SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

FREER GALLERY OF ART

ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS

IN THE

FREER GALLERY OF ART

(With 108 Plates)

BY

SIRARPIE DER NERSESSIAN

(Publication 4516)

WASHINGTON 1963

PORT CITY PRESS, INC. BALTIMORE, MD., U. S. A.

CONTENTS

Page

Foreword v

List of plates vii

Introduction xvii

FGA 33.5, 47.2-4. Four Gospels, 11th century 1

FGA 50.3. Four Gospels, 12th century 7

FGA 44.17. Four Gospels, a.d. 1253 18

FGA 32.18. Four Gospels, 13th century 26

FGA 56.11. Four Gospels, a.d. 1263 55

FGA 37.13. Psalter, 14th-15th century 73

FGA 37.19. Hymnal, a.d. 1651-52 81

FGA 36.15. Four Gospels, a.d. 1668-73 89

Appendix: Colophons 103

Bibliography 127

General Index 133

Index of Manuscripts 141

iii

FOREWORD

John Ellerton Lodge, the first Director of the Freer Gallery of Art, purchased five Armenian manuscripts for the collection in the 1930's, and this nucleus was augmented by three under his successor Archibald Gibson Wenley who also added three single decorated sheets. It was Mr. Wenley's idea to invite Professor Sirarpie Der Nersessian of Harvard University to study and publish this material. Thanks to her position as Henri Focillon Professor of Byzantine Art and Archaeology at Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, it was possible for her to work with the manuscripts in the Gallery at her own convenience; and the present vol- ume is the culmination of a research project begun in 1945. The Freer Gallery is greatly honored to have this collection published by Miss Der Nersessian, who is generally recognized as the leading authority on Armenian art, and is most grateful to her for the very generous amount of time she has devoted to it in addition to the normal heavy responsibilities of her distinguished post.

The photographic work was done by Raymond A. Schwartz, Chief of our photographic laboratory, and the editorial work has been done by our Editorial Secretary, Lloyd E. Langford in cooperation with the Editorial and Publications Division of Smithsonian Institution. We gratefully acknowledge the material support of the Ford Foundation, which provided a substantial grant toward the cost of this publication.

John Alexander Pope,

Director, Freer Gallery of Art.

Washington, D.C. April 3, 1963.

List of Plates

(All plates at end of text.)

Plates 1-5, FGA 33.5, 47.2-4. Four Gospels, 11th Century

1, Fig. 1. Fol. 115. First page of the Gospel of Luke.

2, Fig. 2. Fol. A. Canon Table No. 2. Fig. 3. Fol. Av. Canon Table No. 2.

3, Fig. 4. Fol. B. Canon Tables Nos. 6, 7. Fig. 5. Fol. Bv. Canon Tables Nos. 8 to 10.

4, Fig. 6. Fol. C. Canon Table No. 10. Fig. 7. Fol. 113. Page of text.

5, Fig. 8. Fol. Cv. Portraits of the Evangelists.

Plates 6-16, FGA 50.3. Four Gospels, 12th Century

6, Fig. 9. Fol. lv. Letter of Eusebius. Fig. 10. Fol. 2. Letter of Eusebius.

7, Fig. 11. Fol. 5v. Canon Table No. 3. Fig. 12. Fol. 6. Canon Tables Nos. 4, 5.

8, Fig. 13. Fol. 132v. Annunciation.

9, Fig. 14. Fol. 100. Transfiguration (in color).

10, Fig. 15. Fol. 8v. Canon Tables Nos. 9, 10. Fig. 16. Fol. 9. Canon Table No. 10.

11, Fig. 17. Fol. lOv. Portrait of Matthew.

Fig. 18. Fol. 11. First Page of the Gospel of Matthew.

12, Fig. 19. Fol. 78v. Portrait of Mark.

Fig. 20. Fol. 79. First Page of the Gospel of Mark.

13, Fig. 21. Fol. 129v. Portrait of Luke.

Fig. 22. Fol. 130. First Page of the Gospel of Luke.

14, Fig. 23. Fol. 219v. Portrait of John.

Fig. 24. Fol. 220. First Page of the Gospel of John.

15, Figs. 25-28. Marginal Ornaments and Initials. Fig. 25. Fol. 67v.

Fig. 26. Fol. 30,

Fig. 27. Fol. 109.

Fig. 28. Fol. 124v.

16, Figs. 29-32. Marginal Ornaments and Initials. Fig. 29. Fol. 40v.

Fig. 30. Fol. 57.

Fig. 31. Fol. 185v.

Fig. 32. Fol. 260.

Plates 17-27, FGA 44.17. Four Gospels, A.D. 1253

17, Fig. 33. Fig. 34.

18, Fig. 35.

Fol. 2v. Letter of Eusebius. Fol. 5. Letter of Eusebius. Fol. 3v. Canon Table No. 1.

vii

viii

FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

Fig. 36. Fol. 4. Canon Table No. 2.

19, Fig. 37. Fol. 6v. Canon Tables Nos. 2, 3. Fig. 38. Fol. 7. Canon Tables Nos. 4, 5.

20, Fig. 39. Fol. 8v. Canon Tables Nos. 5, 6. Fig. 40. Fol. 9. Canon Tables Nos. 7, 8.

21, Fig. 41. Fol. lOv. Canon Tables Nos. 9, 10. Fig. 42. Fol. 11. Canon Table No. 10.

22, Fig. 43. Fol. 12v. Dedicatory Inscription. Fig. 44. Fol. 13. Dedicatory Inscription.

23, Fig. 45. Fol. 15. First Page of the Gospel of Matthew.

24, Fig. 46. Fol. 14v. Portrait of Matthew (in color).

25, Fig. 47. Fol. 92v. Portrait of Mark.

Fig. 48. Fol. 93. First Page of the Gospel of Mark.

26, Fig. 49. Fol. 141v. Portrait of Luke.

Fig. 50. Fol. 142. First Page of the Gospel of Luke.

27, Fig. 51. Fol. 224v. Portrait of John.

Fig. 52. Fol. 225. First Page of the Gospel of John.

Plates 28-63, FGA 32.18. Four Gospels, 13th Century

28, Fig. 53. P. I. First Page of the Gospel of Matthew.

29, Fig. 54. P. 2. Ancestors of Jesus.

30, Fig. 55. P. 3. Ancestors of Jesus.

31, Fig. 56. P. 4. Ancestors of Jesus.

32, Fig. 57. P. 5. Joseph's Dream.

Fig. 58. P. 10(a). Flight into Egypt.

Fig. 59. P. 10(b). Massacre of Innocents.

Fig. 60. Pp. 8-9. Adoration of the Magi.

33, Fig. 61. P. 11. Joseph's Dream.

Fig. 62. P. 20. Sermon on the Mount.

Fig. 63. P. 42. Healing of Peter's Mother-in-law.

Fig. 64. P. 43(a). Healing of the Sick.

Fig. 65. P. 17. Temptation.

Fig. 66. P. 43(b). Isaiah.

34, Fig. 67. P. 44. Stilling of the Tempest. Fig. 68. P. 49. Jesus and Jairus.

Fig. 69. P. 47. The Paralytic Healed. Calling of Matthew.

35, Fig. 70. P. 50. Healing of a Woman with an Issue of Blood. Fig. 71. P. 51. Two Blind Men.

Fig. 72. P. 52. A Demoniac Healed.

Fig. 73. P. 67. Healing of Withered Hand.

Figs. 74-75. P. 75. Jesus Teaches from a Ship. The Sower.

36, Fig. 76. P. 69. Healing of the Demoniac. Fig. 77. P. 85. Herod's Banquet.

Fig. 78. P. 86. Burial of John the Baptist.

Fig. 79. P. 87. Feeding of the Multitude.

37, Fig. 80. P. 89. Jesus Walks on the Sea. Fig. 81. P. 95. Healing of the Sick.

Fig. 82. P. 106. Soldiers Ask for the Tribute Money.

Fig. 83. P. 99. Peter Confesses Christ.

Fig. 84. P. 104. Healing of the Lunatic.

38, Fig. 85. P. 107. Peter Casts the Line.

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS— DER NERSESSIAN

Fig.

86.

P.

117(b). The Rich Young Ruler.

Fig.

87.

P.

1 1 7 (

a). Jesus Blesses the Children.

Fig.

88.

P.

108.

Jesus Sets a Child in the Midst of the Disciples.

Fig.

89.

P.

124.

Jesus, James and John and their Mother.

Fig.

90.

P.

126,

Healing of the Blind Men.

39,

Fig.

91.

P.

127.

The Disciples Bring the Ass and the Colt.

Fig.

92.

P.

150.

Jesus Foretells the Destruction of the Temple.

Fig.

93.

P.

129.

Entry into Jerusalem.

Fig.

94.

P.

141.

Ancient of Days, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Fig.

95.

P.

159.

Parable of the Ten Virgins.

40,

Fig.

96.

P.

167.

Jesus at the House of Simon.

Fig.

97.

P.

168.

Judas Receives the Thirty Pieces of Silver.

Fig.

98.

P.

169.

The Last Supper.

Fig.

99.

P.

183.

Pilate's Wife Sends a Messenger.

Fig.

100.

P.

181.

Judas Hangs Himself.

41,

Fig.

101.

P.

177.

Jesus Brought before Caiaphas.

Fig.

102.

P.

180.

Peter's Repentance. Jesus Led to Pilate.

42,

Fig.

103.

P.

184.

Judgment of Pilate.

Fig.

104.

P.

192(b). Entombment of Jesus.

43,

Fig.

105.

P.

193.

Pilate Asked to Set a Guard.

Fig.

106.

P.

107.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples.

Fig.

107.

P.

195.

Holy Women at the Sepulchre.

Fig.

108.

P.

192(

a). Joseph of Arimathea Before Pilate.

Fig.

109.

P.

194.

The Sleeping Soldiers.

Fig.

110.

P.

196.

The Soldiers are Bribed.

44,

Fig.

111.

P.

199.

First Page of the Gospel of Mark.

45,

Fig.

112.

P.

213.

Healing of the Withered Hand.

Fig.

113.

P.

218.

The Mother and Brothers of Jesus.

Fig.

114.

P.

219.

Jesus Teaches from a Ship.

Fig.

115.

P.

231.

Healing of the Woman with an Issue of Blood.

Fig.

116.

P.

227.

Healing of the Gadarene Demoniac.

46,

Fig.

117.

P,

263.

Healing of the Lunatic.

Fig.

118.

P.

251.

Jesus and Disciples.

Fig.

119.

P.

255.

Healing of the Blind Man.

Fig.

120.

P.

250.

Healing of the Deaf and Dumb.

Fig.

121.

P.

303.

The Disciples Seek a Room for the Passover.

Fig.

122.

P.

278.

Healing of Blind Bartimaeus.

47,

Fig.

123.

P.

310.

Betrayal, and Jesus Before the High Priest.

Fig.

124.

P.

315.

Jesus Brought Before Pilate.

48,

Fig.

125.

P.

319.

Mocking of Jesus. Raising of the Cross.

Fig.

126.

P.

323 (

a). Descent from the Cross.

Fig.

127.

P.

305.

An Apostle.

49,

Fig.

128.

P.

314.

Repentance of Peter.

Fig.

129.

P.

323(b). John and Holy Woman at the Sepulchre.

Fig.

130.

P.

130(

a). The Fig Tree.

Fig.

131.

P.

130(b). Withered Fig Tree.

50,

Fig.

132.

P.

329.

First Page of the Gospel of Luke.

51,

Fig.

133.

P.

333.

Annunciation to Zacharias.

Fig.

134.

P.

339.

Circumcision of John the Baptist.

Fig.

135.

P.

349.

Jesus Among the Doctors.

Fig.

136.

P.

361.

Temptation.

FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

Fig.

137.

P.

345.

Circumcision of Jesus.

52,

Fig.

138.

P.

359.

Ancestors of Jesus.

Fig.

139.

P.

369.

Miraculous Draught of Fishes.

Fig.

140.

P.

372.

A Paralytic Healed.

Fig.

141.

P.

373.

Jesus at the House of Levi.

53,

Fig.

142.

P.

386.

Raising of the Widow's Son.

Fig-

143.

P.

391.

Jesus at the House of a Pharisee.

Fig.

144.

P.

401.

Jesus and Jairus.

Fig.

145.

P.

397.

Jesus Awakened During a Storm.

Fig.

146.

P.

447.

Healing of Bent Woman.

Fig.

147.

P.

452.

Healing of the Dropsy.

54,

Fig.

148.

P.

461.

Return of the Prodigal Son.

Fig.

149.

P.

483(a). Healing of the Blind Man.

Fig.

150.

P.

472.

Healing of the Ten Lepers.

Fig.

151.

P.

477.

The Pharisee and the Publican.

Fig.

152.

P.

483(b). Zacchaeus.

55,

Fig.

153.

P.

489.

Entry into Jerusalem.

Fig.

154.

P.

499.

The Widow's Mite.

Fig.

155.

P.

484.

Jesus at the House of Zacchaeus.

Fig.

156.

P.

512.

Agony in the Garden.

Fig.

157.

P.

508.

