Artwork Page for Text, folio 416 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 416 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 416 (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 1942.152.416.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 vertically oriented vellum manuscript page features dense rows of swirling Greek script in dark brown ink. Reddish-brown and gold highlights appear in headings and decorative initial letters. Several dark stains mark the aged, tan-colored surface, while the thick, layered edges of the bound volume are visible on the left. The tightly packed text creates a rhythmic, textured pattern across the parchment, punctuated by red notations and intricate, flowing ligatures.

Text, folio 416 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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