Catalogue Roberti Fine Art, TEFAF Maastricht 2026 (1) compressed - Flipbook - Page 18
The borders and script are attributable to Jacquemart Pilavaine of Mons,
whose
documented
activity
as
scribe,
illuminator,
and
bookbinder
significantly enhances the manuscript’s historical substance. Pilavaine signed
three manuscripts commissioned by Philip de Croÿ, identifying himself as
resident in Mons (Brussels, BR MS 9069), and archival records confirm his
remuneration for copying, illuminating, and binding manuscripts, attesting to
the breadth of his professional practice. The identification of a named scribedecorator in this context is exceptional and anchors the present Hours within
a securely documented artistic milieu.
The borders may be compared with Brussels, BR MS 9043; the Books of Hours
in Arras (MS 1030) and Warsaw (MS II.8005); and the Morgan Library (MS
M.82), all of which display a similar ornamental vocabulary. Characteristic
motifs include acanthus leaves terminating in coloured drop-like forms, thick
patterned baguettes framing the text, floral clusters arranged on small green
mounds, and a lively bestiary of birds and hybrid creatures. Certain elements
engage with contemporary print culture, notably engravings associated with
the Master of the Playing Cards. The miniature of Saint Barbara (fol. 197), with
the tower projecting into the decorative field, exemplifies the controlled
expansion of image into ornamental space that distinguishes this manuscript
within the group.
Binding
The volume survives in a refined seventeenth-century Parisian binding of
gold-tooled
olive-brown
morocco
over
the
original
wooden
boards,
comparable in luxury and stylistic ambition to bindings associated with major
Parisian ateliers of the 1640s.
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