Communion of the Apostles.

56,

Fig.

158.

P.

513.

Judas Leading the Jews.

Fig.

159.

P.

520.

Jesus Before Pilate.

Fig.

160.

P.

516.

Peter's Denial. Mocking of Jesus.

Fig.

161.

P.

515.

Peter at the House of the High Priest.

Fig.

162.

P.

533.

Supper at Emmaus.

57,

Fig.

163.

P.

522.

Jesus on the Way to Golgotha.

Fig.

164.

P.

536.

Jesus Eats Before the Disciples.

Fig.

165.

P.

535.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples.

58,

Fig.

166.

P.

537.

Ascension.

59,

Fig.

167.

P.

539.

First Page of the Gospel of John.

60,

Fig.

168.

P.

548.

Marriage Feast at Cana.

Fig.

169.

P.

577.

The People Seek Jesus.

61,

Fig.

170.

P.

625.

Raising of Lazarus (in color).

62

171.

P.

595.

Jesus and the Adulterous Woman.

Fig.

172.

P.

607.

The Pharisees and the Man Born Blind.

Fig.

173.

P.

610.

The Pharisees and the Parents of the Blind.

Fig.

174.

P.

666.

Jesus Arrested.

Fig.

175.

P.

667.

Jesus Led to Annas.

63,

Fig.

176.

P.

674.

Pilate and the Jews.

Figs.

177-181

. Marginal Ornaments and Initials.

Fig.

177.

P.

561.

Fig.

178.

P.

536.

Fig.

179.

P.

369.

Fig.

180.

P.

229.

Fig.

181.

P.

43.

Plates 64-79, FGA 56.11. Four Gospels, A.D. 1263

64, Fig. 182. Fol. 8. Portrait of an Evangelist.

Figs. 183-187. Marginal Ornaments and Initials.

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS— DER NERSESSIAN

Fig.

183.

Fol.

232.

Fig.

184.

Fol.

252.

Fig.

185.

Fol.

37v.

Fig.

186.

Fol.

266.

Fig.

187.

Fol.

245v.

65,

Fig.

18$.

Fol.

1. Baptism.

Fig.

189.

Fol.

2v. Transfiguration.

66,

Fig.

190.

Fol.

3. Entry into Jerusalem.

Fig.

191.

Fol.

4v. Descent into Limbus.

67,

Fig.

192.

Fol.

5. Ascension.

Fig.

193.

Fol.

6v. Stoning of Stephen.

68,

Fig.

194.

Fol.

7. Death of John the Evangelist.

Fig.

195.

Fol.

293. Ordination Scene.

69,

Fig.

196.

Fol.

13v. Portrait of Matthew.

Fig.

197.

Fol.

14. First Page of the Gospel of Matthew.

70,

Fig.

198.

Fol.

95v. Portrait of Mark.

Fig.

199.

Fol.

96. First Page of the Gospel of Mark.

71,

Fig.

200.

Fol.

147v. Portrait of Luke and Theophilus.

Fig.

201.

Fol.

148. First Page of the Gospel of Luke.

72,

Fig.

202.

Fol.

242v. Portrait of John and Prochoros.

Fig.

203.

Fol.

243. First Page of the Gospel of John.

73,

Fig.

204.

Fol.

14v. Ancestors of Jesus.

Fig.

205.

Fol.

17v. Massacre of the Innocents.

Fig.

206.

Fol.

18. John the Baptist.

Fig.

207.

Fol.

16. Joseph's Dream.

Fig.

208.

Fol.

16v. The Magi.

Fig.

209.

Fol.

18v. John the Baptist.

74,

Fig.

210.

Fol.

19. Jesus and John the Baptist.

Fig.

211.

Fol.

19v. Temptation.

Fig.

212.

Fol.

22v. Sermon on the Mount.

Fig.

213.

Fol.

20v. Isaiah.

Fig.

214.

Fol.

28v. Tree and Axe.

Fig.

215.

Fol.

21v. Sermon on the Mount.

Fig.

216.

Fol.

30v. Jesus. A Prophet.

75,

Fig.

217.

Fol.

29v. Healing of the Leper.

Fig,

218.

Fol.

31v. Healing of the Gadarene Demoniacs.

Fig.

219.

Fol.

33v. Healing of the Blind.

Fig.

220.

Fol.

30. Jesus and the Centurion.

Fig.

221.

Fol.

39v. Jesus and Apostles in Corn Field.

Fig.

222.

Fol.

33. Jairus.

Fig.

223.

Fol.

32. Healing of the Paralytic.

Fig.

224.

Fol.

41. Healing of the Blind and Dumb Man.

76,

Fig.

225.

Fol.

40v. Healing of the Withered Hand.

Fig.

226.

Fol.

42. Jonah.

Fig.

227.

Fol.

58. Jesus and Peter.

Fig.

228.

Fol.

42v. Solomon and Queen of Sheba.

Fig.

229.

Fol.

43. Jesus Teaching. His Mother and Brothers.

Fig.

230.

Fol.

44. Isaiah.

Fig.

231.

Fol.

59v. Jesus and the Pharisees.

77,

Fig.

232.

Fol.

102v. Mother and Brothers of Jesus.

Fig.

233.

Fol.

126v. Jesus and the Chief Priests.

xii

FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

Fig. 234. Fol. 65v. Jesus Curses the Fig Tree.

Fig. 235. Fol. 120. Jesus, a Child, and Disciples.

Fig. 236. Fol. 121. Jesus and Pharisees.

Fig. 237. Fol. 12 lv. Jesus Blesses the Children.

Fig. 238. Fol. 125v. Jesus Curses the Fig Tree.

Fig. 239. Fol. 122v. Jesus and Peter.

Fig. 240. Fol. 60. Jesus Blesses the Children.

78, Fig. 241. Fol. 123. Jesus and the Disciples. Fig. 242. Fol. 128v. Jesus and Sadducees.

Fig. 243. Fol. 133v. Jesus at the House of Simon.

Fig. 244. Fol. 135v. Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial.

Fig. 245. Fol. 141v. Joseph of Arimathea and Pilate.

Fig. 246. Fol. 134v. Jesus Sends Two Disciples.

Fig. 247. Fol. 139. Jesus Led to Pilate.

Fig. 248. Fol. 143. Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

79, Fig. 249. Fol. 153v. Annunciation to the Shepherds. Fig. 250. Fol. 150. Annunciation.

Fig. 251. Fol. 151. Visitation.

Fig. 252. Fol. 163. Healing of the Leper.

Fig. 253. Fol. 156v. John the Baptist.

Fig. 254. Fol. 166. Jesus Praying.

Fig. 255. Fol. 163v. Jesus Teaching.

Fig. 256. Fol. 194. Healing of the Bent Woman.

Plates 80-81, FGA 37.13. Psalter, 14th-15th Centuries

80, Fig. 257.

Fol.

27v.

Passage of the Red Sea.

Fig. 258.

Fol.

63. Moses.

Fig. 259.

Fol.

102v.

Moses.

Fig. 260.

Fol.

178v.

Isaiah.

Fig. 261.

Fol.

211v.

Isaiah and Hezekiah.

Fig. 262.

Fol.

246v.

Isaiah.

Fig. 263.

Fol.

248.

Jonah.

Fig. 264.

Fol.

278v.

Habakkuk.

Fig. 265.

Fol.

284v.

Three Young Hebrews.

81, Fig. 266.

Fol.

29 lv.

David and Goliath.

Fig. 267.

Fol.

293.

Manasseh.

Fig. 268.

Fol.

296v.

Nerses the Graceful.

Fig. 269.

Fol.

142v.

Headpiece.

Fig. 270.

Fol.

32v.

Headpiece.

Fig. 271.

Fol.

297.

Headpiece.

Fig. 272.

Fol.

1. H

eadpiece.

Plates 82-86, FGA 37.19. Hymnal, A.D. 1651-52

Fig. 273. Fol. lv. Joachim and Anne.

Fig. 274. Fol. 2. Headpiece.

Fig. 275. Fol. 8v. Virgin.

Fig. 276. Fol. 13v. Annunciation.

Fig. 277. Fol. 16. Adoration of the Magi.

Fig. 278. Fol. 32v. Baptism.

Fig. 279. Fol. 35v. Virgin.

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS— DER NERSESSIAN

xiii

Fig. 280. Fol. 41. Presentation.

83, Fig. 281. Fol. 44. Anthony. Fig. 282. Fol. 46. Theodosius. Fig. 283. Fol. 48v. David.

Fig. 284. Fol. 50v. Stoning of Stephen. Fig. 285. Fol. 53v. Peter and Paul. Fig. 286. Fol. 64. Jonah. Fig. 287. Fol. 66v. Adam and Eve. Fig. 288. Fol. 67. Headpiece.

84, Fig. 289. Fol. 67v. Good Robber. Fig. 290. Fol. 82v. Good Shepherd.

Fig. 291. Fol. 103. Forty Martyrs of Sebastia. Fig. 292. Fol. 123v. Praying Figure and Dove. Fig. 293. Fol. 132v. Raising of Lazarus. Fig. 294. Fol. 135. Children (Palm Sunday). Fig. 295. Fol. 138. Entry into Jerusalem. Fig. 296. Fol. 142v. Wise Virgins. Fig. 297. Fol. 150. Betrayal.

85, Fig. 298. Fol. 167 v. Resurrection. Fig. 299. Fol. 168. Headpiece. Fig. 300. Fol. 154v. Crucifixion. Fig. 301. Fol. 210v. Ascension. Fig. 302. Fol. 225v. Pentecost.

Fig. 303. Fol. 175v. Head of John the Baptist. Fig. 304. Fol. 238. Dove of the Holy Ghost. Fig. 305. Fol. 240. John the Baptist.

86, Fig. 306. Fol. 247. Gregory the Illuminator. Fig. 307. Fol. 250. Bishop.

Fig. 308. Fol. 252. Nerses the Great.

Fig. 309. Fol. 264v. Transfiguration.

Fig. 310. Fol. 274. Dormition.

Fig. 311. Fol. 282v. Christ in Glory.

Fig. 312. Fol. 255. Hrip'sime.

Fig. 313. Fol. 306. Mesrob Vardapet.

Fig. 314. Fol. 308. James of Nisibis.

Fig. 315. Fol. 310v. Massacre of the Innocents.

Fig. 316. Fol. 312v. Angel.

Fig. 317. Fol. 315. Holy Fathers.

Plates 87-102, FGA 36.15. Four Gospels, A.D. 1668-73

87, Fig. 318. P. 31. Christ and Donor.

Fig. 319. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 539. Fol. 24v. Angels Ministering to Christ (Courtesy of the Walters Art Gallery).

88, Fig. 320. P. 9. Letter of Eusebius (in color).

89, Fig. 321. P. 8. Letter of Eusebius.

Fig. 322. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 539. Fol. lv. Letter of Eusebius (Courtesy of the Walters Art Gallery).

90, Fig. 323. P. 14. Canon Table No. 1. Fig. 324. P. 11. Canon Table No. 2.

91, Fig. 325. P. 16. Canon Tables Nos. 3, 4.

xiv

FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

Fig. 326.

p_

17.

Canon Table No. 5.

92

Fig. 327.

P.

20.

Fig. 328.

p#

21.

Canon Tables Nos. 7 to 9.

93,

Fig. 329.

P.

24.

Canon Table No. 10.

Fig. 330.

P.

25.

Canon Table No. 10.

94,

Fig. 331.

P.

28.

Dedicatory Inscription.

Fig. 332.

P.

29.

Dedicatory Inscription.

95,

Fig. 333.

P.

40.

Portrait of Matthew.

Fig. 334.

P.

41.

First Page of the Gospel of Matthew.

96,

Fig. 335.

P.

204.

Portrait of Mark.

Fig. 336.

P.

205.

First Page of the Gospel of Mark.

97,

Fig. 337.

P.

310.

Portrait of Luke.

Fig. 338.

P.

311.

First Page of the Gospel of Luke.

98,

Fig. 339.

P.

462.

Portrait of John and Prochoros.

Fig. 340.

P.

463.

First Page of the Gospel of John.

99, Fig. 341. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 539. Fol. 3l7v. Portrait of John and Prochoros (Courtesy of the Walters Art Gallery). Fig. 342. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 539. Fol. 318. First Page of the Gospel of John (Courtesy of the Walters Art Gallery).

100, Fig. 343. P. 33. Ascension.

Fig. 344. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 539. Fol. 316v. Ascension (Courtesy of the Walters Art Gallery).

101, Fig. 345. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 539. Fol. 4. Canon Table No. 2 (Courtesy of the

Walters Art Gallery).

Fig. 346. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 539. Fol. 190. Judas Leading the Jews (Courtesy of the Walters Art Gallery).

102, Fig. 347. Binding, Front Cover. Crucifixion. Fig. 348. Binding, Back Cover. Resurrection.

Plates 103-108, Comparative Material

103, Fig. 349. Erevan, Matenadaran, 1568. Fol. 55v. Gregory of Narek.

Fig. 350. Erevan, Matenadaran, 7347. Fol. 265. First Page of the Gospel of John.

