Artwork Page for Text, folio 424 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 424 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 424 (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 1942.152.424.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 vertical vellum page features dense rows of black-inked Greek script on cream parchment. Smaller red notations and large initial letters mark new sections. Mottled purple stains splash across the right side and bottom corner, partially obscuring the text. The parchment shows significant wear, featuring a crinkled surface and a ragged, uneven right edge. The composition highlights the dark handwriting against the large, spreading purple discoloration on the aged manuscript.

Text, folio 424 (recto), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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