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Source Description

This fragment from the Book of Exodus is a bifolium presenting the text of Exodus 21:16-35a on fol. 1 and 23:5b-21a on fol. 2. The missing text in between these two folios would have constituted another bifolium. Written in Sahidic Coptic script, the biblical manuscript to which the bifolium once belonged was produced in Egypt in the eighth century, probably by a monastic scribe and perhaps in the Fayum or Wadi al-Natrun, where monasteries continued to thrive during the early Islamic conquest. It is difficult to determine the full extent of the manuscript, but a combined volume of Genesis and Exodus as part of a multivolume set of the Bible is certainly possible, if not likely, on the evidence of the Coptic numerals inscribed at the top of each folio side.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
16520
label
Fragment of the Book of Exodus
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
4
Source metadata
id
16520
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Fragment of the Book of Exodus
description
This fragment from the Book of Exodus is a bifolium presenting the text of Exodus 21:16-35a on fol. 1 and 23:5b-21a on fol. 2. The missing text in between these two folios would have constituted another bifolium. Written in Sahidic Coptic script, the biblical manuscript to which the bifolium once belonged was produced in Egypt in the eighth century, probably by a monastic scribe and perhaps in the Fayum or Wadi al-Natrun, where monasteries continued to thrive during the early Islamic conquest. It is difficult to determine the full extent of the manuscript, but a combined volume of Genesis and Exodus as part of a multivolume set of the Bible is certainly possible, if not likely, on the evidence of the Coptic numerals inscribed at the top of each folio side.
provenance
Frank Tano, Cairo [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Joseph Brummer, New York, September 14, 1945, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1949, by purchase [through Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York (no. 97)].
date
8th century
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
imageCount
4
pageCount
4
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
32.8
height
26.9
dimensionsRaw
Overall H: 12 15/16 x W: 10 9/16 in. (32.8 x 26.9 cm); Folio H: 12 3/8 × W: 10 1/4 in. (31.5 × 26 cm)
Source extras
cul
Coptic
med
ink and paint on parchment
creator_ids
6833
collection_ids
MSS
exhibition_ids
128
2724
2345
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
bc8bacb9809f95a3
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
acc41194a51df6be
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
aa299eba62ec33bb
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
4
type
photo
mediaId
bfbcd21476f32a7e
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no