|
"Whoever dares and endeavors to remove [the manuscript from Geghard monatery] shall be judged by God and all the saints, and shall receive the lot and portion of Cain and Judas and the crucifiers, and forever suffer and be tortured even as Satan, The Gladzor Gospels. The manuscript Armenian Ms. 1 (170/466) is held in the Special Collection of University Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. The manuscript is known as the Gladzor Gospels [arm. Gladzori Awetaran]. Dated between 1300-1307, Gladzor. The primary colophon, where the location and name of scribes and patron would be stated, is missing. The analysis of painting styles determined that the production of the manuscript probably started in the monastery of Eghegis or Noravank' in the Siwnik' region, some time at beginning of the 14th century. Based on the information in the second colophon of the Baroness Vakhakh (Vaxox) Orbelean and some other inscriptions, the manuscript is finished not later than the year 1307, in now destroyed monastery of Gladzor. [More in History of the Gospels and Illuminations and Illuminators] Dimensions: 27×18 cm, 291 folios, parchment. Text: two columns, 21 line a column. This is a folio size manuscript with original measurements around 27×18 cm. In the 19th century the manuscript was rebound, and on that occasion trimmed to 23.5×17.6 cm. The complete manuscript has 582 pages (291 folios). The body of the text is written in two 21-line columns in cursive bolorgir script. [More details in Text and Scribes and Creation of the Armenian Script] Physical description. The manuscript is made of heavy, brownish parchment. The first gathering is of slightly whiter and finer parchment. The codex is in an excellent state of preservation. Some of the miniature paintings have suffered some damage and some of the pages are stained, but the text is legible throughout the volume. The Index of the Gospel is incomplete, and several folios of the manuscript are missing. The original introduction to the Gospel of Matthew was lost, and in 17th century an attempt was made to write a new introduction, but the text is unfinished. The original endleafs, in Armenia traditionally made from older manuscripts as a way of sanctifying the new manuscripts, are missing, probably discarded during the 19th century rebinding. The manuscript is richly illustrated with an abundant use of golden leaf. All together, there are 75 illustrations: two pages of the Eusebian Prologue with the ornamental decorations and portrait of Eusebian, ten pages of the Cannon Tables, four whole page portraits of the evangelists with the facing incipit pages, 55 paintings in full page or illustrating text, number of the marginal ornaments and decorative initials. The incipit pages of the gospels are written with the zoomorphic alphabet and the initials stylized into the symbols of the evangelists. The color palette and pigment analysis confirmed that the manuscript was produced not merely by different illuminators, but in two distinct scriptoriums which both used as the model the Vehap'ar Gospels (Matenadaran MS 10780) dated to early 11th century. [More in Codicology of the Manuscript, Texts and Scribes and Illuminations and Illuminators] Binding. When acquired by UCLA, the manuscript was bound in the Persian lacquer binding from the Qajar period. Most probably, the manuscript was rebound from the original binding in the years 1824-25 when, according the inscription, the manuscript was given to the priest Yovakim Arbaham by the congregation of the church of St. George in New Julfa, Iran. However, by 1965 "the first few gatherings were breaking loose from the stitching" while the rest of the gatherings were sown in too tight (Sanjian 1999, p. 47). For preservation purposes, the volume was disbanded and remained such until today. [More about the traditional Armenian binding in Codicology of the Manuscript] Colophons and inscriptions. Manuscript abandon with the inscriptions and colophons. The primary colophon is missing. The secondary colophon, dated the year 1377 and written by Baroness Vakhakh (Vaxax), ascribes the manuscript to the monastery of Gladzor: "This [gospel] was written in Vayoc' Jor, at the monastery which is called Glajor. Later, however, it was acquired by the Baroness Vakhakh (Vaxax), through her honestly earned means, in the year 826 of the Armenians [1377 AD] " (Sanjian 1999, p. 50) For dating of the manuscript, the most important is the inscription under the picture of the Ascension of Christ, on page 227, in which the illuminator names himself and addresses the original owner of the manuscript: "O great master of mine, Esayi, remember this unworthy disciple of yours, T'oros." (Sanjian 1999, p. 50) This inscription enabled the more precise dating of the manuscript by the juxtaposition of the reign of abbot Vardapet Esayi Nch'ets'i (d. 1338), the theologian and head of Gladzor school and monastery, with that of well-known miniaturist from the monastery, T'oros Tarone'i. Based on the analysis of the style of the paintings; the fact that T'oros corrected i.e., painted over the illustrations of the other miniaturist, what would imply that he was the last illuminator of the book; and dates of other manuscripts for which it is known that were painted by T'oros, it was determined that the Gladzor Gospel could not be painted after the year 1307. [More about T'oros in Illumination and Illuminators, and about other colophons and inscriptions in the manuscript in History of the Gladzor Gospels] The Gladzor Gospels in the UCLA virtual library. Bibliography: Mathews, T.F. (2001). The Armenian Gospels of Gladzor: The life of Christ illuminated. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum. Mathews, T.F. and Wieck, R.S. (Ed.). (1994). Treasures in heaven: Armenian illuminated manuscripts. New York: The Pierpont Morgan Library. Orna, M. and Mathews, T.F. (1981). Pigment analysis of the Glajor Gospel book of UCLA. Studies in Conservation, 26(2), 57-72. Sanjian, A.K. (1999). Medieval Armenian manuscripts at the University of California, Los Angeles. Berkeley: University of California Press. Copyright 2006, Vlasta Radan, all rights reserved. |
Catalogue Information 