Fig. 351. Venice, Mekhitharist Library, 141. Fol. 121v. Portrait of Luke.

Fig. 352. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 1796. Fol. 141 v. Portrait of Luke.

104, Fig. 353. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 1796. Fol. 288v. Christ and Donor.

Fig. 354. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 1796. Fol. 92. First Page of the Gospel of Mark.

Fig. 355. Erevan, Matenadaran, 3033. Fol. 13v. Portrait of Matthew.

Fig. 356. Istanbul, Armenian Patriarchate, Gospel of "Zeytun." Fol. 5v. Dedicatory Inscription.

105, Fig. 357. Erevan, Matenadaran, 5458. Fol. 258. Marginal Ornament. Fig. 358. Erevan, Matenadaran, 5458. Fol. 252. Christ.

Fig. 359. Erevan, Matenadaran, 5458. Fol. 235v. Angel Ministering to Christ.

Fig. 360. Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, 539. Fol. 40. Healing of the Sick.

106, Fig. 361. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 3627. Fol. 172. Presentation of Christ. Fig. 362. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 3627. Fol. 23. Adoration of Magi. Fig. 363. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 3627. Fol. 333. Incredulity of Thomas.

Fig. 364. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 2027. Fol. 224v. Death of John the Evangelist.

107, Fig. 365. Erevan, Matenadaran, 4243. Fol. 15. Bishop John Kneeling Before St. John. Fig. 366. Venice, Mekhitharist Library, 376. Fol. 106v. Bride and Groom.

Fig. 367. Erevan, Matenadaran, 7700. Fol. 6v. Portrait of Matthew.

Fig. 368. Venice, Mekhitharist Library, 600. Fol. 9v. Portrait of Matthew.

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108, Fig. 369. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 2010. P. 30. Gregory of Narek and Donor. Fig. 370. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 1918. Fol. 278v. Adoration of Magi. Fig. 371. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 1918. Fol. 7 v. Gregory the Illuminator and John the Baptist.

Fig. 372. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, 1918. Fol. 418v. Holy Women and Apostles at the Sepulchre.

INTRODUCTION

The East Christian manuscripts form a relatively small part in the rich collec- tion of Asiatic art in the Freer Gallery of Art (FGA), but this small number is offset by the importance of the individual examples. As early as 1905 Charles L. Freer had acquired a Greek Bible, written in Egypt in the fifth century, and a fragmentary manuscript of the Epistles of Paul of the sixth century. At the same time he had bought a small Coptic Psalter of the fifth or sixth century and several leaves from other Coptic manuscripts. A few years later illuminated leaves from Byzantine manuscripts of the Four Gospels and of the Heavenly Ladder of John Klimax were added to these holdings. The Biblical manuscript has been repro- duced in handsome facsimile editions, and this and the other manuscripts and single leaves have been studied in separate publications.

The Armenian section came into being considerably later. In transmitting his collection to the Smithsonian Institution Mr. Freer outlined the principles which had guided him in his selection, and expressed his desire "to unite modern work with masterpieces of certain periods of high civilization, harmonious in spiritual and physical suggestion, having the power to broaden esthetic culture and the grace to elevate the human mind." In keeping with these ideas the first Armenian manuscript acquired in 1932 by the director of the Freer Gallery of Art, John E. Lodge, was the finest work in existence outside the large collections of Erevan, Jerusalem, and Venice, a Gospel written in the 13th century and illustrated with numerous miniatures. Since then several important examples have been added and the Armenian manuscripts now form the largest single group among the manu- scripts of the Christian East in the Freer Gallery of Art, and the finest from the artistic point of view.

This small but choice collection includes six Gospels, a Hymnal, and a Psalter, and covers a span of seven centuries. The oldest manuscript is a large Gospel written in the fine uncial of the 11th century, a representative example of a school of miniaturists who were active in the peripheral region of Armenia, around the city of Melitene in Asia Minor, and in neighboring monasteries of the Taurus Mountains. Four other Gospels, dating in the 12th and 13th centuries, were written in Cilicia, in the new homeland established by the Armenians on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea after the conquest of their mother country by the Seljuq Turks. This is particularly fortunate, for the art of book illumination reached its highest point in Cilicia during these two centuries. Three of these Gospel manu- scripts can be assigned to the scriptorium of the patriarchal see of Hromkla, the leading artistic center, especially during the enlightened rule of the Catholicos Constantine I (1221-67) ; the fourth is a product of the scriptorium founded by Bishop John, brother of King Het'um I.

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FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

There are no examples, as yet, in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, of the work done during the same time in Great Armenia, where there was also con- siderable artistic activity. The small Psalter gives us an idea of the style of painting in the late 14th and early 15th centuries and it is of special significance for the history of Psalter illustration.

The troubled political conditions curtailed the literary and artistic activities in the 15th and 16th centuries, except in the area around Lake Van, but there was a notable revival during the 17th century in Armenia proper and in numerous com- munities established outside the country. Elements of Western iconography, which had already appeared in sporadic fashion in the late medieval period, became more numerous then, and we also encounter for the first time the influence of the engrav- ings of printed Latin Bibles. An example of this may be seen in the Hymnal written in one of the northeastern provinces of Armenia. In their efforts to improve the style of painting which had degenerated in many areas, the miniaturists of the 17th century turned their attention to the works of the great period of Armenian illumination — that is, to the Cilician manuscripts of the 13th century, which they imitated and sometimes copied directly. The Gospel written in Sebastia in the late 17th century is an outstanding example of this revival, and an important witness of the high technical skill of the painters of this period.

The manuscripts studied in the following pages are placed in their chrono- logical order, with one exception. Codex No. 32.18, which may have been written a few years later than No. 56.11, precedes it in order to group it with the other Gospels from the same scriptorium. The plan of the publication is as follows: A factual description of the manuscript. There are no textual comments for the Gospels, except in regard to the passage of the adulterous woman and the last verses of the Gospel of Mark. The composition of the Psalter and the Hymnal has been described and, for the latter, the order and selection of the hymns have been com- pared with those of other manuscripts. The colophons, and the symbolical inter- pretation of the Canon tables included in two manuscripts, are given in the original language, without a translation, in the Appendix. However, relevant passages of the colophons, the information about the time and place of the copy, the names of the scribes and owners are summarized in the section entitled "History of the Manuscript." Comments on the symbolical interpretations are likewise included in the text.

The most detailed part is a study of the illustrations, since the manuscripts of the collections are primarily important as works of art. In contradistinction to Byzantine manuscripts, the exact date and provenance of which are rarely indi- cated, the Armenian manuscripts usually contain a wealth of interesting informa- tion in the long colophons added by the scribes, and they can be grouped by time and place and even under a single artist. I have therefore indicated, whenever possible, all surviving works executed by the scribe or miniaturist of each manu- script, or the significant examples of the scriptorium or area to which that manuscript belongs. These remarks, combined with the iconographic and stylistic studies, thus constitute brief monographs on individual painters, or on a specific

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS— DER NERSESSIAN

xix

group of manuscripts. Although in each case the attention was perforce focused on the manuscript under consideration, I have tried not to lose sight of the broader aspects and I hope that the studies of the four Cilician Gospels, taken together, will give an adequate idea of the importance of the art of that period.

It was not possible to reproduce all the examples cited for purposes of com- parison, and only a small selection has been added. However, the generous plan of the Freer Gallery of Art to reproduce fully the miniatures and the decorative pages of all the manuscripts of the collection, together with examples of the marginal ornaments and initials, will greatly contribute to the knowledge of an art which retained its vitality and individuality over a long period of time, and produced some of the finest examples of medieval painting.

I am greatly indebted to the Armenian Academy of Sciences, for at their invitation I was able to spend a month at Erevan in the summer of 1960; and to L. Khatchikian, Director of the Matenadaran, and his assistants who facilitated in every way my study of the rich collection of this library. The numerous refer- ences made in the course of this publication to the manuscripts of Erevan, many of which are still unpublished, show how greatly my work benefited from this excep- tional opportunity. I wish to thank the Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery and Miss Dorothy Miner, Keeper of Manuscripts, for their kindness in sending on loan to the Freer Gallery of Art a precious manuscript of their collection, the Armenian Gospel No. 539, and for their permission to reproduce some of the miniatures. I am grateful to Archbishop Yeghishe Derderian, Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, and to Bishop Norayr Bogharian, Keeper of Manuscripts; to the Reverend Father Kerovpe Tcherakian, Keeper of Manuscripts of the Mekhitharist Library in Venice, for the facilities they offered me when studying the rich collec- tions of these two libraries. Special thanks are also due to Archibald G. Wenley, late Director of the Freer Gallery of Art, and Dr. John A. Pope, the present Director; to Dr. Richard Ettinghausen, Curator of Near Eastern Art; and to members of the staff, in particular Mr. Raymond A. Schwartz and Mr. Lloyd E. Langford, for their cordial assistance in the preparation of this book; and finally to Professor Andre Grabar and to my colleagues at Dumbarton Oaks, Professors Ernst Kitzinger and Paul A. Underwood, for many valuable suggestions.

Dumbarton Oaks, June 1961.

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS

IN THE FREER GALLERY OF ART By SIRARPIE DER NERSESSIAN (With 108 Plates)

FGA 33.5, 47.2-4. FOUR GOSPELS, 11TH CENTURY

Description. — Thick, yellowish vellum; 119 folios measuring 33.5 x 25.3 cm., written surface 30 x 20.5 cm. Text in upright, slightly rounded erkat'agir (uncial) , written on two columns of 20 or 21 lines each, except for the first page of the Gospel of Luke which is in a single column. The title of the Gospel of Luke is written in smaller erkat'agir between dotted lines; the title of each Gospel is repeated at the end in large erkat'agir . There are no ornate initials; the first letter of each verse is slightly larger than the others. The numbers of the verses are written in small, angular erkat'agir in the outer and middle margins; the concord- ances are written in the same small erkat'agir in the lower margin. The number of each pericope, or lesson, written in the outer or middle margin, is framed by a small colored circle from which project tiny fleurons. For the Passion readings the number is accompanied or replaced by a brief explanation, written in small, angular erkat'agir.

The quires of eight leaves are numbered, as usual, by the letters of the alpha- bet; these have been added in the lower margin in bolorgir (cursive). On folio 128 a later scribe gives information concerning the lesson to be read on New Sunday. The same hand has written the last verse of the Gospel of John above the Canon table on folio Cr. A few words are scribbled in notrgir above the Canon table on folio Br.

History and condition. — This manuscript is said to have been bought at Sivas in 1896 by Mr. Indjoudjian who took it to Paris. It then passed into the collection of S. Sevadjian and it was published and briefly described by F. Macler.1 The manuscript was already defective, and the following sections were missing: Letter of Eusebius; Canon tables 1, 3, 4, and 5; Matthew 1:1-9; Mark 1 : 1-27; Luke 16: 22-17:6, and 24:39 to end; John 1: 1-14, and 9: 25 to end. Folio 110 was in paper and the text was written in bolorgir to replace the missing leaf. The Canon tables and the Evangelist portraits, as well as the first page of the Gospel of Luke, were

1 F. Macler, Documents d'art armeniens, Paris, 1924, pp. 37-38, pis. I-XI. It had been previously mentioned among the manuscripts belonging to Mr. Indjoudjian: Seraphim Abdullah and F. Macler, "Etudes sur la miniature armenienne," extract from Revue des etudes ethnographiques et soclologiques, 1909, p. 17, No. 10.

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FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

removed by Mr. Sevadjian and framed. The manuscript was later acquired by K. Minassian of New York who divided it into two parts; 92 folios with Matthew 1 : 10 to end, and John 1 : 15-9 : 24 and the binding are in the possession of H. Kurdian of Wichita, Kans. ; 2 the other folios of the text entered the Freer Gallery of Art in 1933, and the decorated pages followed in 1947.

The pages with the text are, on the whole, in good condition but the decorated leaves have suffered from humidity; the edges are frayed and partly torn.

Contents: Fol. Ar,v. Canon 2 {figs. 2, 3).

Fol. Br,v. Canon 6 to Canon 10 (Matthew) {figs. 4, 5).

Fol. Cr. Canon 10 (Mark, Luke, and John) {fig. 6).

Fol. Cv. Portraits of Evangelists {fig. 8).

Fols. 74-1 14.3 Gospel of Mark, 1 : 27-16: 8.

Fols. 115-189v. Gospel of Luke, 1 : 1-26: 39 {fig. 1 ).

STUDY OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

The peculiar disposition of the group portrait of the Evangelists, painted across the height of the page, occurs in several other Gospel manuscripts written in uncials; in most of these the scenes from the life of Christ are also painted in the same fashion across the height of the page. All the dated examples, known so far, belong to the 11th century; they are as follows:

1. Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 4804, written in a.d. 1018 by the scribe Hohannes at the monastery

of Talash in the province of Kghawt.4

2. Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 283, written in a.d. 1033 by the scribe K'ristap'or for Simeon, his

brothers and their parents.5

2 Armenian Manuscripts. An Exhibition at the University of Kansas Library, December 1955. Preface and notes by Werner Winter. See frontispiece and p. 2.

