The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
The Digital Walters is a branch of The Walters Art Museum Manuscripts Department.
This large Ethiopian Gospel Book was made in the first half of the sixteenth century and is written in Gǝ‛ǝz, the traditional liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Containing eleven full-page miniatures, six canon tables, and five elaborately ornamented ḥarägs, or headpieces, this manuscript represents the golden age of what has been termed the Gunda Gunde style, named after a monastery in the district of Agame. The Gunda Gunde style is characterized by bold blocks of color defined by detailed and often delicate linear motifs. Figures are highly stylized and expressive, while the accompanying canon tables and ḥarägs are filled with intricate interlace and geometric forms. The manuscript is exceptionally well preserved, and is an excellent and rare example of Ethiopian illumination from one of its important artistic centers.
Principal cataloger: Getatchew Haile, .
Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Isaac, Ephraim
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Pizzinato, Riccardo
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
von Soden, H. Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments, vol. I. I. Berlin, 1902, pp. 405-411. Edition used for Mark section headings.
Novum Testamentum Aethiopice: The Synoptic Gospels. General Introduction. Edition of the Gospel of Mark. Edited by Rochus Zuurmond. Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1989. Edition used for Mark text.
Novum Testamentum Aethiopice Part III. Edited by Rochus Zuurmond. Harrasowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2001. Edition used for Matthew text.
Ethiopian Art: The Walters Art Museum. Third Millennium Publishing, 2001, pp. 95, 104, 114; cat. no. 14 (fols. 153v-154r, 59v, 196v-197r); fig. 30 (fol. 60v).
Mann, C. Griffith. "'May their prayers protect us:' Illuminating the Gospels in Sixteenth Century Ethiopia (W.850)." 62. Journal of the Walters Art Museum, 2004, pp. 195, 197; fig. 1 (fols. 60v-61r), fig. 3 (fols. 196v-197r).
Mercier, Jacques. Vierges D'Éthiopie. Montpellier: L'Archange Minotaure, 2004, p. 122 (fols. 2r, 3r).
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
Gunda Gunde, Tǝgray, Ethiopia
First half of the 16th century CE
book
Original Binding
Plain wooden boards, broken and stitched, front and back, with remains of leather on the upper board; chain stitching at six stations
The primary language in this manuscript is Geez. The secondary language of this manuscript is Amharic.
Monastery at Gunda Gunde, northeastern Ethiopia, early- to mid-sixteenth century, based on painting style and palaeography
Church of Madhane Alam in Majate, 1892-3, known from the endnote on fol. 95r, which gives a record in Amharic of a land grant to the church of Mǝğäte Mädḫane ‛Aläm, enacted in the Year of Matthew, 7385 Anno Mundi
Private collection, France, prior to 1973
Sam Fogg Rare Books and Manuscripts, London
Museum purchase, the W. Alton Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund, 1998
Gunda Gunde, Tǝgray, Ethiopia
First half of the 16th century CE
book
The primary language in this manuscript is Geez. The secondary language of this manuscript is Amharic.
Monastery at Gunda Gunde, northeastern Ethiopia, early- to mid-sixteenth century, based on painting style and palaeography
Church of Madhane Alam in Majate, 1892-3, known from the endnote on fol. 95r, which gives a record in Amharic of a land grant to the church of Mǝğäte Mädḫane ‛Aläm, enacted in the Year of Matthew, 7385 Anno Mundi
Private collection, France, prior to 1973
Sam Fogg Rare Books and Manuscripts, London
Museum purchase, the W. Alton Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund, 1998
This large Ethiopian Gospel Book was made in the first half of the sixteenth century and is written in Gǝ‛ǝz, the traditional liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Containing eleven full-page miniatures, six canon tables, and five elaborately ornamented ḥarägs, or headpieces, this manuscript represents the golden age of what has been termed the Gunda Gunde style, named after a monastery in the district of Agame. The Gunda Gunde style is characterized by bold blocks of color defined by detailed and often delicate linear motifs. Figures are highly stylized and expressive, while the accompanying canon tables and ḥarägs are filled with intricate interlace and geometric forms. The manuscript is exceptionally well preserved, and is an excellent and rare example of Ethiopian illumination from one of its important artistic centers.
Principal cataloger: Getatchew Haile, .
Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley
Contributor: Bockrath, Diane
Contributor: Emery, Doug
Contributor: Isaac, Ephraim
Contributor: Noel, William
Contributor: Pizzinato, Riccardo
Contributor: Tabritha, Ariel
Contributor: Toth, Michael B.
Conservator: Owen, Linda
Conservator: Quandt, Abigail
von Soden, H. Die Schriften des Neuen Testaments, vol. I. I. Berlin, 1902, pp. 405-411. Edition used for Mark section headings.
Novum Testamentum Aethiopice: The Synoptic Gospels. General Introduction. Edition of the Gospel of Mark. Edited by Rochus Zuurmond. Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 1989. Edition used for Mark text.
Novum Testamentum Aethiopice Part III. Edited by Rochus Zuurmond. Harrasowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2001. Edition used for Matthew text.
Ethiopian Art: The Walters Art Museum. Third Millennium Publishing, 2001, pp. 95, 104, 114; cat. no. 14 (fols. 153v-154r, 59v, 196v-197r); fig. 30 (fol. 60v).
Mann, C. Griffith. "'May their prayers protect us:' Illuminating the Gospels in Sixteenth Century Ethiopia (W.850)." 62. Journal of the Walters Art Museum, 2004, pp. 195, 197; fig. 1 (fols. 60v-61r), fig. 3 (fols. 196v-197r).
Mercier, Jacques. Vierges D'Éthiopie. Montpellier: L'Archange Minotaure, 2004, p. 122 (fols. 2r, 3r).
These are pages that we pulled aside that disrupted the flow of the manuscript reader. These may be bindings, inserts, bookmarks, and various other oddities.
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