Text, folio 3 (recto), 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 1942.152.3.a

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Location

105 Byzantine(not visible)

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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.