Un manuscrit parisien et ses énigmes: Le livre d’heures des Le Tellier (Paris, c. 1460)

Abstract

The Le Tellier manuscript, book of hours, use of Paris (c. 1460) in Latin and French ; from a private collection in South Carolina, Unites-States ; (172 × 118 mm), Vellum ; A-D + 222 + E-H. This manuscript is written by several hands in gothic liturgical, in dark brown ink with rubrics painted in red, between two verticals and 16 horizontals, on a velum ruled in red. The text capitals are touched in yellow, and the prayers are highlighted with one-line initials and line-endings in burnished gold on grounds of pink and blue patterned with white tracery. Along the manuscript, hundreds of two- three- and four-line initials in blue or pink, patterned with white tracery and foliate infills on burnished gold grounds mark the offices and prayers. An unusually rich cycle of decoration adorns this colorful Parisian book of hours, including hundreds of panel borders in left margin of fine burnished gold leaves and disks on hairline tendrils and stems among acanthus leaves in gold and blue and sprays of colored flowers and fruits. The center of this artefact remains the twenty-six large miniatures in full color and gold placed in arched compartments with ornamented baguettes frames and full decorated borders. These highly detailed paintings result from the meticulous work of several artists, they depict various traditional scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary and the passion of Christ. While the illumination and the texts indicate that the manuscript was intended for use of Paris, several details deserve attention, in particular regarding its production. In this paper, we intend to give a brief description of this amazing manuscript mainly produced in Paris ; and to point out some textual and iconographic features which are of particular interest for the understanding of medieval methods of « mass production » of fine Books of Hours in the second half of the fifteenth century Paris.