Artwork Page for Text, folio 51 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Details / Information for Text, folio 51 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

Text, folio 51 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

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 1942.152.51.b
Public Domain
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Location
105 Byzantine(not visible)
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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 on vellum displays dense, handwritten text across a cream-colored rectangular page. Dark brown script forms three distinct sections. A large decorative initial in gold and brown begins the central block of text, while a smaller decorated letter starts the bottom section. To our right, the page is bound into a leather spine with visible stitching. Faint horizontal lines and small spots appear across the aged, textured surface.

Text, folio 51 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

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