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

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

Text, folio 411 (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 1942.152.411.b
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 vertical page of aged, light-brown vellum features two blocks of loopy Greek script written in ink. The top section consists of dense, small lines, while the lower text is larger and more formal. An ornate initial, accented with gold and red tempera, starts the bottom passage. Faint ruling lines cross the surface alongside dark stains. A small cross marks the bottom margin, and the book's bound edge is visible.

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

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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