note (deco)
The initials of the full page miniatures, 3-line, either as white leaves or in blue with white shading, both types infilled in gold with naturalistic flowers or strawberries, the whole against a gold-decorated rust-colored ground; 2- and 1-line initials in painted gold on alternating rust or blue grounds; initials within the text washed in yellow.
provenance
Written in France just before 1513, according to the almanac for 1513-1530 on f. 1v, which ends "Dixhuit ans entiers et prochains venans"; the first owner's portrait appears repeatedly throughout the volume, and on f. 193 before a saint, possibly Peter. Belonged to the Vicomte de Morel-Vindé (Charles Gilbert Morel de Vindé, 1759-1842?); his sale, Paris, 1823, n. 94; in the sales of the Comte H. de La Bedoyère, Paris, 1837, n. 17 and 1862, n. 24; later in the Leboeuf de Montgermont sale, Paris, 1876, n. 58 to Léon Techener; his sale, Paris, 1887, pt. II, n. 17 to Fontaine. Belonged to Robert Hoe: Grolier Club (1892) n. 54 ; Bierstadt (1895) p. 28 ; Cat. (1909) pp. 110-13 ; his sale, Anderson, New York, 1912, pt. III, n. 2079 with plate of f. 175v to G. D. Smith. Precise source and date of acquisition by Henry E. Huntington unknown.
