 1325. AN EXCEPTIONAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT EXECUTED IN JEHAN PUCELLE'S CIRCLE FOR A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ENTOURAGE: 6 LARGE MINIATURES, 48 LETTRINES WITH LEAF-DECORATED BACKGROUND. 42 LETTRINES WITH PORTRAIT OR CHARACTER. 1220 LARGE AND SMALL LETTRINES. 82 REPRESENTATIONS OF FANTASTIC ANIMALS. 58 FANTASTIC FIGURES WITH ANIMAL BODIES AND GROTESQUE SCENES. Large in-12 volume (120 x 80 mm (62 x 43 mm) of 222 leaves, including 1 blank, 13 long lines on parchment, metallic-gallic ink (rare parts of parchment eaten away by ink), brown ink rules, advertisements, red cloth on wooden aisle, mute spine, gilt edges (19th century binding). MATERIAL DESCRIPTION In-12de [221 ff. and 1 bl. f. bound out of order]; 120 × 80 mm (62 × 43 mm); 13 long lines on parchment; metallic-gallic ink (rare parts of parchment eroded by ink); rules in brown ink; advertisements; headings of expectations; foliotationpostérieur in pencil made after the present binding; textualis libraria, homogeneous hand; reconstructed leaf (f.21); Decoration: full-page miniature with the Annunciation to the shepherds (f.1), historiated initials of Saint Catherine (f.2), Saint Paul (f.5r), St. John the Baptist (f. 85r), St. John the Evangelist (f. 102), St. Genevieve (f. 119); gilded champie frames decorated with vine, holly and oak leaves with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic drolleries (Pucelian drolleries in grisaille: f. 2r, 13v, 18v, 34v, 52v, 62r, 73v(?), 74r, 84r, 85r, 94v, 102r, 105r(?), 119r, 121r, 141v, 149v, 153v,159r, 161v(?), 170r, 179v(?), 180v(?), 183r, 186r, 195v(?), 196v, 205r, 213r, 219r; birds: f. 140v, 141r, 148r-149r); framed with watermarked i-bands on f. 140; historiated initials (f. 24v, 76v, 77v, 78r, 79r, 79v); gilded champie initials adorned with men's heads, vine leaves, heraldic signs (fleur-de-lys, lion and eagle) and filigree; end lineszoomorphic and with repeated motifs. ICONOGRAPHY This manuscript is most probably the result of a collective production by artists from Jean Pucelle's entourage. The first hand is responsible for the miniatures, the second for the marginal jokes and the last for the secondary decorations. The layout is similar to the Hours of Jeanne de Savoie (Paris, MJAP, Ms 1312), but the miniatures are executed in the style of the Breviary of Blanche de France (Rome, BAV, Urb. Lat. 603). This parallel allows us to date the manuscript to circa 1325. The many amusing grisaille illustrations in our manuscript adopt a resolutely Pucelian language. The characters are particularly characterized by their lively expressions, sometimes incongruous positions and the humor of the scenes. Hybrids with human busts dressed in flowing fabrics and animal legs are often busy with a musical instrument or weapon. These figures are very common in the Hours of Jeanne de Savoie. Grotesque bearded profiles can also be found in the historiated initials and some of the endpapers of the Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux. The sophisticated character of the guard's body on the reverse of f. 34 is a particular eye-catcher. The ochre of the modeling is enhanced by touches of white, accentuating the realism of the line. The three-dimensional treatment with which Pucelle was familiar is particularly evident here. This nude treatment can also be found in the miniatures of the Hours of Joan of Evreux, such as the Gemini in the calendar (f. 6r) or the flexible grace of Christ in the Flagellation (f. 53v). Also noteworthy are the torture of Isaiah in the Billyng Bible (BnF, Mss, Latin 11935, f. 356v) and the Saint Laurent in the Breviary of Jeanne d'Évreux (Chantilly, ms. 51, f. 306v). Such attention to body detail is rarely found in other artists of the period. This leads us to believe that the hand is probably that of Jean Pucelle himself. Jean Pucelle is considered the finest illuminator of his time. Virtually all French manuscripts from the second third of the 14th century bear witness to his influence, and the bibliography on his subject is inexhaustible. As early as 1868, his name was identified by Léopold Delisle in the colophon of Robert de Billyng's Bible (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Latin 11935), dated April 1327, then in the Belleville Breviary (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Latin 10483 and 10484). References to Jeanne d'Évreux's bequest to King Charles V of a "bien petit livret d'oroisons que le roy Charles, dont Diex ait l'âme avoit faict faire por Madame, q