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Source Description

This Gospel Book was written in Tegray, Northern Ethiopia, in the early fourteenth century, and was once owned by the church of St. George in Dabra Maar. It was written by the scribe Matre Krestos in the official liturgical language of Ethiopia, Ge'ez. Most notable is its prefatory image cycle, which makes references to holy places in Jerusalem, such as Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher, as they appeared in the sixth century. The manuscript therefore appears to be based on a sixth-century exemplar containing images connected to the Byzantine cult of holy places. Several related manuscripts have been identified that seem to be based on the same prototype, most notably Paris, Bibliotheque nationale eth. 32, a fragment in the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, Inventory No. 3475 a-b, and another fragment in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, NM B 2034. The Paris manuscript contains a mid-fourteenth-century colophon which helps date the group. Although water has damaged some of its elaborately decorated pages, this Gospel Book is still an important record of the resurgence of monasticism that flourished in fourteenth-century Ethiopia.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
31912
label
Ethiopian Gospels
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
31912
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Ethiopian Gospels
description
This Gospel Book was written in Tegray, Northern Ethiopia, in the early fourteenth century, and was once owned by the church of St. George in Dabra Maar. It was written by the scribe Matre Krestos in the official liturgical language of Ethiopia, Ge'ez. Most notable is its prefatory image cycle, which makes references to holy places in Jerusalem, such as Golgotha and the Holy Sepulcher, as they appeared in the sixth century. The manuscript therefore appears to be based on a sixth-century exemplar containing images connected to the Byzantine cult of holy places. Several related manuscripts have been identified that seem to be based on the same prototype, most notably Paris, Bibliotheque nationale eth. 32, a fragment in the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, Inventory No. 3475 a-b, and another fragment in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, NM B 2034. The Paris manuscript contains a mid-fourteenth-century colophon which helps date the group. Although water has damaged some of its elaborately decorated pages, this Gospel Book is still an important record of the resurgence of monasticism that flourished in fourteenth-century Ethiopia.
provenance
Copied by Matre Krestos in Northern Ethiopia, early fourteenth century. Abba Arkä Sellus; given to Church of Mary of Seku; Church of St. George at Dabra Ma'ar, before 1973. Robert and Nancy Nooter Collection [Nooter 20.15], Washington, D.C.; purchased by Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, 1996.
date
early 14th century
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
26.7
height
17
depth
11.4
dimensionsRaw
H: 10 1/2 x W: 6 11/16 x D: 4 1/2 in. (26.7 x 17 x 11.4 cm)
Source extras
cul
Christian Highland Ethiopian
style
Ethiopian
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med
ink and paint on heavy, yellow parchment bound between plain wooden boards, broken and stitched, front and back; chain stitching at four points
creator_ids
31617
collection_ids
MSS
ETH
exhibition_ids
955
3314
1958
48
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