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Walters Ms. W.537, GospelsBrowse images (Browse images in a new window) | TEI in XML format
Text title
Vernacular: Õ¡ÖÕ¥Õ¿Õ¡ÖÕ¡Õ¶
Abstract
Dated to the tenth century, this manuscript is the oldest Armenian codex in North America and the fifth oldest among documented Armenian Gospel Books. The principal colophon on fol. 2v records that Sargis the Priest completed the text in 415 [966 CE]. Within the framed area, the commission of the codex is described: a priest, whose name was replaced by the later owner Tâoros, commissioned the work "as decoration and for the splendor of [the] holy church and for the pleasure of the congregation of RznÄr." As the codex was written and commissioned by priests, the manuscript is referred to as the âGospels of the Priest.â It was formerly known as the âGospels of the Translators,â as, following the date 415, someone erased the formula âof the Armenian eraâ and replaced it with âof our Lord,â suggesting an earlier date and implying that the text was based on the original translation of the Gospels into Armenian during the fifth century. The text is copied in large angular erkatâagir script. The full-page paintings and marginal ornaments bear stylistic characteristics of Armenian illumination of the tenth and eleventh centuries associated with non-royal patronage. The illustrations comprise the Canon Tables, with only the last two remaining; the Virgin and Child on a wheeled chariot; the framed colophon; ornamental cross with donorâs portrait; portraits of Mathew and Mark together (fol. 72v, at the end of Matthew) and Mark with Luke (fol. 114v, at the end of Mark); two final images depict unknown saints (fol. 192r, at the end of Luke). Marginalia are found throughout the text. It has been suggested that the scribe was also responsible for the illumination.
Scribe
As-written name: Sargis
Name, in vernacular: ÕÕ¡ÖÕ£Õ«Õ½
Language:
The primary language in this manuscript is Armenian.
Colophon
fols. 2v to 2v:Support material
Parchment
Margins have been trimmed
Extent
Foliation: i+237+i
Pencil foliation upper right corner, rectos
Collation
Formula: 1(2), 2(8,-4), 3(8), 4(10,-3,-7), 5(8), 6(10,-3,-7), 7(8,-6), 8(10,-4,-8), 9-12(8), 13(6,-1), 14(6), 15(8), 16(8,-3,-8), 17(8), 18(10,-1,-4,-8), 19-20(10,-3,-7), 21-22(8), 23(10,-3,-7), 24(10,-4,-8), 25(10,-3,-7), 26-28(8), 29(10,-1,-3,-7), 30(8), 31(8,-1,-6), 32(6,-3), 33(4,-1)
Catchwords: None
Signatures: Most quires marked by a later hand on first and last folios, at bottom center, in black ink
Comments: Quires begin on fols. 1(1), 3(2), 10(3), 18(4), 26(5), 34(6), 42(7), 49(8), 57(9), 65(10), 73(11), 81(12), 89(13), 94(14), 100(15), 108(16) 114(17), 122(18), 129(19), 137(20), 145(21), 153(22), 161(23), 169(24), 177(25), 185(26), 193(27), 201(28), 209(29), 216(30), 224(31), 230(32), 235(33); many quires composed of two or three bifolia with 2 singletons sewn in
Dimensions
25.0 cm wide by 30.5 cm high
Written surface
19.0 cm wide by 27.5 cm high
Layout
Contents:
fols. 1r - 237v:Decoration:
fol. 1r:
fol. 1v:
fol. 2r:
To the left of the Virgin is the inscription, "Thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee" (Luke 1:28)
fol. 2v:
fol. 3r:
fol. 72v:
The names of the evangelists are written to the right and left of Matthew and Mark, respectively
fol. 114v:
Names are inscribed to the right of each evangelist
fol. 192r:
Erased inscriptions
Binding
The binding is not original.
Modern dark brown goatskin on wood, blind-tooled with lines and dots forming a cross of guilloche work within a trilobe outline on the upper cover, and, on the lower cover, a design of interlacing circles; three thong-clasps are missing
Provenance
Created in 966 (Armenian era given 415, fol. 2v)
1575 (Armenian era given 1024), Erevan, note by TÄr NersÄs (recto of last fly leaf); this sixteenth-century colophon was copied by Amirxan YovhannÄs Amirean
YovhannÄs Amirxanean, November 20, 1839 (verso of last fly leaf)
Hovannes Amirkan, 1843 (recto of first fly leaf)
Note by YovhannÄs Amirxaneancâ, February 10, 1844; Tabriz (Târviz), April 26, 1844,note by YovhannÄs Amirxaneancâ (recto of first fly leaf)
February 2, 1844 (This Gospels is in commemoration of the monastery of Saint Grigor the Illuminator, for the Lebanese monks who are in Rome, in the year of the Lord 1844 and on the 2nd February...). In memory of the "Illustrious, Noble and Revered orthodox noble AÅa AmirxanÄ YovhannÄs Amireancâ of New Julfa, for the sake of his soul and for the sake of his whole pious and God-loving family." "Through the mediation of Father VrtâanÄs EiwÅiwnÄeancâ. A.K. the Apostolic Misionary in Pars and in New Julfa." (recto of last fly leaf)
Antonian monastery at Ortakoy, near Istanbul, by 1910
Acquired by Henry Walters, Baltimore, before 1931
Acquisition
Walters Art Museum, 1931, by Henry Walters' bequest
Bibliography
Thanks are expressed to Professor Bernard Coulie (Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve) for kindly making available his bibliography on the Armenian manuscripts kept in the Walters Art Museum.
