Artwork Page for Text, folio 411 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 411 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 411 (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 1942.152.411.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 aged, cream vellum features two blocks of brown-inked Greek characters. Dense script fills the upper section, while larger, widely spaced lettering occupies the lower half. Faint gold marks punctuate the lines. Dark circular stains mark the surface on the left and right. A leather binding runs along the left, and handwritten numbers appear in the upper right corner, contrasting with the fluid quality of the ancient text.

Text, folio 411 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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