Investiture of St. Michael Archangel

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Accession number:

MS M.614

Title:

Investiture of St. Michael Archangel

Created:

Egypt, ca. 822/23-913/14.

Binding:

Ancient binding: According to Petersen, upper cover and a fragment from the lower cover of leather, over papyrus boards; papyrus leaf fragments of unidentified literary texts, now known as Pierpont Morgan Library MS M.614bis, cartonnage (see Depuydt, no. 277) was used to stiffen the upper board; Pierpont Morgan Library MS M.614bis, ancient binding (see Depuydt, no. 397) is, according to Petersen, a fragment from the top half of an upper cover or the bottom half of a lower cover, of leather, reused to stiffen the upper board of M. 614. (Binding catalogued separately as MS M.614A.)

Credit:

Purchased for J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1914) in 1911.

Description:

16 leaves (2 columns, 37-40 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 329 x 257 mm

Provenance:

Monastery of Saint Michael (Dayr al-Malāk Mīkhāʼil); found in 1910 near the village of Hamuli, Fayyūm Province, Egypt, at the site of the Monastery of Saint Michael; purchased in Paris in 1911 for J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) from Arthur Sambon, a dealer acting in behalf of a consortium of owners including a certain J. Kalebdian; J.P. Morgan (1867-1943).

Notes:

Manuscript of the Book of the Investiture of St. Michael Archangel, which has been attributed to John Evangelist (Saint John the Apostle); written and illuminated in Egypt, ca. 822/23-913/14.
Title on fol. 1r: "These are the glorious words full of profit which our Lord Jesus Christ said to his disciples and his holy apsotles on the Mount of Olives about the creation of heaven and earth, about the creation of man, and about the investiture of Michael Archangel on the 12th of the month Hātōr, as John the Evangelist the beloved of God interpreted them. In God's peace. Amen."
Written area ca. 274 x 196 mm. Divisions: Ekthesis, reddened enlarged initial, and paragraphus sign (reddened budded coronis) setting off paragraphs.
Script: Upright (title right-sloping). 10 lines = ca. 71 mm.
Superlineation: None. Punctuation: Mostly a raised (sometimes reddened) dot. No tremas.
Collation: Signed on first and last page of the quire, top inner margin. Quire ornaments. No monograms, headlines or catchwords.
Decoration: headpiece, signatures and page numbers. Colors: green?, red?, yellow?

Language:

Coptic, the Fayumic dialect

Resources:

Description/Bibliography

Century:

9th century

10th century

Genres:

Illuminated manuscripts

Headpieces (layout features)

Repairs

Catalog Link:

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Classification:

Manuscript

Department:

Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts