Artwork Page for Text, folio 207 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 207 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 207 (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 1942.152.207.b
Public Domain
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Location
105 Byzantine(not visible)
Print
?

Did You Know?

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 features horizontal rows of dark brown Greek script on aged, off-white vellum. Loopy characters flow across thin guide lines, punctuated by larger decorative initials in dark ink and gold leaf. Light brown stains dot the surface, while stacked page edges on the left indicate a thick, bound volume. The script creates a rhythmic movement down the parchment, evoking a sense of ancient history.

Text, folio 207 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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