Artwork Page for Text, folio 406 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 406 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 406 (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 1942.152.406.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 manuscript page on cream vellum features dense rows of fluid, dark brown Greek script. Reddish-brown and gold leaf highlight specific passages, including a large, ornate capital letter near the bottom. The tightly packed script streaks between faint horizontal guide lines, interrupted by dark stains and aged creases. In the top right corner, the numbers 378 and 406 are inscribed in gray. A worn, bound edge borders the left.

Text, folio 406 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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