3 The old pagination has been retained ; these folio numbers were written before the manuscript was divided into two parts by Mr. Minassian, but after the sections mentioned above had been lost.

4 This manuscript was formerly at Aght'amar (E. Lalayan, Catalogue of the Armenian Manu- scripts of Vaspurakan (in Armenian), Tiflis, 1915, pp. 71-76). The portraits of the four Evangelists, standing full face under arches, occur on fol. 7 v. On fol. 5v, one half of which has been torn off except for a small section, there were two rows of six arches framing the portraits of saints holding books; these probably represented the 12 apostles.

6 In addition to the Canon tables (fols. 5-8) and the group portrait of the Evangelists on fol. 4v, there are three miniatures. Fol. 3, a large figure, identified by the inscription as Simeon, for whom the manuscript was written, and three smaller ones, probably his brothers, stand in a row; the last one is slightly turned toward a large angel depicted on the right ( L. A. Durnovo, Kratkaia istoriia drevnear- mianskoi zhivopisi, Erevan, 1957, pi. 9). Fol. 4, Baptism, placed in the normal fashion. Fol. 8v, Adoration of the Magi and of the Shepherds painted again across the height of the page (E. Nikolskaia, "K'izucheniiu armianskoi miniatiurnoi zhivopisi. 1. Armianskaia rukopis' XI veka Etchmiadzinskoi biblioteki No. 283," Naukovi Zapysky pratsi naukovo-doslidchnoi katedry istorii evropeiskoi kultury. USSR, Narodnii komisariiat osvity upravlinnia naukovymy ustanovamy Ukrainy, 1929, pp. 425-431, pis. Ill, IV). For the colophon see Garegin I Hovsep'ian, Colophons of Manuscripts (in Armenian), Antilias, 1951, cols. 217-218.

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS — DER NERSESSIAN

3

3. Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 6201, written in A.D. 1038 by the cleric Evargris.6

4. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, No. 3624, written in a.d. 1041 by the priest Samuel.T

5. Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 3723, written in a.d. 1045 by the priest Husik.8

6. Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 3784, written in a.d. 1057 by the priest Thomas at Melitene.9

7. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, No. 1924, written in a.d. 1064 by Step'annos at the monastery of Shukhr Khandara in the Taurus Mountains.10

The Gospel manuscripts of Erevan, Matenadaran, Nos. 974 11 and 7739 12 are not dated but they can also be assigned to the 1 1th century on the basis of the pale- ography and the style of the ornaments and miniatures.

All these manuscripts are related to one another, not only because of the peculiar disposition of the miniatures,13 but also through their style and general

6 Fols. l-4v, Letter of Eusebius and Canon tables; fol. 5, Nativity; fol. 5v, Baptism; fol. 6, Trans- figuration; fol. 6v, Entry into Jerusalem; fol. 7, Last Supper; fol. 7v, Crucifixion; fol. 8, Holy Women at the Sepulchre; fol. 8v, Four Evangelists. Colophon in Garegin I Hovsep'ian, op. cit., cols. 219-220. Reproductions of some of the miniatures in G. Hovsep'ian, The Saviour of Havuts T'ar (in Armenian), Jerusalem, 1937, fig. 22; A. N. Svirine, La miniature dans I'ancienne Armenie (in Russian with French title), Moscow-Leningrad, 1939, p. 41; L. A. Durnovo, Drevnearmianskaia miniatiura, Erevan, 1952, figs. 4-6; idem, Miniatures armeniennes, Paris, 1960, pp. 42-49.

7 Fols. l-5v, Letter of Eusebius and Canon tables; fol. 6, Annunciation and Visitation; fol. 6v, Nativity ; fol. 7, Presentation of Christ and Baptism ; fol. 7v, Transfiguration and Raising of Lazarus ; fol. 8, Entry into Jerusalem; fol. 8v, Last Supper; fol. 9, Betrayal; fol. 9v, Crucifixion and Descent from the Cross; fol. 10, Entombment and Harrowing of Hell; fol. lOv, Ascension; fol. 11, Four Evangelists; fol. llv, ornate cross. Garegin I Hovsep'ian, Colophons, cols. 221-224; idem, The Saviour of Havuts T'ar, fig. 29, Crucifixion and Descent from the Cross.

8 Fol. 2, Entry into Jerusalem; fol. 2v, Last Supper; fol. 3, Burial and Harrowing of Hell; fol. 3v, Four Evangelists. Garegin I Hovsep'ian, Colophons, cols. 225-226 ; F. Macler, "Rapport sur une mission scientifique en Armenie russe et en Armenie turque ( juillet-octobre 1909)," Nouvelles archives des missions scientifiques et litteraires, n.s., fasc. 2, Paris, 1910, pp. 37-39.

9 Garegin I Hovsep'ian, Colophons, cols. 235-236. This manuscript, formerly at Etchmiadzin, No. 362 G, has been described by F. Macler in his Rapport, pp. 41-45 ; the miniatures were reproduced by him in Miniatures armeniennes. Vie du Christ, Paris, 1913, pis. IX-XV.

10 Fol. l-5v, Letter of Eusebius and Canon tables; fol. 6, Four Evangelists; fol. 6v, Pentecost; fol. 7, Crucifixion; fol. 7v, four standing figures; fol. 8, ornate cross. Garegin I Hovsep'ian, Colophons, cols. 245-248.

11 Fol. 1, Four Evangelists; fol. lv, Entombment and Harrowing of Hell; fol. 2, Crucifixion; fol. 2v, Betrayal; fol. 3, Transfiguration; fol. 3v, Presentation and Baptism. These miniatures are almost identical with those of Erevan, No. 3784, dated a.d. 1057. See examples in L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, pp. 61 and 63.

12 Formerly at Erzerum: H. H. Adjarian, Catalog der armenischen Handschriften in der Bibliothek des Sanassarian-Institutes zu Erzerum, Vienna, 1900, pp. 8-10. Fol. 1, Canon table; fol. lv, Annuncia- tion at the well (L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, p. 25).

13 The group portrait of the Evangelists painted across the height of the page is preserved in Erevan No. 2877 which may be dated in the 12th century, while the two Gospel scenes, the Annunciation and Nativity, are placed in the normal fashion, across the width of the page (L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, pp. 71, 73). The Nativity painted across the height of the page on fol. lv of Erevan No. 6202, dated a.d. 909, is a later addition. Occasionally the 11th-century disposition of scenes painted across the height of the page survives in manuscripts of later date which copy older models. Thus in the Gospel No. 4814 of Erevan, written in a.d. 1294 at the monastery of Ter Huskan Ordi in the province of Duruberan, the scenes from the life of Christ closely follow those of Erevan No. 6201 of the year 1038,

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characteristics. Gold is never used; in almost every instance the miniatures are painted against the plain vellum background and they give the impression of tinted drawings, executed in a linear style with hardly any modeling. There are no head- pieces and the marginal ornaments consist generally of colored circular bands which frame the pericope numbers. There is a particularly close connection between Jerusalem No. 3624 (a.d. 1041), and Erevan Nos. 3723 (a.d. 1045), 3784 (A.D. 1057), and 974 (11th c.) ; the Gospel scenes are almost identical and it is evident, on the grounds of style as well as of iconography, that these manuscripts were produced in the same scriptorium, probably at Melitene, where Erevan No. 3784 was written. The other manuscripts of this group, of which the provenance is also known, belong to the same general region. Erevan No. 4804 was written at the monastery of Talash in the province of Kghawt, which has been identified with Claudia to the east of Melitene ; 14 Jerusalem No. 1924 was written at Shukhr Khandara, near Kesun, to the south of Melitene, in the Taurus Mountains.

These manuscripts are the products of a provincial school, and they differ in every respect from the sumptuous Gospels illustrated in more important centers, such as Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 3793, dated 1053; the Gospel of King Gagik of Kars, written before 1064 (Jerusalem, Arm. Patr. No. 2556) ; Erevan, Matena- daran, No. 311, written at Sebastia in 1066; and the so-called "Trebizond" Gospel (Venice, Mekhitharist Library, No. 1400).

The Freer manuscript has no Gospel scenes but it can be related to the provin- cial school mentioned above through the disposition, style, and type of the Evange- list portraits {fig. 8). As in these other manuscripts, the Evangelists, painted against the neutral vellum background, are grouped on the same page, turned slightly toward one another, two by two. This iconographic type, peculiar to this group, is a development of the scheme used in several manuscripts of the 10th century, where the Evangelists, standing under arches, are placed on two con- fronting pages, whereas in the sumptuous manuscripts of the 11th century the seated Evangelists are portrayed, each at the beginning of his own Gospel.15

The Freer manuscript is also connected with the provincial school through the type and decoration of the Canon tables, and in particular with the later examples of this school. In the earlier manuscripts, namely, the Gospels of Erevan, Nos. 4804 (A.D. 1018), 283 (A.D. 1033), and 6201 (a.d. 1038), the Canon tables are written under single or double arches of horseshoe shape, while in Jerusalem No. 3624 (A.D. 1041), Erevan No. 3784 (a.d. 1057), and Jerusalem No. 1924 (A.D. 1064) we see, as in the Freer manuscript, large semicircular arches with two smaller ones opening into them and framing the number of the Canon table.16

while the seated Evangelists conform to the iconographic types of the 13th century (L. Durnovo, Kratkaia, pi. 11). For examples of the 14th century see idem, Miniatures armeniennes, pp. 147, 148, 159.

14 N. Adontz, "Notes armeno-byzantines. V. Les Dalassenes," Byzantion, X (1935), pp. 181-183.

16 In two manuscripts which probably date in the 11th century the standing Evangelists are grouped on the same page but the general type and disposition differ from those of the provincial group men- tioned above. In Vienna, Mekh. Libr., No. 697, the page is divided into two registers and the Evange- lists appear two by two above one another (F. Macler, Miniatures armeniennes, pi. VIII) ; in Jerusalem, Arm. Patr., No. 2562, they stand under a single decorative arch (fol. 3v).

16 Both types occur in manuscripts of the 10th century: double horseshoe arches in the Etchmiadzin

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5

Because of the similarities mentioned above, as well as the absence of head- pieces and the types of simple marginal ornaments, the Freer Gospel can be assigned to the region of Melitene and the Taurus Mountains, and dated around the middle of the 11th century. In style and iconography the Evangelist portraits come closest to those of Jerusalem No. 3624 and Erevan No. 3784, dated respec- tively in 1041 and 1057.

The decorative interest predominates in the Freer Gospel as well as in these other manuscripts; the miniaturist has modified the animal and plant forms and he has reduced the latter to simple geometric figures ; but his inability as a draughts- man has prevented him from creating effective ornamental designs. The acanthus scroll is still recognizable in the band above the Evangelist portraits and on the outer arch of folio Br {figs. 4, 8) ; elsewhere it is broken up into a succession of half leaves, alternately turned up or down, or into a series of triangles {figs. 2, 5, 6) . However, despite this interest in abstract forms, the favorite geometric motifs of Armenian painters, such as the multicolored disks, or the "rainbow," are absent from the ornamental pages of the Freer Gospel as they are, also, from those of the allied manuscripts. Only the guilloche has been used twice on folios Bv and C {figs. 5,6).

The flowers and the animals — cocks, cranes, ducks — painted as usual around the outer arches are highly stylized. The two large birds of folios Bv and Cr have a long appendage, terminating in a fan-shaped tuft or palmette, which projects from their head or neck {figs. 5, 6). This may be an exaggeration of the head feathers of peacocks or a misinterpretation of the flying ends of the neck band, fre- quently represented in Sasanian art and imitated in Armenian manuscripts. The strange quadrupeds of folio Br {fig. 4), one of them with a bird's head, may be debased copies of the sheep depicted above the Canon tables in some Armenian manuscripts, for instance on folios 6 and 8v of the "Trebizond" Gospel.

In one respect alone does the Freer Gospel differ from the allied manuscripts. The first page of the Gospel of Luke, the only opening page that has been pre- served, is framed by a double band {fig. 1). The inner one is decorated with an all-over pattern of heart-shaped leaves; fleurons, connected by triangles, fill the narrow sidebands of the outer rectangle; while six roundels enclosing rosettes or stylized peacocks, and separated from one another by fleurons, are drawn in the upper and lower bands. In other manuscripts ornate bands occasionally surround the colophon or the brief preface of a Gospel,17 but the text itself is rarely framed. The first two pages of a copy of the prayers of Gregory of Narek, illustrated in Cilicia in 1173, are written in gold letters under a decorative arcade, similar to those painted around the Canon tables.18 The first page of the Gospel of Mark,

Gospel of the year 989; small arches opening into a larger one in the Gospel of Queen Mlk'e of the year 902. C. Nordenfalk, Die spatantiken Kanontafeln, Goteborg, 1938, pis. 17-23, 35.

17 Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, No. 537, Gospel of a.d. 966: on fol. 2v a rectangular band, decorated with a guilloche, frames the colophon. In a Gospel dated 974, kept at the village of Dsghrut', in Armenia, the brief preface of the Gospel of Matthew, followed by the colophon, is written inside a cruciform frame. G. Hovsep'ian, Album of Armenian Palaeography (in Armenian), Vagharshapat, 1913, pi. 23, No. 38.

