Artwork Page for Text, folio 418 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 418 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 418 (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 1942.152.418.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 page features two distinct sections of Greek script. Small, loopy cursive rows in brown ink sit above larger, block-style characters in dark brown and red. A large, decorative initial begins the lower text. Handwritten numbers mark the top right corner of the stained, cream parchment. Dark spots and creases texture the aged surface, bordered on the left by a leather binding. The ink occasionally streaks and fades across the ancient lines.

Text, folio 418 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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