TaÅ¡ean, Y. Aknark mÄ hay hnagrowt'ean vray. Usumnasirut'yun Hayoc' grÄ'ut'ean aruestin (An Overview of Armenian Paleography: A Study of the Art of Writing of the Armenians). Vienna, 1898, pp. 20, 182-184 (in Armenian).
Macler, Frédéric. Rapport sur une mission scientifique en Arménie russe et en Arménie turque (juillet-octobre 1909). Paris, 1911, pp. 115-124, figs. 22-26.
Åafadaryan, K. Haykakan gri skzbnakan tesaknerÄ, hnagrakan-banasirakan usumnasirut'yun (The Original Types of Armenian Letters, Paleographic-Philological Study). Erevan, 1939 [repr. 1953], p. 24.
Buchthal, Hugo, and Otto Kurz, A Handlist of Illuminated Oriental Christian Manuscripts. London: Warburg Institute, 1942, p. 71, no. 350.
Yovsep'ean, Garegin A., Kat'oÅikos. YiÅ¡atakarank' jeÅagrac' (E. daric' minÄ'ew Å½Ä dar). Hator A. (E. daric' minÄ'ew 1250 t'.) (Colophon of Manuscripts [From the Fifth to the Eighteenth Century]. Volume 1 [From the Fifth Century to 1250]. Ant'ilias: Tparan Kat'oÅkosut'ean Hayoc' Kilikioy, 1951, cols. 121-122, no. 52
Der Nersessian, Sirarpie. Armenian Manuscripts in the Walters Art Gallery. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 1973, pp. 1-5, 85, pl. B, pls. 1-11.
Sanjian, Avedis K. A Catalogue of Medieval Armenian Manuscripts in the United States. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976, pp. 260-267.
Kouymjian, Dickran. Index of Armenian Art, fasc. 1: Illustrated Armenian Manuscripts to the Year 1000 A.D. Fresno: California State University, 1977, pp. 6-7.
Der Nersessian, Sirarpie. Armenian Art. London: Thames & Hudson 1978, p. 117 and fig. 84.
Kouymjian, Dickran. "The Classical Tradition in Armenian Art." Revue des Etudes Arméniennes, n.s. 15 (1981), p. 277, pl. VI.
Cabelli, Diane E., and Thomas F. Mathews, "Pigments in Armenian Manuscripts of the Tenth and Eleventh Centuries." Revue des Etudes Arméniennes n.s. 18 (1984), pp. 33-47.
Mat'evosyan, ArtaÅ¡es S. Hayeren jeÅagreri hiÅ¡atakaranner E-ŽB dd. (Colophons of Armenian Manuscripts from the Fifth to the Twelfth Century). Erevan: HSSH GA hratarakÄ'ut'yun, 1988, pp. 58-59, no. 72.
Alexanian, Joseph M. "The Text of the Oldest Armenian Gospel Manuscript in America: A Reappraisal of Walters Art Gallery MS 537." Journal for the Society for Armenian Studies 5 (1990-1991): pp. 55-64.
Mathews, Thomas F. "Catalogue of Manuscripts. No. 6." In Thomas F. Mathews and Roger S. Wieck, eds., Treasures in Heaven: Armenian Illuminated Manuscripts. New York and Princeton: The Pierpont Morgan Library and Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. 148-149, with pls. 4 and 5.
Merian, Sylvie, Thomas F. Mathews, and Mary Virginia Orna, O.S.O., "Appendix. Pigment Analysis of Armenian, Byzantine, Iranian, Indian, and Persian Manuscripts." In Thomas F. Mathews and Roger S. Wieck, eds. Treasures in Heaven: Armenian Illuminated Manuscripts. New York and Princeton: The Pierpont Morgan Library and Princeton University Press 1994, pp. 136, 138 (Ms. A2 in tables 1 and 2)
Mathews, Thomas F. "The Classic Phase of Bagratid and Artsruni Illumination: The Tenth and Eleventh Centuries." In Thomas F. Mathews and Roger S. Wieck, eds., Treasures in Heaven: Armenian Illuminated Manuscripts. New York and Princeton: The Pierpont Morgan Library and Princeton University Press, 1994, pp. 57-59.
Nersessian, Vrej. Treasures from the Ark: 1700 Years of Armenian Christian Art. London: British Library 2001, p. 224, no. 157.
Stone, M.E., Dickran Koumjian, and Henning Lehmann. Album of Armenian Paleography. Aarhus: Aaarhus University Press, 2002, pp. 128-129, no 6.
Agémian, Sylvia. Archives Sirarpie der Nersessian. Catalogue. Volume 1. Antélias: Catholicossat arménien de Cilicie 2003, pp. 58-59.
Ghazarosian, Arpenik. "L'art du manuscrit." In Claude Mutafian, ed. Arménie: La magie de l'écrit. Marseille: Maison Arménienne de la Jeunesse et de la culture de Marseille, 2007, pp. 84-85, no 3.12.
Rapti, Ioanna. "La peinture dans les livres (IXe-XIIIe siècle)." In Jannic Durand, Ioanna Rapti, and Dorota Giovannoni, eds., Armenia Sacra. Mémoire chrétienne des Arméniens (IVe-XVIIIe siècle). Paris: Musée du Louvre, 2007, pp. 177-178 and fig 3.
Contributors
Principal catalogers: Der Nersessian, Sirarpie; Landau, Amy; van Lint, Theo M
Catalogers: Dennis, Nathan S; Valle, Chiara
Editor: Herbert, Lynley
Copy editor: Dibble, Charles
Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail
Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Emery, Doug; Herbert, Lynley; Noel, William; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.; Valle, Chiara
Publisher
The Walters Art Museum
License
Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.
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