18 Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 1568: A. N. Svirine, La miniature dans I'ancienne Armenie, p. 50.

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taken from an uncial manuscript of the late 12th century, and used as a flyleaf in the Gospel of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, No. 1956, has a wide band around it, decorated with foliate motifs enclosed in squares. Simple frames occasionally occur in Byzantine manuscripts. In a Lectionary, ascribed by some scholars to the 10th century and by others to the 14th century, colored bands are drawn around the text columns of the first page.19 The ornate frame of the Freer Gospel calls to mind the richly decorated pages of early Latin manuscripts, but no definite connection with these can be suggested. The ornaments themselves are characteristic of Armenian art. As early as the sixth century, birds under horse- shoe arches which almost form a circle were carved above the windows on the north f agade of the Church of Ptghni.20 The arches of some of the Canon tables of 11th-century manuscripts are decorated with roundels enclosing birds.21 Similar motifs had long been used in textiles and were known in Armenia — witness the rich mantle worn by King Gagik Ardsruni carved on the west fagade of the Church of Aght'amar,22 or the tunic of King Gagik of Kars.23 In the former the roundels enclose birds, in the latter the roundels framing goats alternate with lozenges decorated with rosettes. Recent investigations have shown that as early as the ninth century there existed rugs, as well as textiles, with animal designs; in a few surviving fragments birds standing in profile are framed by an angular or ovoid wreath of stylized flowers.24 We have evidence that such rugs were also used in Armenia, for the one thrown over the couch on which Gagik of Kars, his wife and daughter are seated is decorated with roundels framing a bird or an elephant standing in profile.25 Many of the marginal ornaments of this same manuscript imitate rugs, even showing the knotted tassels at the ends, and the design of one of these ornaments consists of roundels framing birds.26 The first page of Luke of the Freer Gospel has itself the appearance of a rug, the text taking the place of the central motif, and a rug may have served as a source of inspiration for this unusual method of decorating the page of a manuscript.

19 Vaticanus graecus No. 1522: K. Weitzmann, Byzantinische Buchmalerei des IX. und X. Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1935, pi. VI, fig. 27. Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae Codices Vaticani Graeci 1485-1683, recensuit Cyrus Gianelli, Vatican City, 1940, pp. 67-70.

20 B. Arak'elian, Siuzhetn'ie rel'efi Armenii IV -VII vekov (in Armenian with Russian title and summary), Erevan, 1949, fig. 68.

21 See, for instance, the "Trebizond" Gospel: S. Der Nersessian, Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, Cambridge (Mass.), 1945, pi. XXI, fig. 1. Similar designs occur in Byzantine manuscripts the decorations of which have an orientalizing character. K. Weitzmann, Byzantinische Buchmalerei, figs. 49, 135, 142, 144, 419, 427, 430, 512, 515.

22 S. Der Nersessian, Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, pi. XI, fig. 2.

23 Jerusalem, Arm. Patr., No. 2556: S. Der Nersessian, Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, pi. XXIII, fig. 2.

24 R. Ettinghausen, "New Light on Early Animal Carpets," A us der Welt der islamischen Kunst. Festschrift fur Ernst Kuhnel zum 75. Geburtstag am 26.10.1957, Berlin, 1959, pp. 93-116.

25 S. Der Nersessian, op. cit., pi. XXIII, fig. 2.

26 A. Tchobanian, La Roseraie d'Armenie, Paris, 1929, vol. Ill, p. 167.

FGA 50.3. FOUR GOSPELS, 12TH CENTURY

Description. — Thick, cream-colored vellum; 261 folios measuring 32.2 to 32.5 cm. x 22.7 to 24 cm.; written surface 21.2 x 14.3 cm. Text in sloping, angular erkat'agir (uncial), written on two columns of 19 lines each, except for the last page of the Gospel of Mark (fol. 128v) which is in a single column. The first page and the title of each Gospel are in gilt letters; the concordances in the lower margins, the numbers of the verses, and the corrections or omissions added in the side margins are in small erkat'agir, contemporary with the text. Each pericope begins with a floral initial and is accompanied by a marginal ornament; the first letter of each Gospel occupies the entire column. Gilt capitals have been used for the initials of some of the verses on folios 12v to 19v.

The quires of eight leaves each are numbered by letters in small erkat'agir, contemporary with the text, written in the upper right corner of the first page of each quire; the numbering begins, as usual in Armenian manuscripts, with the first quire of the Gospel of Matthew. The full-page miniatures, as well as the Evangelist portraits, painted on single leaves of which the reverse is left blank, are added each time to the quaternion. There is a definite attempt to begin each Gospel with a new quire, consequently the preceding quire may not be a quaternion; thus the last quire of the Gospel of Mark is composed of 10 leaves (fols. 119-128).

Binding. — Brown leather over wooden boards with stamped ornaments; the flap is torn off. The upper cover is decorated with a large cross in guilloche raised on a stepped base of interlace; a trefoil band encircles the three arms of the cross. The frame consists of bands of linear interlace; rays within a segment of a circle fill the upper corners. A few holes have been left by the pegs to which the thongs were attached, others by nails which probably fixed metal ornaments. The lower cover is decorated with a central rectangle of interlace and a frame of linear inter- lace similar to the one on the upper cover.

The leather binding must have originally belonged to a large manuscript for the design is not properly centered. There is a fairly wide space between the spine and the ornamental frame, while on the upper, outer, and inner sides this frame comes to the edge of the wooden boards.

Condition. — There are considerable lacunae in the text and several folios have been mutilated. The following passages are missing: After fol. 6, short notice on Saint Mark and Canon 6; after fol. 58, Matthew 16:28-17: 12; after fol. 65, Matthew 19:25-20:6; after fol. 72, Matthew 22:4-17; after fol. 74 Matthew 23 : 6-23 ; after fol. 77, Matthew 24: 24 to end; after fol. 98, Mark 7: 36- 8: 13; after fol. 214, Luke 23:39-53; after fol. 226, John 3: 15-27; after fol. 230, John 4: 46-5: 19 ; after fol. 256, John 12:24-13: 1 1 ; after fol. 259, John 14: 12- 18: 22; after fol. 260, John 18: 34-21 : 10; after fol. 261, John 21 : 20-25 and prob-

7

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ably 8:3-11, the reading on the adulterous woman, often added at the end of the Gospel; also the last verses of the Gospel of Mark.

The upper margins were trimmed off when the manuscript was rebound. In addition, the following pages were more seriously mutilated : Fols. 3 and 4, upper third of each leaf, cutting off the ornate rectangle of the Canon tables on fols. 3v and 4, and one line of text on fol. 4v; fol. 7, upper margin, cutting off the top of the Canon table; fol. 16, entire outer margin, cutting off one or two letters on each line, as well as the marginal ornament and part of the ornate initial on fol. 16v; fol. SO, upper part of outer margin mutilating the marginal ornament on fol. 50v; fol. 86, almost the entire page has been cut off (Mark 3: 23-4:4) leaving only a small strip of the inner column of text; fols. 212-214, outer margins, cutting off a few letters of each line on fol. 214; fols. 219 and 220, lower margin; fol. 225, outer margin, cutting off the ornament of fol. 225v; fol. 230, lower corner of outer margin ; fol. 248, part of outer margin, cutting off the top of the ornament on the recto; fol. 261, outer margin, cutting off one or two letters on each line and the ornament on the recto.

History of the Manuscript. — The end of the manuscript, which probably had a colophon, is missing. The previous owner was an Armenian Catholic priest, Father K'erovbe Ter Petrossian. According to the information given on the leaf pasted inside the upper cover under his photograph, and the notes added on folios 2v and 77v, he had bought this manuscript at Sebastia in 1879, then carried it to Aintab in 1885, and in 1897, on August 15, he presented it to the monastery of the Virgin Mary at Zmmar, in Lebanon, the patriarchal see of the Armenian Catho- lics.27 The earlier history of this manuscript is not known; it entered the Freer Gallery of Art in 1950.

Contents and list of illustrations:

Fols. lv-2. Letter of Eusebius {figs. 9, 10) and colophon dated 1897.

Fol. 3. Symbolic interpretation of the Canon tables (see Appendix, pp. 103-104).

Fols. 3v-4. Canon tables 1 and 2.

Fols. 4v-5. Continuation of symbolic interpretation.

Fols. 5v-6. Canon tables 3-5 {figs. 11, 12).

Fol. 6v. End of symbolic interpretation and brief notice on Matthew.

Fol. 7. Canon tables 7 and 8.

Fols. 7v-8. Brief notices on Luke and John.

Fols. 8v-9. Canon tables 9 and 10 {figs. 15-16).

Fol. lOv. Portrait of Matthew {fig. 17). The gold of the background has flaked off, revealing the red underpainting ; traces of the Evangelist's name, written above his head, are still visible. A later hand has added black lines below Matthew's right thigh and on the draperies. The first word of Matthew's Gospel is written on the paper placed on the Evangelist's knees.

Fols. ll-77v. Gospel of Matthew {fig. 18).

Fol. 78v. Portrait of Mark {fig. 19). The colors of the hair and beard have flaked off in part, also the gold of the background, revealing the red underpainting. No trace of the Evangelist's name remains. A later hand has again drawn black lines below Mark's right thigh and the hem of his mantle. The

See Appendix, pp. 104-105.

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS — DER NERSESSIAN

9

first words of his Gospel are written on the book placed on the lectern and continue on the paper resting on his knees. Fols. 79-128v. Gospel of Mark {fig. 20).

Fol. 100. Transfiguration {fig. 14). Inscription in red letters above the frame: "Transfiguration of the Lord."

Fol. 129v. Portrait of Luke {fig. 21). The gold of the background has partly flaked off; traces of the Evangelist's name, written above his head, are still visible. A later hand has reinforced the circular line of the nimbus and has added black lines below Luke's thigh, as in the preceding portraits.

Fols. 130-218v. Gospel of Luke {fig. 22).

Fols. 132v. Annunciation {fig. 13). Inscription in red letters above the frame: "Annunciation to the

Theotokos." The gold ground and some of the colors, in particular those of the Virgin's mantle

and throne, have flaked off. Fol. 219v. Portrait of John {fig. 23). The gold ground has flaked off; John's name is still visible,

written above his head. The first two words of his Gospel are written on the paper resting on his

knees.

Fols. 220-270. Gospel of John {fig. 24).

STUDY OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS There are only two Gospel scenes in the manuscript but originally there were also others. A leaf has been cut off between folios 136 and 137 leaving a stub on the lower part of which can be seen a narrow red band similar to the frames of the Transfiguration and the Annunciation. Since no part of the text is missing there must have been a full-page miniature here, probably representing the Nativity, for the account of Christ's birth (Luke 2: 2-9) is written on folio 137. As noted above, the two remaining miniatures are added to the quaternion and the reverse of the folio is left blank ; one cannot therefore determine how many miniatures were removed when the manuscript was rebound. However, taking into consideration the scenes usually represented in Armenian manuscripts and the lacunae in the Freer Gospel, one may suppose that some, if not all, of the following miniatures were cut off, together with the text pages: Holy Women at the Sepulchre (after fol. 77, Matthew 24: 24 to end) ; Crucifixion or Descent from the Cross (after fol. 214, Luke 23:39-53) ; Entry into Jerusalem or Washing of the Feet (after fol. 256, John 12:23-13: 11) ; Pentecost or Betrayal (after fol. 259, John 14: 12- 18 : 22) ; Crucifixion or Incredulity of Thomas (after fol. 260, John 18 : 34-21 : 10) . Other miniatures may have been cut off without removing, at the same time, any part of the text, as it was done in the case of the missing leaf between folios 136 and 137.

The full-page miniatures have a monumental character. The figures, seated or standing in erect attitudes, tend to fill all the available space. The interest in linear design is manifest in the sharp delineation of the features and the treatment of the draperies. Deep shadows outline the folds; they emphasize the articulations of the limbs while the white highlights and smaller folds form ornamental patterns. But the stylization is not carried too far and some of the figures, in particular Christ, are carefully modeled ; delicate yellow and reddish lines mark the folds of His white raiment.

There is an austere quality in these representations painted with beautiful color harmonies. Matthew is clad in a light-green tunic and a grayish-blue mantle;

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the tunic of Mark is violet and his mantle blue. Luke and John wear a blue tunic and a grayish-lavender mantle {figs. 17, 19, 21, 23). In the first three portraits a wide band, imitating a marble wall, stretches across the width of the miniature, above the desk; the surface is divided into rectangles and the "veins" of the purplish stone form concentric rosettes. In the Transfiguration, Elijah wears a yellow-ochre tunic and a greenish-brown mantle edged with a blue herringbone motif ; Moses wears a dark-violet mantle over his light-green tunic {fig. 14) . Some of these colors are repeated in the garments of the Apostles outlined against lavender, yellow-ochre, and blue hillocks: Peter, on the left, is clad like Moses; John's tunic is blue and his mantle purple; James, on the extreme right, wears a lavender mantle. The nimbuses of all three Apostles are painted yellow instead of being gold as in all the other figures. In the Annunciation, Gabriel wears a light- blue tunic and a light-purple mantle, while the tunic and mantle of the Virgin are a darker blue and a deeper purple {fig. 13).

