JARRY, NICOLAS, calligrapher, attributed to. Prieres et Oraisons Devotes.illuminated liturgical manuscript in latin and french,written in roman and italic hands in brown ink with headings in red, 14 lines, recto and verso, on vellum. with title in gold within floral wreath in colors; full-page miniature of the annunciation in colors and gold; 3 floral headpieces; 5 3-line gilt initials with floral decoration; and 2-line initials in red, blue, and gold throughout. Each page within gold and red rule border. [6], 169, [3] pages, including initial blank and 2 blanks at end. 100x64 mm, 18th-century sharkskin with silver catches and clasps and green silk doublures, joints discreetly restored; occasional marginal fingersoiling, ink spots in lower outer corner of a few leaves. Unidentified armorial bookplate; ownership inscription of Mary Viscountess Strangford dated 1673; later signature of P. A. M. Russell. [Paris, mid-1600s]
charming prayer book typical of the small-format manuscripts produced for Louis XIV and his courtiers by Nicolas Jarry (circa 1615-70), the foremost French calligrapher of the period. The floral decoration is in the style of the botanical painter Nicolas Robert, who collaborated on Jarry's most celebrated work, La Guirlande de Julie. The miniature is in the style of Louis du Guernier, one of the 2 artists on whom Jarry relied for figurative illumination. Though unsigned, this manuscript is strikingly similar to the signed Jarry prayer book offered as lot 44 in the 27 March 1972 auction of calligraphic books and manuscripts in the collection of Mrs. E. F. Hutton, of which several reproductions appear in the sale catalogue. Neither is recorded by Roger Portalis in "Nicolas Jarry et la Calligraphie au XVIIe siècle," Bulletin du Bibliophile, 1896. The present example resembles item 60 in the Portalis catalogue, which contains prayers to the Virgin with floral decoration and a single miniature, in a plain binding with gold clasps. contents: title (leaf 1r, verso blank); miniature of the Annunciation (2v, recto blank); Little Office of the Virgin (pages 1-20); Mass of the Virgin (21-52); Litany of the Virgin and miscellaneous prayers (53-96); Seven Penitential Psalms, Litany of Saints, and miscellaneous prayers (97-156); Litany of St. Denis (157-69); 1 blank leaf.
