UCLA Library Special Collections, A1713 Charles E. Young Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575. Email: spec-coll@library.ucla.edu. Phone: (310) 825-4987
Description
Persian lacquered covers of the Qajar period. 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) 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)
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