Blues and greens, enlivened by occasional touches of red, predominate in the floral ornaments of the Canon tables and the arches drawn above the seated Evan- gelists. The same colors are also used in the marginal designs and ornate initials.

The sloping angular erkat'agir in which the text is written appears in dated manuscripts as early as the year 973 and continues to be used until the middle of the 13th century, but it is particularly characteristic of the manuscripts written during the second half of the 12th century in Cilicia and in centers artistically con- nected with this region, such as Sebastia, Erzinjan, and Edessa.28 The elegance and regularity of the script of the Freer Gospel point to Cilicia and to the 12th century.

Through the style and iconography of the miniatures, the types of initials used for the first letter of each Gospel, the ornamental motifs as well as the paleography, the present example is closely related to the Gospels of Jerusalem, No. 1796, and Venice, Mekhitharist Library, No. 141, and to a slightly lesser degree to Venice, Mekhitharist Library, No. 888.29 The draperies of the Evangelists {figs. 17, 19, 21, 23) are treated in the same manner in the Freer Gospel and in Jerusalem, No. 1796 {fig. 352). In both manuscripts the shoulder articulation is emphasized by drawing a pointed oval which ends in the hollow of the bent arm; circular lines stress the hip ; the bulging knees, also outlined by a pointed oval, form a sharp angle

28 G. Hovsep'ian, Album of Armenian Paleography; see fig. 37 for the manuscript of 973 (Erevan No. 2684) and, for later examples, figs. 38, 42, 43, 49, 50, 56, 58, 61, 64, 69, 72-74.

29 In Jerusalem No. 1796 there are two full-page miniatures in addition to the portraits of the Evangelists: fol. 88v, Holy Women at the Sepulchre and Christ appearing to them; fol. 280v, Christ and the Donor (fig. 353). In Venice No. 141 there remain the portrait of Luke, on fol. 121 v, and the following scenes, introduced into the text: fol. 66, Last Judgment; fol. 77, Holy Women at the Sepul- chre; fol. 124, Annunciation; fol. 195, Harrowing of Hell; fol. 232, Raising of Lazarus; fol. 257, Incre- dulity of Thomas. The portrait of Luke, the Harrowing of Hell, the Holy Women at the Sepulchre, the Last Judgment and the opening page of the Gospel of John are reproduced in Pazmaveb, Venice, 1935, Nos. 9-12 (Sept.-Dec), pp. 328-336, figs. 17-21. For Venice No. 888, see S. Der Nersessian, Manuscrits armeniens illustres des Xlle, Xllle et XIV e siecles de la Bibliotheque des Peres Mekhi- tharistes de Venise, Paris, 1937, pp. 87-102, pis. XXXIV-XXXIX, figs. 69-85.

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS — DER NERSESSIAN

11

with the line of the leg; the lower edge of the mantle consists of a diagonal band which cuts across the vertical folds. The linear design is more accentuated in the Freer manuscript and the Evangelists sit in a more erect position, but the similari- ties noted above, as well as that of the facial types, are sufficient to indicate that the Freer and Jerusalem manuscripts are products of the same artistic school, though not the work of the same artist. In Venice No. 141 we have similar Evangelist types but a slightly more plastic treatment (fig. 351) ; however, the Annunciation scene in this manuscript follows the same iconographic type as that of the Freer manuscript.

In the Freer Gospel {figs. 18, 20, 22, 24) , in Jerusalem No. 1796, and in Venice No. 888,80 a scroll is drawn inside or at the sides of the first letter of the Gospels. In the Freer Gospel, in Jerusalem No. 1796 (fig. 354), and in Venice No. 141 the symbol of Mark is inside the initial; these last two manuscripts also add the symbol next to the initials of the other three Gospels, an iconographic type which occurs in Cilician manuscripts of the beginning of the 12th century.31 In Venice No. 141, as in the Freer Gospel, contrary to the common practice at this time, the portraits of Eusebius and Carpianus do not appear in the decorative arcades which frame the Letter. In all the manuscripts of this group the marginal ornament of the first page of each Gospel is relatively small, and it is surmounted by the same type of cross with flaring arms.

Unfortunately, the colophons being lost, the exact date and provenance of these manuscripts is not known, but they can all be assigned to Cilicia and to the latter part of the 12th century because of their affinities with a collection of the prayers of Gregory of Narek, written in 1173 at the monastery of Skevra, in the western part of Cilicia (Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 1568). The elegant sloping erkat'agir resembles the script of the Freer, Jerusalem, and Venice manuscripts; the style of the four portraits of Gregory of Narek, writing, standing full face, or praying to Christ (fig. 349) , is closely related to that of these same manuscripts, in particular to the Jerusalem and Venice Gospels.32 We find the same degree of stylization; the same method of delineating the features or of indicating the folds of the draperies; the same facial type of Christ with a slightly aquiline nose and a short forked beard.

The scribe Grigor, the illustrator of Erevan No. 1568, has been considered as a representative of the scriptorium of Skevra since he was at work there in 1173,

30 S. Der Nersessian, op. cit., figs. 70, 72, and 74.

31 J. Strzygowski, Kleinarmenische Miniaturenmalerei. Die Miniaturen des Tubinger Evangeliars Ma XIII.l vom J. 1113, bezw. 893 n. Chr., Tubingen, 1907, pis. VII-X. Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7737: L. Azarian, "The Significance of Drazark in Cilician Miniature-painting" (in Armenian), Akad. Nauk Arm. SSR. Izvestiia, 1957, fasc. 5, pp. 95-106, figs. 4, 6; L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, p. 75.

32 L. Azarian, "The 'Narek' copied in 1173 and the School of Miniaturists of Skevra" (in Armenian), Banber Matenadarani, 4 (1958), pp. 83-110, figs. 1-6; L. Durnovo, op. cit., pp. 80-81. The portrait of St. Gregory standing, dressed as a bishop (L. Azarian, op. cit., fig. 5), differs from the other portraits and may have been painted by a different, though contemporary, scribe. The greater degree of stylization relates it more closely to the miniatures of the Freer Gospel.

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when he also illustrated a Gospel formerly at Amida.88 However, a sentence in the colophon of this Gospel clearly indicates that he was not a regular member of this monastery. Grigor thanks Nerses of Lambron, who had provided the model which he copied and who, he adds, "offered an habitation to my feebleness at his own monastery of Skevra." 84 We know from the colophon of a Gospel, formerly at Tokat, that Grigor had been at Hromkla before coming to Skevra and that he returned to the patriarchal see after what was, probably, a brief sojourn at Skevra. According to the colophon, this Gospel had been commissioned by the Catholicos Nerses the Graceful and was virtually completed at the time of the Catholicos's death in May 1173. The following year, at the request of Nerses's successor, the Catholicos Gregory, Grigor finished his work and bound the manuscript.35

Since Grigor worked at both Skevra and Hromkla, further evidence is neces- sary before the above-mentioned manuscript, stylistically allied to his work, can be assigned with certainty to one or the other of these two centers. But for a number of reasons we are inclined to decide in favor of Hromkla.

The only surviving illustrated manuscript of the 12th century known to have been written at Hromkla is a Gospel dated 1 166, Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7347.88 The crudely drawn portraits of the Evangelists are the work of a scribe very inferior in skill to Grigor, or to the illustrators of the allied manuscripts. How- ever, the iconographic type of the donor portrait is almost identical with the one in the Jerusalem Gospel, No. 1796 (fig. 353). In both manuscripts Christ is seated on a high throne and the donor stands lower down, on the left, slightly bending as he presents the manuscript he had commissioned. The ornamental designs of the Erevan Gospel are superior to the figure representations and offer some points of similarity with the work of Grigor and our group of manuscripts. Unfortunately the two Gospels illustrated by Grigor are now lost and only the first page of Mark from the Gospel formerly at Tokat is known through a reproduction, but this page closely resembles the corresponding one in the Gospel of Erevan of A.D. 1166.37 The general design of the headpiece is the same; in both manuscripts the initial is formed by an interlacing band interrupted by two lion heads, and the lion, the symbol of Mark, is drawn above the second column of text, the body facing to the right and the head turned to the left. The same type of initial is used in the Freer, Jerusalem, and Venice manuscripts. In the Gospel of A.D. 1166, the angel, the symbol of Matthew, is depicted, half kneeling, next to the initial, as in the Jerusalem manuscript; the symbols of Mark, Luke

33 L. Azarian, op. cit., pp. 86-87. The Gospel formerly at Amida was begun during the primacy of Nerses the Graceful and must have been completed in the last months of 1173, for the accession of the Catholicos Gregory is recorded in the colophon: G. Hovsep'ian, Colophons, cols. 445-448.

34 G. Hovsep'ian, op. cit., col. 446. 36 Ibid., cols. 453-460, fig. 26.

36 Ibid., cols. 389-394; L. Azarian, op. cit., figs. 7-8, 11.

37 G. Hovsep'ian, op. cit., fig. 26. T. Izmailova has recently published a reproduction of the first page of the Gospel of Luke which also resembles the corresponding page of the Gospel of Erevan, No. 7347, "Murganskii obrazets v armianskoi miniatiurnoi zhivopisi," Trudy gosudarstvennogo Ermi- tazha. Kul'tura i iskusstvo narodov Vostoka, V (1961), pp. 76-97, fig. 14.

ARMENIAN MANUSCRIPTS — DER NERSESSIAN

13

and John are drawn above the second column of text {fig. 350).™ However, in the manuscripts written at Skevra and in the neighboring monastery of Mlich at the end of the 12th century, we no longer find the ornate initials; instead, the letters are formed by the symbol of the Evangelist,39 whereas the scribes of Hromkla continue to use these ornate letters well into the middle of the 13th century.40

Indirect evidence for the style practiced at Hromkla during the latter half of the 12th century and for assigning the Freer Gospel to this scriptorium may be derived from a Syriac manuscript written at the turn of the century, Paris syr. 356.41 The scribe Joshua (Iso) has been convincingly identified with a native of Castrum Romanum, that is Hromkla, who became the patriarch of the Jacobite Syrians in 1208, and who has signed two manuscripts written in 1190 and 1192 in the vicinity of Edessa, south of Hromkla.42 The Evangelist portraits of the Paris manuscript No. 356, grouped on a single page, are almost identical in facial type as well as figure style with those of the Freer Gospel ; in fact the stylistic connec- tion between these two sets of paintings is even closer than that between the illustrations of the Freer Gospel and those of the Armenian allied manuscripts mentioned above. Joshua must have received his training in his native city of Hromkla where there was an important Syrian colony. This is suggested not only by the affinities with the Armenian manuscript but also by the stylistic differences between the miniatures of Paris syr. 356 and those of Syriac manu- scripts produced in other centers.43

88 L. Azarian, op. cit., fig. 11 ; Izmailova, op. cit., figs. 5, 7, 9.

39 Venice, Mekh. Libr., No. 1635, dated 1193: S. Der Nersessian, Manuscrits armeniens, pis. XIV, XV, XVII; N. Akinian, "Das Skevra-Evangeliar vom Jahre 1197, aufbewahrt im Archive der armenischen Erzbistums Lemberg," Materialen zur Geschichte der armenischen Kunst, Paldographie und Miniaturmalerei (in Armenian with German title and summary), II, Vienna, 1930.

40 See below, codex No. 44.17.

41 J. Leroy, "Le manuscrit syriaque 356 de la Bibliotheque nationale, sa date et son lieu de composition," Syria, XXIV (1944-45), pp. 194-205, pi. XVI.

