Gospels : in Armenian

Item Information

Title:
Gospels : in Armenian
Title (uniform):
Bible. Gospels. Armenian
Former owner:
Sommerville, Maxwell, 1829-1904
Former owner:
Huskan-ordi (Monastery : Muradiye : Turkey)
Date:
1475
Format:
Manuscripts
Books
Genre:
Silver bindings
Clasps
Catches
Wooden boards
Inscriptions
Marginalia
Bookplates
Gospel books
Manuscripts, Armenian--Turkey
Manuscripts, Medieval--Turkey
Location:
Boston Public Library
Rare Books Department
Collection (local):
Medieval and Early Renaissance Manuscripts (Collection of Distinction)
Places:
Turkey
Extent:
321 leaves : parchment, ill. ; 167 x 113 (125 x 85) mm
Permalink:
https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/f7626m598
Terms of Use:
No known copyright restrictions.
No known restrictions on use.
Place of origin:
[Muradiye (Turkey)]
Language:
Armenian
Table of Contents:
1) fol. 1-5 recto: blank.
2) fol. 5v-26: full-page miniatures in adjacent verso/recto pairs, most pairs with a blank verso and recto in between.
3) fol. 27v-28: Letter of Eusebius to Carpianus.
4) fol. 29v-35v: Canon tables.
5) fol. 36v-114v: Gospel of Matthew.
6) fol. 115v-165v: Gospel of Mark.
7) fol. 166v-247: Gospel of Luke.
8) fol. 247v-311: Gospel of John.
9) fol. 311v-318v: Scribal colophon, inscriptions detailing recoveries and thefts of the manuscript.
10) fol. 319-321v: blank.
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title devised by cataloger. Date and place of production from colophon (fol. 311).
Origin: Written in 1475 at the monastery of the Son of Hussig (Ter Huskan-ordi) in Berkri, Armenia (present-day Turkey). According to the colophon, the scribe was a monk named Grigor who copied and illuminated the book for his brother, the abbott Mkrtitch. See Der Nessian for complete description of origin and provenance.
Notes (ownership):
Provenance: According to several inscriptions on leaves 165 and 311-318, removed from the monastery of Huskan-ordi to Mush. Returned to Huskan-ordi in 1663 after rebinding. Removed at a later date to Erzerum, where a note records its presence in 1869. Acquired by Maxwell Sommerville and by two subsequent owners.
Notes (acquisition):
Immediate source of acquisition: Purchased Oct. 1926.
Notes (citation):
Ricci, S. de. Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada, 924 (no. 34)
Notes (object):
Script: Written in brown ink in bolorgir script. Capitals and rubrics in red and/or gold. Opening lines of each gospel in gold erkat'agir script.
Collation: Parchment, fol. 321 ; 1-2²; 3¹⁰ 4¹² 5⁸(1+1) 6-11¹² 12¹²(±7) 13-15¹² 16¹²(±11) 17-19¹² 20¹²(2+1) 21¹²(7+1) 22¹² 23¹²(±6) 24¹² 25¹⁴ 26¹⁰(7+1) 27¹² 28¹⁰ 29⁶; 30²(±1,-2) 31² ; first recto and final verso of each gathering, from gatherings 6-28, signed from 1-23 in Armenian numerals. Modern pencil foliation in lower right margin of each leaf.
Layout: Primarily in two columns, 21 lines per column. Some leaves with bounding and writing lines scribed in blind.
Decoration: 23 full-page miniatures, mostly in verso/recto pairs (5v-26r). Canon tables with illuminated borders and headpieces (27v-35v). Full-page portraits of the evangelists, with large gilt headpieces and borders, facing the first page of each gospel (36v, 115v, 166v, 247v -- all but the first replaced with ca. 17th-century miniatures on paper). First letter of each gospel formed from the symbol of its respective evangelist, with remainder of the first line of text in zoomorphic script. Daily readings begin with floral, zoomorphic, or anthropomorphic initials. Ornamental flowers, birds, and depictions of biblical figures painted in the margins of many leaves.
Binding: Silver decorated panels nailed to sheepskin-covered wooden boards. Panel on the upper cover depicts the crucifixion. Panel on the lower cover depicts the resurrection. Silver binding executed in 1663 by Ter Hohanes (John) of Bagesh (see inscription on fol. 316). Housed in a tan cloth box with a leather spine label.
Notes (bibliography):
Bibliography: Sirarpie Der Nessian, "An Armenian gospel of the XVth century," Boston Public Library quarterly, 2, no.1 (1950): 3-17; More books/Boston Public Library quarterly, 1, no. 12 (1926): 338; Nancy Netzer, ed., Secular/Sacred 11th-16th Century Works from the Boston Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Boston College, 2006), nr. 79.
Notes (language):
In Armenian.
Identifier:
06_01_018655
Call #:
RARE BKS MS q Med.34
MS 1327 (no longer used)
Barcode:
39999091846335