Beschreibung:

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPT – [Ghazar (fl. mid-17th century, artist).] The Gospels, in Armenian, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Amasia, c.1660]. An exceptionally richly illuminated Gospel Book, the standard texts preceded by sixteen full-page miniatures of the Life of Christ from the Annunciation to the Last Judgement. The entire manuscript painted in clear bright colors with liberal quantities of burnished gold and surviving in very fine condition. 124 x 90mm. 298 leaves, apparently complete, pencil foliation 4-299 followed here, two columns of 21 lines written in bolorgir script, written space: c.83 x 23mm, every chapter opening with zoomorphic initials and c.90 scenes or figures illustrating the text they flank, 20 full-page miniatures, the Eusebian letter and Canon Tables within 10 illuminated headpieces and columns, including portraits, animals, and birds, the opening pages of the Gospels with 4 large illuminated and inhabited headpieces, the text throughout illustrated with numerous marginal figures and scenes (a few, apparently later inscriptions erased, a small pigment loss on table-top f. 32v). Contemporary Armenian blind-stamped and ruled leather over wooden boards (refurbished at a later date with red silk adhered to edges of boards, silk doublures renewed, and edges repainted; losses from spine, silver covers now lacking with one silver nail surviving, lacking clasps). Provenance : several erased or partially erased inscriptions may indicate donation to a church. Anathema, possibly in the same hand: “Don’t steal this beautiful Gospel Book, lest you be sent to inescapable, inextinguishable fire.” Content: Prefatory cycle of scenes from the Life of Christ ff. 2v-17; Letter of Eusebius to Carpianus ff. 18v-19; Canon Tables ff. 20v-27; Gospels ff: 28-297: Matthew ff. 28-112, Mark ff. 112v-164, Luke ff. 164-240v, John ff. 240v-298. Illumination: This is clearly the work of the same artist as a Gospel Book in the Alex and Marie Manogian Museum, Southfield, Michigan. In the colophon of that manuscript the scribe, Yovhannes, asks readers to remember the illuminator Ghazar. See Sylvie Merian et al., A Legacy of Armenian Treasures: Testimony to a People , no. 1.6, pp. 34-37. In her discussion of that manuscript, Merian identifies a further Gospel Book (France, Chantilly, Musée Condé, Ms 1346) as Ghazar’s work and suggests Amasia as the probable place of their origin. The style, iconographic and compositional quirks that unite those books are also evident in the present manuscript; it is unique among the three in being complete . Ghazar’s figures have simplified contours, smooth faces with accentuated eyes, modelling is usually reserved for draperies. A particularly appealing feature of the present manuscript is the profusion of marginal scenes and figures illustrating elements of the Gospel text they flank: the most extensive of these is the Tree of Jesse that extends the height of the text on the page-opening (ff. 33v-34) that follows the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel and the listing of the ancestors of Christ. Many show acts from the ministry and miracles of Christ while others range from charming anecdotal inclusions such as the Ass tethered to a tree after Christ’s entry into Jerusalem (f. 225) to the gory representation of the beheading of St John the Baptist (f. 67). The subjects of the miniatures are as follows: Annunciation f.2v, Nativity f. 3; Presentation in the Temple f. 4v, Baptism of Christ f. 5; Transfiguration f. 6v, Raising of Lazarus f. 7; Entry into Jerusalem f. 8v, Last Supper f. 9; Washing of Disciples’ Feet f.10v, Betrayal and Arrest of Christ f. 11; Carrying of the Cross f. 12v, Crucifixion f. 13; Resurrection f. 14v, Ascension f. 15; Pentecost f. 16v, Last Judgement f. 17. The Evangelist portraits are on ff.32v, 114v, 167v, and 243v, the facing pages with their respective symbols. Christie’s thanks Dr. Sylvie L. Merian of the Morgan Library & Museum, for lending her expertise.