42 Ibid., pp. 201-205.

43 Leaving aside the Lectionaries of the Vatican and the British Museum, which are influenced by the style of Muslim miniatures, one may mention, as an example, Paris syr. 355 written at Melitene (H. Omont, "Peintures d'un evangeliaire syriaque du Xlle ou Xllle siecle," Monuments Pioi, XIX (1911), pp. 201-210, pis. XVI-XX). The Evangelist portraits of the Bible at the University Library of Cambridge, Oo 1 and Oo 2, bear some resemblance to those of Paris syr. 356, a resemblance noted by J. Leroy who, because of the presence of Greek and Armenian transcriptions, suggests that the Bible may have been written in a region close to Armenia, like Melitene, or one of the frontier cities where "sans etre completement ignores, le grec et l'armenien etaient mal connus" (J. Leroy, "Le cycle icono- graphique de la 'Buchanan Bible,' manuscrit syriaque de la Bibliotheque de l'Universite de Cambridge," Cahiers archeologiques, VI [1952], p. 124; the portraits of the Evangelists are on pi. XXXIV). The miniatures of the Lectionary of the Syrian Orthodox Convent of St. Mark, in Jerusalem, written in 1222 at the Convent of the Mother of God in the holy mountain of Edessa, show a later development of the style of Paris syr. 356 (William H. P. Hatch, Greek and Syrian Miniatures in Jerusalem, Cambridge [Mass.], 1931, pis. LXIV-LXXI). One can note, however, certain affinities between the composition of the Harrowing of Hell (pi. LXVIII) and the same scene in Venice No. 141 (Pazmaveb, fig. 18) ;

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The scriptorium of Hromkla, which was to become the leading artistic center of Cilicia in the second and third quarters of the 13th century, was therefore already active in the preceding century. The style developed at this time followed the Byzantinizing trend which can be seen in the luxury Gospels produced in Armenia proper during the 11th century, such as the Gospel of King Gagik of Kars and the "Trebizond" Gospel, but the Cilician miniatures show a greater interest in linear designs than in plastic forms. The comparison of the Annun- ciation and the Transfiguration of the Freer manuscript with the corresponding scenes in the "Trebizond" Gospel brings out the similarities and the differences.44 The iconographic type of the Annunciation is the same in both manuscripts: the Virgin stands in front of her seat which has no back, holding in her left hand the wool she had been spinning. She raises the right hand, palm outward, and her head is slightly bent as she listens to the words of the archangel without looking at him. The stylistic differences are particularly apparent in the treatment of the archangel. In the "Trebizond" Gospel Gabriel approaches in a rapid movement; the bold modeling brings out the full forms of the figure, and stresses the soft feathers of the wings. In the Freer manuscript, Gabriel, more slender, stands erect, heavy lines outline the folds of the mantle and the rigid wings have a metallic appearance. In the Transfiguration the large circular mandorla drawn around Christ also passes behind Elijah and Moses, a type which differentiates these two miniatures from the one used by later Cilician artists who prefer the oval mandorla, which does not touch the side figures. But in the "Trebizond" Gospel the mandorla, shaded a delicate blue, has the transparent quality of an aureole of light, while in the Freer manuscript the mottled blue surface, edged with a wide dark-blue band, produces the impression of a flat disk. Similar differences may be noted in the attitudes of all the figures, and in the representation of the mountains which are treated with a greater degree of naturalism in the "Trebizond" Gospel and reduced to conventional patterns in the Freer manuscript.

The scribes of Hromkla refer to the choice manuscripts which had been assembled at the patriarchal see by the learned prelates ; among these must have figured some of the fine copies executed in the 11th century. The "Trebizond" Gospel itself appears to have passed into the hands of a Cilician nobleman, probably in the 12th century.45 We have more definite information about another important manuscript, a Gospel written and illustrated in 1066 at Sebastia, where King Senek'erim of Vaspurakan had settled after ceding his kingdom to the

and the representation of the Transfiguration in the Syrian Lectionary (pi. LXXI) and in the Freer Gospel (fig. 14).

44 K. Weitzmann, "Die armenische Buchmalerei des 10. und beginnenden 11. Jahrhunderts," Istan- buler Forschungen, 4, Bamberg, 1933, figs. 47, 48. The delicate modeling of the original is partly lost in the reproduction.

45 The following sentence is written in ancient bolorgir on fol. 298v: "Sir Baron, servant of God (and) of this Gospel. Amen." (B. Sarghissian, Grand Catalogue des manuscrits armeniens de la Biblio-

theque des PP. Mekhitharistes de Saint-Lazare, vol. I, Venice, 1914, col. 485.) The author of the Catalogue remarks that the titles "Sir" and "Baron" were borne by the princes of Cilicia from the beginning of the First Crusade to 1198.

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Byzantine emperor. We learn from the colophons that this Gospel, now at Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 311, belonged at one time to the Catholicos Nerses the Graceful who presented it to his nephew Grigoris. The latter had it rebound and, in turn, gave it to Baguran, the grandson of Het'um I, lord of the fortress of Lambron, to which the monastery of Skevra was attached.*6

Codex No. 33.5 showed us an example of the group portraits of Evangelists, a modification of the earlier iconographic type. But in other manuscripts of the 11th century the seated Evangelist, writing or meditating, represented at the beginning of his Gospel, had already replaced the standing figures placed at the beginning of the manuscript, and, with rare exceptions, it became the standard type in Armenian as in Byzantine manuscripts. In the Freer Gospel the Evange- lists are seated under an ornate arch inscribed in the rectangular frame {figs. 17 , 19, 21, 23) ; this is a survival and a transformation of the free-standing arch drawn around the standing Evangelists in the manuscripts of the 10th century. This transformation already appears in Cilicia in the early 12th century in the Gospel of Tubingen, Ma XIII. 1, dated 1113, and in Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7737, which is almost a replica of the Tubingen manuscript.47 In one of the miniatures of the "Narek" of Erevan, No. 1568, Gregory of Narek, dressed as a bishop, stands under a similar arch.48

The decorations of these arches in the Freer Gospel, those of the Canon tables and headpieces, are relatively simple and the range of ornamental motifs is fairly restricted. This simplicity is also characteristic of the other, allied manu- scripts, especially when compared with the decorations of the luxury manuscripts of the 1 1th century, or those which were written at Skevra in the last decade of the 12th century. On the pages which have the Canon tables only a large tree is drawn next to the outer column and there are no ornaments next to the rectangle. The ornamental designs consist of simple geometric and floral motifs. Above the rectangles two birds stand at the sides of a floral motif, and these birds, which vary from one page to the other, are very boldly drawn {figs. 9-12, 15-16).

On the opening page of Matthew the cross is raised on a heavy column instead of the usual floral interlace ; a small scroll with birds perching on the leaves takes the place of the capital {fig. 18). The headpiece of the Gospel of Luke {fig. 22) is decorated with an acanthus whorl and birds perching on the bunches of grapes ; the ornaments of the other headpieces consist of simple floral and geometric designs {figs. 20, 24).

Many of the marginal ornaments are plain, colored bands, drawn around the

46 G. Hovsep'ian, Colophons, cols. 247-250, 411-412, 575-580.

47 J. Strzygowski, op. cit., pis. VII, IX, X; L. Azarian, op. cit., in Akad, Nauk Arm. SSR. lzvestiia, 1957, fasc. 5, p. 101, figs. 3 and 5 ; L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, pp. 77, 79.

48 L. Azarian, op. cit., in Banber Matenadarani, 4 (1958), fig. 5. This type of frame around an Evangelist portrait also occurs in manuscripts of Great Armenia, for instance in a Gospel written in 1181 at the Monastery of Horomos, near Ani (Venice, Mekh. Libr., No. 961) and in the "T'argman- tchats" Gospel of the year 1232 (Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 2743; A. Tchobanian, Roseraie d' Armenie , III, p. 80 h.t.).

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FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

pericope numbers, with a small floral motif or a small tree rising from it. But there are also a number of more elaborate designs, sometimes with birds perched on them or introduced inside the ornament [figs. 25-32). Only a few of these marginal ornaments have a relation to the text: cocks are painted on folios 124v (fig. 28) and 211 next to the Denial of Peter; a cross on folio 126, next to the reading of the Crucifixion in the Gospel of Mark. On folio 260 the cross painted next to the pericope, which begins with John 18: 28, is combined with the cock, for the Denial of Peter is mentioned in the preceding verse (fig. 32). On folio 67v (fig. 25) a tree is drawn next to the pericope of the healing of the blind men of Jericho (Matthew 20: 29).

The text written on folios 3, 4v-5, and 6v, by the same hand as the rest of the manuscript, is a symbolic interpretation of the decorations of the Canon tables depicted on the reverse of these same folios.49 The author's name is not given, but in the majority of manuscripts this text, which begins with the words : "Worthy of great admiration, awe-inspiring glory of the words adorned for our use," is attributed to Step'annos Bishop of Siunik'.50 Step'annos was one of the learned clerics of the eighth century, and a number of his writings have survived : homilies, commentaries on books of the Old and New Testament, hymns, and so forth. He had studied in Constantinople, where he became acquainted with the patriarch Germanos, and he translated some of the writings of Nemesius and of Dionysius the pseudo-Areopagite.

This symbolic interpretation differs in many respects from a similar text which forms part of the introduction to the Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew composed by Nerses the Graceful in the 12th century.51 The latter begins with a general explanation of the Canons. The first Canon is the one in which the divinity resides in unapproachable light. The second and third are devoted to the angels. The fourth is an image of the garden of Eden, the fifth of Noah's ark. The sixth Canon is a figure of the altar of Abraham; the seventh and eighth represent the holy of holies and the altar of Moses, and the ninth the altar of Solomon. The last Canon, the most perfect and filled with truth, is an image of the holy church which encompasses all the mysteries. Each one of these Canons is then considered separately and symbolic explanations are given for the colors and for the component elements of the decorations.52

The text ascribed to Step'annos of Siunik', written in an obscure style, is a less systematic interpretation and does not give the general meaning of each Canon table. Step'annos stresses more the four colors that are used throughout — gold, red,

49 See Appendix, pp. 103-104.

50 G. Srvandztiants, T'oros Aghbar, I, pp. 191-194. See also the Gospel formerly at Sebastia, No. 60: T'. Gushakian, op. cit., in Handes Amsorya, XXXIX (1925), p. 582. This text is erroneously attributed to Nerses the Graceful in a 16th-century manuscript of the British Museum, Or. 2707 (F. C. Conybeare, Catalogue, p. 33).

61 Published in Constantinople in 1825, pp. 6-12. According to some critics the preface is not the work of Nerses the Graceful but of Hovhannes Erznkatsi who in 1316 completed the commentary left unfinished by Nerses.

52 S. Der Nersessian, Manuscrits armenlens, pp. 58-61.

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purple, and blue — giving a slightly different explanation each time. Thus the red suggests the blood of the victims; wine red recalls the offering of Melchisedek ; blood red is a symbol of the Incarnation. In addition to these four colors black is used, according to the interpretation, although it never occurs in illustrated manu- scripts. This black tone prevails in the first Canons, typifying the veil of obscurity of the old dispensation, and it gradually diminishes as the coming of Christ approaches.

It would be very interesting for art historians if a philologist would compare the style and language of this text with the authentic writings of Step'annos of Siunik' in order to verify the correctness of the attribution. Although the author does not attempt to describe the decorative arcades of the Canon tables, his inter- pretation must have been based on these compositions, and in spite of the vagueness of the allusions it would be possible to derive some idea of the types of decoration used in manuscript of the eighth century, during a period which considerably antedates the earliest surviving examples. The author mentions as part of these ornate arcades, cocks, peacocks, doves, partridges, lilies, pomegranates with their three branches joined into one, and finally palm trees. All the birds included in this list occur in manuscripts of the 10th century, and so do the pomegranates. It is particularly interesting that in the Etchmiadzin Gospel of 989 the small pome- granate twigs branching out of a single root are exactly three in number. Cypresses flank the "tempietto" of the Etchmiadzin Gospel, and in the Gospel of Queen Mlk'e delicate vine stocks, undulating like a scroll, are drawn at the sides of the Letter of Eusebius.53 Some of the stylized plant forms used in the 10th century may be transformations of the lily; lilies are sometimes carved on the churches of the sixth and seventh centuries.

The text which bears the name of Step'annos of Siunik' probably served as a model for the later redaction of the symbolic interpretation which forms part of the Introduction of the Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. Its earlier date is attested by the fact that this version beginning with "Worthy of great admiration" occurs in the Gospel of Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7737, which, as mentioned above, is almost a replica of the Gospel of Tubingen of the year 1113 and must have been written about the same time. The symbolic interpretation is written on folios 2v and 3, on the reverse of the Letter of Eusebius and by the same hand. It was therefore known in Cilicia many years before Nerses the Graceful.

C. Nordenfalk, Die sp'dtantiken Kanontafeln, pis. 16, 17, 24, 34.

FGA 44.17. FOUR GOSPELS, A.D. 1253

Description. — Cream-colored vellum, partly yellowed with age; 291 folios, measuring 17.5 to 18x11.5 cm.; written surface 24.2x16.7 cm. Text in small angular erkat'agir (uncial), of the transitional type, with some letters in bolorgir, written on two columns of 22 lines each. The first page of each Gospel and the first line of each pericope are written in large gold uncials; the title of each Gospel is written at the beginning and at the end in angular erkat'agir of the transitional type; the concordances in the lower margins, the numbers of the verses, and the corrections or omissions are added in the margins in bolorgir (minuscule), con- temporary with the text. The first letter of each Gospel is a large, floral initial ; simple gold capitals have been used for the initials of the pericopes and the verses.

The 37 quires, usually of eight leaves, are numbered by continuous letters of the Armenian alphabet, written in erkat'agir in the lower margin of the first and last page of each gathering. The numbering begins, as usual, with the Gospel of Matthew, and since there is a definite attempt to begin each Gospel with a new quire, the preceding gathering has sometimes less and sometimes more than eight leaves. The portraits of the Evangelists, on single folios, are not included in the numbering of the quires.

Binding. — Leather binding over boards, not earlier than the 18th century, decorated with a stamped floral border and rectangular and diagonal lines. Silver studs are nailed around the upper half of the front cover and, in the center, in the shape of a cross. In the middle of the cross there is a square metal plaque and on it a slightly smaller crystal with a cruciform groove which may have held a relic; small oval metal plaques are nailed at the sides of the upper arm of the cross; studs for the thongs which are now missing. The back cover is also decorated with these small oval plaques; they radiate from the center.

