Gospel book fragment

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Accession number:

MS M.564

Title:

Gospel book fragment

Created:

Salzburg, Austria, second half of the 8th century.

Credit:

Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1905.

Description:

18 leaves (2 columns, 27 lines), bound : vellum, ill.

Provenance:

Owned ca. 1680 by Baron Jacob Wilhelm Imhoff (1651-1728); his heir Baron Haller von Hallerstein; his sale (Nuremberg, 1861) to Tross; Guillaume Libri; his sale (London, Sotheby's, July 26, 1862 (second day's sale), lot no. 226) to Sir Thomas Phillipps; Phillipps Collection no. 16387; purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), perhaps through Quaritch in 1905 or 1906; J.P. Morgan (1867-1943).

Notes:

Ms. Gospel book fragment; written and illuminated in Salzburg, Austria, in the second half of the 8th century.
Fifty-eight leaves of the original manuscript survive in three collections: Pierpont Morgan Library. MS M.564; Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg (MS no. 27932); and the Stadtbibliothek Nürnberg (Fragment 1, fol. 1-8).
Text: Luke (portions of chapters 5-10) and John (portions of chapters 2, 6, 7, 10, 12).
The original size of the leaves was at least 323 x 194 mm.
Decoration: 6 illuminated initials.
Held in a wooden box which is a 19th century pastiche, assembled for Guilliaume Libri; rectangular metal sheet on upper cover with a Blessing Christ in a mandorla and the Evangelist symbols at center, surrounded by a raised metal frame studded with cabochon rock crystals.

Script:

uncial

Language:

Latin

Resources:

Description/Bibliography

Century:

8th century

Genres:

Evangeliaries

Illuminated manuscripts

Illuminated initials (layout features)