Artwork Page for Text, folio 391 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 391 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 391 (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 1942.152.391.a
Public Domain
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Location
105 Byzantine(not visible)
Print
?

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.
A vertically oriented page of cream vellum features Greek script in brown ink. The upper section displays large, widely spaced characters with gold-accented decorative initials, while a denser block of smaller text fills the lower half. Fluid strokes and intricate ligatures mark the calligraphy. Scattered brown stains and worn edges show aging. Handwritten numbers appear in the top right corner, and text faintly shows through from the reverse side.

Text, folio 391 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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