Officium B.M.V. Lot n° 160

Latin manuscript on vellum with some German prayers for the dying. With 33 full-page and 3 half-page miniatures in gouache, continuous headings, highlighting and initials in red and blue, several initials in gold on a colored ground and musical notes in square notation on 4 red lines. Southern Germany, c. 1700. 186 pp., 3 paper leaves. 12° (8 x 5.5 cm). Modern velvet binding over wooden boards with historicizing mezzotints and brass clasp. Book of hours en miniature written by several hands in brown cursive, on 4 leaves (120-124) "Schöne Teitsche gebett den sterbenden vorzusprechen" in German cursive. The extensive series of full-page miniatures on the life of Mary and the Passion is remarkable, including allegories such as the guardian angel in front of a ruined monastery, a bearded patriarch, a ship in distress at sea, a monstrance for the Incarnation of the Word, a burning city, monsters at the deathbed (for the dying prayers), paradise and purgatory and, last but not least, a dance of death scene (monk and grim reaper in the hermitage). - Closely trimmed, partially trimmed on the outside and at the top, worn in places, one miniature smudged, waterstain at the end, especially on the paper leaves. R