Artwork Page for Text, folio 420 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 420 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 420 (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 1942.152.420.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.
An ink and tempera manuscript page on vellum is oriented vertically. Rows of handwritten Greek script in brown ink cover the cream-colored surface. Three sections begin with larger initials in gold and reddish-brown. The vellum shows age with worn edges and scattered purplish-brown spots, primarily on our left. Faint horizontal lines guide the text. A portion of the leather binding is visible along the edge on our right.

Text, folio 420 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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