Artwork Page for Text, folio 283 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 283 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 283 (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 1942.152.283.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 vellum page holds a dense column of Greek script that flows down in rhythmic, handwritten lines. Dark brown ink characters march across the cream parchment, accented by occasional reddish-orange marks. To the left, a thick stack of pages creates a layered, textured border. Subtle creasing and faint stains add movement to the background, while the loopy script fills the surface with the feeling of a continuous, ancient scroll.

Text, folio 283 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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