Lady Margaret Hall MS. Borough 1
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Physical Description
Layout
Sixteen long lines; written space 120 × 82 mm.
Decoration
Borders.
Historiated initials.
- fol.15R. Annuniciation scene and historiated initial with a portrait of the manuscript's (male) commissioner surrounded by a full illuminated border (this and following six are Northern Italian)
- fol.26R. historiated initial of the Visitation with Elizabeth, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
- fol.45R. historiated initial of the Nativity, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
- fol.54R. historiated initial of the Visit of the Magi, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
- fol.58R. historiated initial of the Flight into Egypt, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
- fol.61V. historiated initial of the child Christ in the Temple, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
- fol.68V. historiated initial of Mary, Joseph and the child Christ, three-quarter illuminated border with fruit and floral designs
- fol.84R. historiated initial of Christ rising from the tomb, full illuminated border (this and the following two are Umbrian but with borders by the earlier illuminator)
- fol.97R. historiated initial of King David, full illuminated border
- fol.122R. historiated initial of signs of mortality, full illuminated border
10 half-page illuminated initials in red, green and blue on gold grounds (fol. 49V.; 85V.; 86V.; 88R.; 89R.; 90R.; 91V.; 93R.; 108R.; 230V.)
2-line illuminated initials gold on coloured grounds
one-line blue initials with red ornament alternating with gold initials with violet ornament
Binding
Nineteenth or twentieth century vellum over boards
History
Provenance and Acquisition
From information gleaned from the Calendar and from the style of the majority of the illumination, this Book of Hours would seem to have originated in an Augustinian house (possibly hermits) around Tolletino, Spoleto or Rimini (Nicola de Tollentino, canonised in 1446, is noted in red); the manuscript had moved south to Umbria by the end of the fifteenth century where some further illumination was added.
An inscription at the end "finis Venetiis MCCCCXC" would seem to be spurious.
By the sixteenth century the manuscript was in the possession of the Caracciolo family of Naples, and an inscription on the rear flyleaves in Italian records the birth and baptism of Giulio Gaesare Giosep Caracciolo on 20 September 1574.
Eustace F. Bosanquet (1871 - 1940), his sale, Sotheby's 24 January 1944, lot 179, for £250
Donated to Lady Margaret Hall by Cynthia Mabel Borough (b.1899)
Record Sources
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2022-02: First online publication.