Artwork Page for Text, folio 358 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 358 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 358 (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 1942.152.358.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 page features four sections of dark brown Greek script. Large, bold characters alternate with blocks of dense, smaller handwriting flowing down the cream surface. Reddish-brown and gold initials punctuate the lines. On the left, a thick stack of page edges is visible. Several dark, circular stains mark the vellum, and the ink occasionally fades against the textured grain of the aged manuscript.

Text, folio 358 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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