[Incunable] - Illuminated Book of Hours - Painted on Parchment - 1490

The Book of Hours and Celestial Colors – Miniature in gold, blue, and red on parchment
This refined Book of Hours, printed on parchment in Paris at the end of the 15th century, is a masterful encounter between the engraving art of Philippe Pigouchet and the commercial and devotional vision of Simon Vostre.
All the text is enclosed within elaborate engraved, carved, and ornamental frames. Initials are rubricated in blue and red with gold inserts; numerous two- and three-line miniatures initials. The Annunciation engraving is embellished with gold.
The volume preserves the elegance of late Gothic Parisian production, with fourteen large full-page engravings, some finely painted by a later hand, intricately carved frames of extraordinary richness, and illuminated interventions that add chromatic depth and spiritual brightness.
The work is set at a decisive moment when the illuminated manuscript and the printed book still coexist, blending the ancient scribal tradition with the technical innovation of metal engraving. Such specimens represent the threshold between medieval private devotion and Renaissance book culture, preserving an aura of rituality and symbolic splendor that transforms reading into an aesthetic and contemplative experience.
Market value
The specimens of Libri d'Ore printed on parchment from the Pigouchet–Vostre workshops belong to the most sought-after segment of French devotional production. Complete copies, with all the illustrations intact and with subsequent high-quality illuminated interventions, generally have valuations ranging from 28,000 to 45,000 euros, varying based on the condition, the quality of the coloring, the freshness of the pigments, and the presence or absence of period bindings. Examples with clean parchment, well-printed illustrations, and still-vibrant gold decorations fall within the mid-to-high range of the current market.

Physical description and condition
Book of Hours, Paris usage. Printed on parchment. Collation: a–o8, totaling 93 leaves. Text in Latin, in Gothic script. Featuring a large engraved anatomical figure and 14 full-page illustrations, some finely painted by later hands. All text enclosed in elaborate engraved, historiated, and ornamental borders. Initials rubricated in blue and red with touches of gold; numerous two- and three-line initials. The Annunciation engraving decorated with gold. Four leaves towards the end with partial later hand coloring. Slight marginal stains; overall very clean and well preserved. Bound in 19th-century velvet with minor signs of use.

Full title and author
[Book of Hours, Paris usage]. [Paris]
[Philippe Pigouchet by Simon Vostre], circa 1497.
Author: anonymous production of the Pigouchet workshop, with illuminated decorations by a French hand from the 15th century.

Context and Significance
The Book of Hours was the quintessential devotional text of late medieval Europe, a private guide to daily prayer that combined a calendar, the Hours of the Virgin, penitential psalms, and the Office of the Dead. Pigouchet's Parisian edition represents one of the pinnacles of book production bridging manuscript and print: its metal engravings, extraordinarily detailed, not only reproduce motifs from Gothic miniatures but also reinterpret their language through a new technical medium. The ornamental borders—populated with vegetal motifs, allegorical figures, symbolic animals, and biblical scenes—serve as a visual commentary on the sacred text, transforming reading into a contemplative journey.

The present specimen, with its complete panels and subsequent miniature retouches, expresses a luminous and refined spirituality that embodies the taste of Parisian urban commissions of the 1490s. The presence of the anatomical figure – typical of Pigouchet's iconographic tradition – adds a symbolic dimension: the image of the human body as a seat for meditation on time, fragility, and salvation.

Biography of the Author
The book does not have a single author: it is a collective work by the Parisian workshop of Philippe Pigouchet, an engraver and printer active between 1488 and 1510, in collaboration with Simon Vostre, one of the most influential booksellers and publishers of late medieval Paris. Pigouchet is renowned for his masterful use of metal engraving in his devotional editions, while Vostre manages their dissemination and commercial success. The anonymous miniaturists who added the coloring belong to the Norman-Parisian tradition of the late Quattrocento, characterized by blue, red, and gold backgrounds and a strong attention to ornamental details.

Printing history and circulation
The production of printed Books of Hours on parchment by Pigouchet and Vostre played a decisive role in shaping the new Parisian illustrated book market at the end of the 15th century. The type of edition to which this specimen belongs is generally referred to as the 1497 group, characterized by fourteen full-page plates. These editions, still rooted in the tradition of illuminated manuscripts, were often customized after printing through coloring and gold applications. Their circulation was widespread among urban, merchant, and aristocratic elites, who sought precious and decorative devotional objects. The limited parchment edition made them immediately objects of particular expense and destined for select patrons.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
Roger S. Wieck, Time Sanctified: The Book of Hours in Medieval Art and Life, New York, 1988.
Millard Meiss, French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry, New York, 1967.
Eberhard König, The Book of Hours in the Middle Ages, Munich, 1985.
Stirnemann, P., Les Manuscrits à Peinture en France 1440–1520, Paris, 1993.
Christopher de Hamel, A History of Illuminated Manuscripts, London, 1994.
Dondi, C., Printing Revolution and Society, Oxford, 2021 (for the context of Parisian printing).
National Library of France, historical notices for the Pigouchet–Vostre editions.