Artwork Page for Text, folio 170 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 170 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 170 (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 1942.152.170.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 vertically oriented manuscript page of cream-colored vellum features a dense block of dark brown Greek script. The loopy, handwritten characters flow across the surface in tight rows, punctuated by tiny reddish-brown notations floating above. Stains and creases mark the aged surface, while the layered edges of other pages peek from the left. Wide, empty margins frame the centered text block, emphasizing the intricate, calligraphic movement of the ink.

Text, folio 170 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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