The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 31, 2026

Vertically oriented cream vellum is inked with dense Greek script. Small, tight cursive fills the upper two-thirds, while larger, bolder characters mark the lower section. Faint horizontal ruling lines guide the text across the aged, stained surface. A vertical translucent repair strip lines the left edge, and the right margin meets the binding. Scattered brown stains and flecks of wear detail the historical manuscript page.

Text, folio 143 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries

c. 1000–1100

Byzantium, Constantinople

ink, tempera, and gold on vellum; leather binding
Sheet: 28 x 23 cm (11 x 9 1/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1942.152.143.b
Location: 105 Byzantine(not visible)

Did You Know?

Gospel Books were carried in procession through Byzantine churches.

Description

Each of the four gospels in this book opens on a page with brilliantly illuminated borders depicting the author of the text as well as birds-principally peacocks, symbols of the immortality of the soul-and fountains, representing the fountain of life and the salvation of the soul. This volume consists of 428 leaves with texts in Greek. Its level of sophistication suggests that it was probably written and decorated in a monastery in Constantinople.
  • -1942
    Dikran G. Kelekian, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1942-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Clark, Kenneth Willis. A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek New Testament Manuscripts in America. Chicago, Ill: The University of Chicago Press, 1937. pp. 122-23
    Milliken, William M. “Byzantine Manuscript Illumination” ClevelandMuseum of Art Bulletin34 (March 1947) pp. 50-56
    Milliken, William M. “Early Christian and Byzantine Art in America” Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism Vol. V (June 1947) pp. 256-68
    Diehl, Charles, Naomi Walford, and Peter Charanis. Byzantium: Greatness and Decline. 1957. p. 231
    Ricci, Seymour de, William Jerome Wilson, Christopher Urdahl Faye, and William Henry Bond. Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts: In the United States and Canada. New York, N.Y.: The Bibliographical Society of America, 1962. p. 428
    Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore, Md.), and Dorothy Eugenia Miner. Early Christian and Byzantine Art, An Exhibition Held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, April 25-June 22 [1947]. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1947. p. 138
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 40 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 40 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 42 archive.org
  • Princeton University, (March 9, - May 31, 1973).
    Early Christian and Byzantine Art, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, (1947); no. 704, pl. XCIX.
  • {{cite web|title=Text, folio 143 (verso), from a Gospel Book with Commentaries|url=false|author=|year=c. 1000–1100|access-date=31 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.152.143.b