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Mid-Century Modern: Interiors, Furniture, Design Details (Conran Octopus Interiors S.)

The 1950’s house was a scientific triumph, designed in a laboratory and tested on inhabitants of all ages before being built for the masses. Never had homes been so thoroughly contemporary, with antiques and period styles entirely banished. Mid-Century Modern explores the interior decor of this seminal decade, concentrating on all aspects of a home's decoration—walls, flooring, surfaces, lighting, and, of course, furniture. Case studies examine beautiful present-day homes that exhibit mid-century style in an exemplary way, and suggest ideas for taking the 1950’s look—complete with collector's pieces—and mixing and matching it with elements from other eras.

This is an illuminated leaf from a Book of Hours produced in the Eastern Netherlands, probably Utrecht, c.1480-1490.

The text, in Dutch, includes the beginning of Sext in the Hours of Eternal Wisdom in the translation of Geert Groote.

The size of the leaf is 147mm x 108mm (5 8/10ins. x 4 1/4ins.).

On the recto is a magnificent three-sided border probably by THE ILLUMINATORS OF THE SARJIS MANUSCRIPTS.

PROVENANCE: -
A
Professor James Marrow (one of the international experts on Dutch medieval manuscripts) has provided the following attribution: -
“Your leaf is in all respects characteristic of the so-called Sarijs manuscripts, thought to have been made in Zwolle in the third and fourth quarter of the fifteenth century. For points of comparison, see the book on the manuscripts of this group by Lydia Wierda (which unfortunately for most English-language speakers exists only in Dutch), De Sarijs-handschriften. Studie naar een groep laat-middeleeuwse handschriften uit de IJsselstreek (voorheen toegeschreven aan de Agnieteberg bij Zwolle), Zwolle, 1995,and therein particularly such illustrations as figs. 32, 85, and 91, all of which have relatively closely related motifs or schemes of border decoration.”

The following points, obtained from the Internet, have been extracted from a dissertation summary: -
The study deals with a group of some 60 manuscripts formerly attributed to St Agnietenberg near Zwolle, a monastery of Canons Regular of the Windesheim Congregation. The manuscripts can be dated c.1470-1490.
The principal clue for localization in the manuscripts themselves is the style of their decoration, which is that of the so-called Zwolle Masters. These artists are named after the monumental six-volume Bible that was written and most probably decorated as well in St. Gregory's House, the house of the Brethren of the Common Life in Zwolle. There are, however, certain obstacles to the location of the Sarijs manuscripts within the workshop of the Brethren. The fact that all Sarijs manuscripts are in the vernacular is serious argument against an assumed origin in St. Gregory’s Hlouse, given that the Brethren set themselves the task of copying, as much as possible, Latin texts.
Moreover, certain characteristics of the Sarijs manuscripts, the codicological, textual and decorative aspects, speak against an origin in the workshop of the Brethren.
At least 23 scribes and 16 illuminators can be distinguished, most of whom can be identified in only one or two manuscripts. This is not consistent with the particulars of book production in the chronicle of St. Gregory,s House: only twelve scribes and four illuminators are known by name, most of whom were living in the House over a considerable period.
The key to the solution of the problem concerning the origin of the Sarijs manuscripts is offered by the libri accidentalium of the Domus Parva, a house situated adjacent to St. Gregory's House in Zwolle. Here, students of the famous Latin school of Johannes Cele were housed by the Brethren.
It is very likely that the production of books in the Domus Parva took place on the initiative of the Brethren of St. Gregory's House. They had the means, both technical and financial, to promote production on so large a scale.
On the basis of the characteristics of the Sariis manuscripts and of the knowledge about the organisation of book production in St. Gregory's House and the adjacent Domus Parva, the hypothesis is offered that the Sarijs manuscripts were among the books (partly) produced in the Domus Parva. This hypothesis not only accounts for the peculiarities of the manuscripts but also provides us with a fairly large group of manuscripts, mostly Books of Hours, that could very well have been produced, at least partly, in the Domus Parva. On the one hand, the decoration clearly points to a workshop in or at least very close to St. Gregory's House; on the other, there are the conspicuous mistakes in the calendar that would not have been made by the Brethren but that are consistent with the idea that
the scribes and possibly the illuminators of most of the Sarijs manuscripts were the students housed in the Domus Parva.

B
There is a little modern provenance to the leaf. It belonged to an aged relative of the seller who purchased it in June 1965 from Newbegin's Bookshop in San Francisco. They had acquired it in London in the spring of 1965. On the verso of the leaf there is a dealers reference number "MS 1597". This is the referencing system used by Folio Fine Arts who were very active in the 1960's.

GENERAL COMMENTS: -
Whilst the smudging on the verso is unfortunate, there is only one word that can describe the decoration on the recto – STUNNING! Leaves of this quality from Dutch Books of Hours are virtually impossible to find.
HOURS OF ETERNAL WISDOM: -
The Hours of Eternal Wisdom, "Horologium Sapientiae", were written by Henry Suso (Also called Amandus, a name adopted in his writings

From "Cake Icing & Decorating" 1960's ? (Cover shown elsewhere here")

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