Artwork Page for Text, folio 123 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 123 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 123 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100
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Byzantium, Constantinople

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Medium
ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; leather binding
Measurements
Sheet: 28 x 23 cm (11 x 9 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1942.152.123.b
Public Domain
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Location
105 Byzantine(not visible)
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Gospel Books were carried in procession through Byzantine churches.

Description

Each of the four gospels in this book opens on a page with brilliantly illuminated borders depicting the author of the text as well as birds-principally peacocks, symbols of the immortality of the soul-and fountains, representing the fountain of life and the salvation of the soul. This volume consists of 428 leaves with texts in Greek. Its level of sophistication suggests that it was probably written and decorated in a monastery in Constantinople.
A vertical vellum page features rhythmic rows of Greek script in brown ink. Two main blocks of large characters are punctuated by oversized golden initials on the left, surrounding a denser section of smaller writing. A circular dark stain marks the weathered surface near the center-left. On the far left, the layered edges of the bound book are visible. The neat handwriting fills the page with ancient columns of text.

Text, folio 123 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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