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Gospel Book with Commentaries
c. 1000–1100
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
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 high level of sophistication is characteristic of monasteries in Constantinople.
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Details
- Title: Gospel Book with Commentaries
- Date Created: c. 1000–1100
- Physical Dimensions: Sheet: 28 x 23 cm (11 x 9 1/16 in.)
- Provenance: Dikran G. Kelekian, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Manuscript
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1942.152
- Medium: ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; leather binding
- Fun Fact: Gospel Books were carried in procession through Byzantine churches.
- Department: Medieval Art
- Culture: Byzantium, Constantinople
- Credit Line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Collection: MED - Byzantine
- Accession Number: 1942.152
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