DPL Reed MMF60

1. Book of Hours, Middle French and Latin. France, early sixteenth century
2. Book of Hours, Middle French and Latin; the Man of Sorrows. France, early sixteenth century

Single leaf. 176 by 108mm. Single column, 21 lines, ruled in brown ink, written space 115 by 60mm; gothic liturgical hand.

Text: Middle French translation of the Stabat Mater dolorosa, followed by a prayer in Latin for use in Vespers on the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost.
Decoration: One-line initials and line fillers in gold on red and blue grounds with gold tracery, 5-line initial in red with thistle design on a gold ground with red tracery. Vertical panel borders. Panel on recto is of French floral-acanthus design with gilt triangular compartments with floral designs and a painted-out heraldic shield at centre. Panel on verso is a miniature of the Man of Sorrows standing in an open tomb under a red canopy with gilt interior and with dark-blue sky with gold tracery above.
Provenance: Acquired by Maggs from Hartung and Hartung, Munich, Auktion 82, lot 46, in November 1995. Purchased from Maggs in August 2001.
References: Reed Early Bibles no. 58; E. Towl. ‘“Faictes ma chetiue ame tender a ioyeuse felicite”: The Illuminations and Prayers of Dunedin Public Libraries, Reed Fragment 60’ in Migrations: Medieval Manuscripts in New Zealand edited by Stephanie Hollis and Alexandra Barratt (Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), 247–67.
Shelfmark: RMM Fragment 60.

Image: Middle French translation of the Stabat Mater Dolorosa.