Artwork Page for Text, folio 417 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 417 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 417 (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 1942.152.417.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 vellum folio is inked with dark brown Greek script that flows across the cream-colored page. The upper section features large, widely spaced characters, while the middle is filled with smaller, dense text. Reddish-brown highlights punctuate the writing, and a decorative initial marks a new passage at the bottom. The vellum shows staining and wear, particularly near the left binding, with handwritten numbers marking the top right corner.

Text, folio 417 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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