Artwork Page for Text, folio 288 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 288 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 288 (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 1942.152.288.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 folio features three blocks of brown-inked Greek characters on an aged, cream surface. The central text is larger and widely spaced, while denser rows cluster above and below. Dark circular stains and fine creases texture the vellum. To the left, the thick, layered edge of the binding is visible. A prominent capital letter begins the lower block, punctuating the dense rows of fluid, hand-written script.

Text, folio 288 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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