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Source Description
This Homiliary was created in Gondar, Ethiopia, during a period of artistic flowering in the late seventeenth century. The Imperial court and its accompanying aristocracy took up permanent residence in Gondar at this time, and the taste of these wealthy patrons for paintings and extensive image cycles is exemplified by this richly illuminated manuscript. The text, a Homiliary focused on the Miracles of the Archangel Michael, combines liturgical readings with forty-nine brightly colored renderings of God, St. Michael, and the miracles related in the text. Sections of the manuscript would have been read aloud on monthly feast days of the Archangel, and the images would have punctuated the readings. The artists were likely trained as painters, rather than solely as manuscript illuminators, and their art can therefore be linked stylistically to contemporary mural painting.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
6245
label
Gondar Homiliary
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
6245
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Gondar Homiliary
description
This Homiliary was created in Gondar, Ethiopia, during a period of artistic flowering in the late seventeenth century. The Imperial court and its accompanying aristocracy took up permanent residence in Gondar at this time, and the taste of these wealthy patrons for paintings and extensive image cycles is exemplified by this richly illuminated manuscript. The text, a Homiliary focused on the Miracles of the Archangel Michael, combines liturgical readings with forty-nine brightly colored renderings of God, St. Michael, and the miracles related in the text. Sections of the manuscript would have been read aloud on monthly feast days of the Archangel, and the images would have punctuated the readings. The artists were likely trained as painters, rather than solely as manuscript illuminators, and their art can therefore be linked stylistically to contemporary mural painting.
provenance
Gäbrä and Giyorgis Sellase [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Kidanä and Sählä Maryam [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Joseph Knopfelmacher Collection, New York, No. 2 [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, Wright Gallery, New York, 1995-1996; Walters Art Museum, 1996, by purchase.
date
late 17th century (early Gondarine)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
illuminated manuscripts
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
26
height
23.5
depth
8.9
dimensionsRaw
H: 10 1/4 x W: 9 1/4 x D: 3 1/2 in. (26 x 23.5 x 8.89 cm)
Source extras
cul
Christian Highland Ethiopian
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med
ink and paint on medium weight/quality parchment with yellowed edges between fabric-covered wooden boards covered with blind-tooled leather and protected by a textile chemise
creator_ids
31615
collection_ids
MSS
ETH
exhibition_ids
955
1958
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
69ceabd87fb3a742
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
170f5424cd0e60e8
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no