Ask the Scholar

Document scope · 1 page
obj
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory. For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.

Source Description

This fragmentary manuscript, comprised of four canon tables spread over one bifolium, would originally have been the introductory pages of a fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century Gospel book. Written in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia, the pages contain canons I-V, which relate the concordance of the Gospels through a chart in which each number corresponds to a Gospel passage, a system originally created by Eusebius of Caesarea in the early fourth century. The numbers here, in keeping with a long tradition, are placed within an arcade of brightly decorated columns and arches. Common within Ethiopian canon table decoration are the curtains, which hang from the sides of the columns, and the interlace-filled arches adorned with birds. These pages provide an excellent example of Ethiopian canon table illumination from the early Solomonic period.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
4532
label
Ethiopian canon tables
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
4532
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Ethiopian canon tables
description
This fragmentary manuscript, comprised of four canon tables spread over one bifolium, would originally have been the introductory pages of a fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century Gospel book. Written in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia, the pages contain canons I-V, which relate the concordance of the Gospels through a chart in which each number corresponds to a Gospel passage, a system originally created by Eusebius of Caesarea in the early fourth century. The numbers here, in keeping with a long tradition, are placed within an arcade of brightly decorated columns and arches. Common within Ethiopian canon table decoration are the curtains, which hang from the sides of the columns, and the interlace-filled arches adorned with birds. These pages provide an excellent example of Ethiopian canon table illumination from the early Solomonic period.
provenance
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Knopfelmacher, New York, acquired in Addis Ababa ca. 1960; Walters Art Museum, 1996, by gift.
date
late 14th-early 15th century (Solomonic)
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
34.5
height
25.5
dimensionsRaw
H: 13 9/16 x W: 10 1/16 in. (34.5 x 25.5 cm)
Source extras
cul
Christian Highland Ethiopian
style
Ethiopian
RelatedObjects
90668
20707
3075
37981
9192
med
ink and paint on heavy yellowed parchment covered in a modern limp binding of heavy archival paper
creator_ids
8611
6264
collection_ids
BYZ
MSS
ETH
exhibition_ids
1958
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
0e07ee74fe6e2828