Artwork Page for Text, folio 301 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 301 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 301 (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 1942.152.301.a
Public Domain
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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.
An ink and tempera manuscript on vellum is oriented vertically. Dense rows of dark brown Greek script fill the cream-colored page, featuring frequent accents and ligatures. Small characters in gold are interspersed throughout the text. Faint horizontal ruling lines guide the writing. The vellum surface shows creases and a dark brown circular stain toward our right. Along our left edge, the page is bound into a leather volume with visible stitching.

Text, folio 301 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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