Armenian, fragment of a leaf from an early Biblical codex on parchment [Armenia, ninth or tenth century] Top half of a leaf, with part of John 10-11, two columns of 9 lines in monumental erkat'agir majuscules (the so-called ‘Iron Writing’, the earliest Armenian script to survive in manuscript) with capitals with long trailing descenders, similar to British Library, Add. MS.21932, trimmed to edges of text, Armenia, probably ninth or tenth century, some stains, small holes and losses at edges with damage to a few lines (all from reuse in a binding), else fair, 233mm. by 157mm. This is the other half of a leaf sold by Sotheby's, 3 December 2013, lot 2, as part of a small group of leaves (the whole group realising £8750, with the other half of this leaf illustrated in catalogue there). Armenia was the first nation to officially adopt Christianity (in the early fourth century), and the Bible was the first text translated into that language in characters reportedly created by the scholar-translator St. Sahak (d.439) for the task. Few Armenian manuscripts predate the present example: a handful of books survive for the later ninth and tenth century (see Sacred: Books of the Three Faiths, 2007, p.74), but they are not common until the thirteenth century.
Armenian, fragment of a leaf from an early Biblical codex on parchment [Armenia, ninth or tenth century] Top half of a leaf, with part of John 10-11, two columns of 9 lines in monumental erkat'agir majuscules (the so-called ‘Iron Writing’, the earliest Armenian script to survive in manuscript) with capitals with long trailing descenders, similar to British Library, Add. MS.21932, trimmed to edges of text, Armenia, probably ninth or tenth century, some stains, small holes and losses at edges with damage to a few lines (all from reuse in a binding), else fair, 233mm. by 157mm. This is the other half of a leaf sold by Sotheby's, 3 December 2013, lot 2, as part of a small group of leaves (the whole group realising £8750, with the other half of this leaf illustrated in catalogue there). Armenia was the first nation to officially adopt Christianity (in the early fourth century), and the Bible was the first text translated into that language in characters reportedly created by the scholar-translator St. Sahak (d.439) for the task. Few Armenian manuscripts predate the present example: a handful of books survive for the later ninth and tenth century (see Sacred: Books of the Three Faiths, 2007, p.74), but they are not common until the thirteenth century.
.jpg?w=400?width=1600&quality=70 "Source: Christie's")
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
