Manuscript No. 1: Gladzor Gospels

Item Overview

Title

Manuscript No. 1: Gladzor Gospels

Alternative title

Four Gospels

Illuminator

Second Painter
First Painter
Fourth Painter
Third Painter
T'oros of Taron (Gladzor Gospels)

Date Created

1300-1307

Date

1300/1307

Language

Armenian

Collection

Armenian Manuscripts

Notes

Description

See Sanjian, Avedis K. Medieval Armenian Manuscripts at the University of California, Los Angeles. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1999.
See Mathews, Thomas F. and Sanjian, Avedis K. Armenian Gospel Iconography : the tradition of the Glajor Gospel. Washington, D.C. : Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1991.
The manuscript is the work of two scribes (except for the colophons, inscriptions and prefatory material before the Gospel of Matthew, which were done later). The principal scribe wrote the entire text of the four gospels in bolorgir (cursive) script; he also wrote the prefaces and indexes that stand before each gospel. The other scribe wrote the numbers within the Canon Tables, as well as the text of the Eusebian Introduction and the Eusebian numbers throughout the manuscript. (Sanjian, p. 46)

Provenance

Executed for an important ecclesiastical figure in the early fourteenth century, [the Gladzor Gospels] passed in 1377 into the private possession of the Ōrbēlian princely family, who, after its capture and redemption from the Mongols, deposited it in the monastery of Gełard in 1393-1404. Here it seems to have remained until the beginning of the seventeenth century, when it accompanied the Armenian exodus to New Julfa. At that time it was probably placed in the church of Mec Xōĵenc’ or St. George, where it remained until that church gave it to a priest named Yōvakim Abraham in 1824. Thereafter it seems to have remained in the private possession of individual priests, changing hands once again in 1901, before finally being acquired by Dr. [Garo Owen] Minasian. There is no precise information as to when and from whom Dr. Minasian acquired the book. (Sanjian, p. 52)

Physical Description

Extent

1 volume (582 pages)

Dimensions

23.5 x 17.6 cm (average)

Binding note

Persian lacquered covers of the Qajar period.

Illustrations note

The illustrations of the codex consist of the Eusebian Prologue, Ten Canon Tables, the portraits of the four evangelists and the incipits to their gospels, 55 miniatures depicting scenes from the life of Christ, and numerous marginal ornaments and decorative initials. The painting of the manuscript was done in two distinct workshops and in two stages. The figurative miniatures are the work of five different artists, only one of whom [T'oros of Taron] is known by name. The First Painter and Second Painter worked at the scriptorium of Ełegis or Noravank’. The Third Painter, Fourth Painter and T'oros of Taron completed the illustrations at the monastery at Gladzor.The First Painter did the canon tables and most of the decorated initials and marginal ornaments.The Second Painter painted the portraits of the four evangelists and the incipit pages of their gospels. The Third Painter illuminated seven subjects between pages 92 and 122.The Fourth Painter executed fourteen subjects between pages 124 and 211. The Fifth Painter, T'oros of Taron, is responsible for twenty-three narrative scenes. (Sanjian, p. 53, 57-58)

Keywords

Genre

Manuscripts
Illuminations

Resource type

text