De materia medica
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Accession number:
MS M.652
Title:
De materia medica
Created:
Constantinople, mid 10th cent.
Binding:
Greek 14th- or 15th-century dark brown leather, blind tooled to a lozenge pattern, over heavy boards; in brown morocco case.
Credit:
Purchased by J.P. Morgan (1867-1943), 1920.
Description:
385 leaves (1 column, 30 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 395 x 300 mm
Provenance:
In Constantinople in the 15th century; owned by an Arabic-speaking person (who added inscriptions in Arabic and genitalia to some animals); owned by Manuel Eugenicos, Constantinople, 1578 (listed in his library catalogue); Domenico Sestini, ca. 1820; collection of Marchese C. Rinuccini, Florence, 1820-1849 (MS Cod. 69); Payne and Foss, London, 1849-1857; Payne sale (London, Sotheby's, Apr. 30, 1857) to Charles Phillipps for Sir Thomas Phillipps (Phillipps Collection, no. 21975); purchased by J.P. Morgan (1867-1943) from Phillipps's estate in 1920.
Notes:
Ms. herbal; written and illuminated in Constantinople in the mid 10th century.
Alphabelical Five-Book version of Dioscorides, De Materia Medica.
Decoration: 769 illustrations; several headpieces and tailpieces.
Plant and animal identifications are based primarily on Morgan Library notes and Dioscorides, De Materia Medica, trans. Lily Y. Beck (2005). Also consulted: André, J., Noms de plantes dans la Rome antique (1985); Der Wiener Dioskurides: Codex medicus Graecus 1 der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Kommentar von Otto Mazal (1998-1999).
Script:
minuscule
Language:
Greek
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