Condition. — Folios 289 and 290 are in paper, added probably when the manu- script was last rebound. The conjugate leaves of the first gathering have been separated, and mounted on paper stubs; the order has been disturbed: folio 5 should precede folio 3. The margins have been trimmed off; the side margins of folios 255 and 291 are entirely cut off.

History of the manuscript."4' — This Gospel was written in 1253 by the scribe Hohannes, at the patriarchal see of Hromkla, for the Catholicos Constantine I who presented it to the monastery of P'os, in Cilicia. In 1381 a cleric named David bought it as a memorial to his father, the priest Kirakos, to his daughter Hrip'sime, and all his relatives. Some time later (the date is not recorded) , the bishop Tiratur, abbot of the monastery of Khartishar, near Tchemeshkadsak (£emi§kezek), had it rebound and deposited it in his monastery. In 1648 the manuscript, which had

54 See Appendix, pp. 105-109.

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19

fallen into the hands of the Turks, was redeemed and presented to the church of St. John the Baptist (Surb Karapet), at the monastery of Khartishar. In 1717 several residents of the region together contributed the sum of one pound and had the Gospel rebound. Some years later it was bound again; at that time the manu- script was in the Church of the Three Children (Three Young Hebrews) in the village of Haghtuk, near Khardishar, where it remained until 1884, when the learned cleric Garegin vardapet Srvandztiants copied some of the colophons." He then took it to the Armenian National Library in Constantinople, where it was catalogued under the number 68, and kept there, at least until 19 1 3.5a The manu- script entered the Freer Gallery of Art in 1944.

Contents and list of illustrations:

Fols. 2v and 5. Letter of Eusebius {figs. 33, 34). The colors of the tree in the lower margin of fol. 2v are partly flaked. Inscriptions: fol. 2v, in the lunette, "Eusebius"; on the scroll, "Eusebius to Carpianus" ; fol. 5, in the lunette, "Carpianus" ; on the scroll, "Ammonius the Alexandrian."

Fols. 3v-4. Canons 1 and 2 (figs. 35, 36). The colors of the trees next to the columns are partly flaked.

Fols. 6v-7. Canons 2 to 5 (figs. 37, 38). The trees next to the columns on fol. 6v are almost entirely effaced ; the colors of the tree on the outer margin of fol. 7 are partly flaked.

Fols. 8v-9. Canons 5 to 8 (figs. 39, 40).

Fols. 10v-ll. Canons 9 and 10 (figs. 41, 42). The colors of the lower ornament in the outer margin

of fol. 10 are partly flaked. Fols. 12v-13. Dedicatory inscription (see Appendix, P- 105) (figs. 43, 44).

Fol. 14v. Portrait of Matthew (fig. 46). Inscription: on the upper and lower bands of the frame, "St. Matthew wrote his Gospel eight years after the Ascension of the Lord." The first words of his Gospel are written on the open pages of the book ; a later hand has added them also, in notrgir, on the scroll hanging from the lectern.

Fol. 15. First page of the Gospel of Matthew (fig. 45).

Fols. 15-91. Gospel of Matthew.

Fol. 92v. Portrait of Mark (fig. 47). Inscription: on the upper and lower bands of the frame, "St. Mark wrote his Gospel fifteen years after the Ascension of the Lord." The first words of his Gospel are written on the open pages of the book; a later hand has added them, in notrgir, on the scroll hanging from the lectern.

Fol. 93. First page of the Gospel of Mark (fig. 48). Seal under the headpiece; the name in Armenian and Arabic letters is illegible.

Fols. 93-140v. Gospel of Mark. The verses 9 to 20 of the last chapter are written separately on fol. 140-140v.

Fol. 141 v. Portrait of Luke (fig. 49). Inscription: on the upper and lower bands of the frame, "St. Luke wrote his Gospel twenty years after the Passion of the Lord." The first words of his Gospel are written on the open pages of the book ; a later hand has added them, in notrgir, on the scroll hanging from the lectern.

Fol. 142. First page of the Gospel of Luke (fig. 50).

Fols. 142-223v. Gospel of Luke. The controversial passage, 22 : 43-44, is omitted. Fols. 223v-224. Colophons. See Appendix, pp. 106-107.

Fol. 224v. Portrait of John (fig. 51). Inscription: on the upper and lower bands of the frame, "John

55 G. Srvandztiants, T'oros Aghbar, vol. II, Constantinople, 1884, pp. 357-363.

58 G. Hovsep'ian, Album of Armenian Palaeography, p. 34, No. 81; Mesrop Ter Movsisian, "Armenian Miniatures. Manuscripts written for the Armenian Kings of Cilicia and for the Catholicos Constantine I" (in Armenian), Azgagrakan Handes, 1913, p. 65.

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FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

the Theologian wrote his Gospel fifty-two years after the Ascension of the Lord." A later hand has written the first words of his Gospel, in notrgir, on the scroll hanging from the lectern. Fol. 225. First page of the Gospel of John {fig. 52).

Fols. 225-285. Gospel of John. The reading on the woman taken in adultery, 7 :53-8 :1 1, is added, with

a separate heading, at the end of the Gospel, on fols. 284v-285. Fols. 285-291. Colophons. See Appendix, pp. 106-109.

STUDY OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

This fine example of Cilician art is one of the numerous manuscripts written in the patriarchal see of Hromkla by order of the Catholicos Constantine I.67 During his prelacy (1221-67) Hromkla was the leading artistic center of Cilicia and its influence spread to the other monastic schools, extending even beyond the boundaries of the kingdom.

The name of the scribe, Hohannes, is written between the lines in smaller characters than the rest of the colophon, but in contemporary script. One may suppose that after the words "and I the unworthy and miserable scribe" (fol. 286v) Hohannes omitted to write his name through modesty, as can be noted sometimes in other manuscripts, and it was added perhaps at the request of the donor. Among the manuscripts written at Hromkla during this period only two others, to my knowledge, are signed by a scribe named Hohannes. The first, a Gospel written in 1214 (Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7570) has two headpieces and I would hesi- tate to see in these unskilled, tinted drawings even an early work of our painter. The second, a Gospel in the Mekhitharist Library of Vienna, No. 833, was copied in 1235 for Catholicos Constantine I. The colors of the headpieces have faded, but one can still see that the ornaments, although fairly simple, were carefully painted. It seems probable therefore that the scribe Hohannes, who received a commission from the catholicos in 1235, is the same person as the one who, in 1253, worked again for Constantine I.

The ornaments of the Freer Gospel, painted in brilliant colors against a gold background, show the great skill of the artist as a draughtsman and a colorist. The bust figures of Eusebius and Carpianus fill the lunettes of the arches above the Letter of Eusebius {figs. 33, 34) . This is a typically Armenian feature which does not occur in Byzantine or other East Christian manuscripts. These portraits appear already in the Gospel of Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7737, which is closely allied to the Tubingen Gospel of A.D. 1113, and they are invariably used from the 13th century on. The design of the rectangle of fol. 2v {fig. 33) is almost identical with that of the headpiece of Luke in the Gospel of A.D. 1066 (Erevan, Matena- daran, No. 311) : sirens are lodged in the spandrels; the arch is decorated with a

87 The following illustrated Gospels written by order of the Catholicos Constantine I are known : Vienna, Mekh. Libr., No. 833, a.d. 1235; Venice, Mekh. Libr., No. 69, a.d. 1244; Erevan, Matena- daran, No. 7690, a.d. 1249; Istanbul, Arm. Patr., "Zeytun" Gospel, a.d. 1256; Jerusalem, Arm. Patr., No. 251, a.d. 1260; Jerusalem, Arm. Patr. No. 3627, a.d. 1268. The next two Gospels are not dated: Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, No. 558; MS. formerly at Nor Nakhitchevan, No. 14. It was also by order of Constantine I that the Chronicle of Michael the Syrian was translated into Armenian in 1246: see Colophon of Jerusalem, Arm. Patr., No. 32: A. Surn7?yan, General Catalogue, I, pp. 142-143.

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double-headed eagle and birds running in a floral scroll.58 The peacocks, with intertwining necks around a cross, and the birds, perched on formal trees, repeat those which had already been painted on the first page of the Gospel of Lwow.69 The scribe Hohannes has decorated the trees flanking the rectangle with a line of Arabic script. The decorative use of Arabic script was widespread at this period. Imitations of Cufic inscriptions or letters are carved on Byzantine reliefs or stamped on brick on the facades of churches; similar ornaments appear later in Italian paintings. In Armenian art one can see it already in a manuscript dated 986.60

On fol. 5 [fig. 34), which originally faced fol. 2v, while retaining the same general design, the artist has slightly modified some of the component elements. The peacocks stand at the sides of a vase out of which one of them is drinking. This was also the crowning motif of the headpiece of Luke in the Gospel of A.D. 1066; it recurs in the Gospel of Venice, No. 1635, illustrated at Skevra in 1193, and in a number of 13th-century manuscripts.61 The ornament of the arch consists of two small birds drinking out of a vase, and a scroll composed of half acanthus leaves with small birds pecking at bunches of grapes.

The decorative schemes of the Canon tables conform to the types current in the 13th century in Cilicia, and which had already been established in the preceding century, as can be seen from the Gospel illustrated at Hromkla in 1166 (Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7347). The general design of the rectangles changes from one double page to the next, usually in the same order as in the present manuscript. Two diagonal bands, rising from segments lodged in the lower corners, meet under a semicircular band and divide the surface into three triangular sections; an arch, framing a floral medallion, is drawn under the central triangle and floral motifs fill the side triangles [figs. 35, 36). One or more ornate arches are inscribed in the rectangle which sometimes has a wider frame, as on fol. 7 {figs. 37, 38). The arch, decorated with a chevron, is intersected by a band rising from an ornate medallion; two diagonal bands pass under the arch {figs. 39, 40). The large arches are decorated with the rainbow motif; the smaller ones with multicolored disks. Sometimes, as in the present instance, a delicate scroll replaces the trees or candles which flank the rectangle {figs. 41, 42).

With the exception of the lion-headed bird in the lunette of fol. 6v, the wide bands of linear interlace on fol. 7 {figs. 37, 38), and the geometric ornaments of several narrow bands, the decoration consists of floral motifs. But these foliate elements are, for the most part, subordinated to geometric patterns drawn by the stems; these form hexagonal, cross-shaped, or heart-shaped frames around the three-lobed leaves. Natural forms alternate with imaginary ones in the motifs drawn above and at the sides of the Canon tables. Date palms and pomegranate trees flank some of the columns {figs. 38-40). On other pages we see trees with

58 L. Azarian, op. cit., in Banber Matenadarani, IV (1958), p. 103, fig. 12 ; L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, p. 65.

59 N. Akinian, Das Skevra-Evangeliar, fig. 1.

60 Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7735: A. N. Svirine, La miniature dans I'ancienne Armenie, p. 37.

61 See references in note 58. S. Der Nersessian, Manuscrits armeniens, pi. XVII.

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interlacing branches (figs. 33, 34), treelike motifs composed entirely of interlacing leaves (figs. 41, 42), or branches with large leaves emerging from a cornucopia (figs. 43, 44). Among the numerous birds painted on these and other pages one can recognize peacocks, cranes, doves, woodpeckers, and hawks; but fabled creatures have also been represented, many of which had formed part of the repertory, of Armenian artists for many centuries. For instance, the bird with a ram's head painted above the headpiece of Luke (fig. 50) recalls a similar creature carved on the facade of the church of Aght'amar in the early 10th century.62 The sirens and the ancient motifs of fighting animals (figs. 33, 34, 48, 50), or a bird of prey striking a small bird, had also been represented at Aght'amar 63 and they continue to appear on monuments or in manuscripts of subsequent centuries. The birds or quadrupeds whose tail ends in an animal head (figs. 43, 44, 50, 52) occur in older Armenian manuscripts and they had become a common type in the 13th century in Muslim as well as in Armenian art.64

The combination of real and imaginary forms is also apparent in the columns which support the rectangles. Some of them imitate marble or porphyry shafts, like the columns in most of the manuscripts of the 10th and 11th centuries; others, made up of interlacing or knotted bands, have no relation with architectural forms. This ornamental transformation of structural elements, begun in the 12th century, follows more or less the same pattern in Cilician manuscripts of the following centuries. It also affects the forms of the bases, and of the capitals. Among the latter a few imitate Corinthian capitals, but the painters also like to draw capitals formed by lion heads, by winged lions, or birds.65

The Canon tables are followed by two ornate pages with a dedicatory inscrip- tion written in blue uncials on gold ground (figs. 43, 44). Such dedicatory pages, of which we have examples in the 12th century 68 came into general use in the 13th century in manuscripts written for members of the royal family or for high dignitaries of the church, especially in those which were commissioned by Catholi- cos Constantine.67 The decorative scheme of fol. 12v (fig. 43), where the surface of the rectangle is divided into six compartments decorated with different orna- ments, is used for the dedicatory page in several other manuscripts (fig. 356).™

62 W. Bachmann, Kirchen und Moscheen in Armenien und Kurdistan, Leipzig, 1913, pi. 34.

63 Ibid., pis. 34, 37.

64 A. Mnatsakanian, Armianskoe ornamental' noe iskusstvo (in Armenian with Russian title and summary), Erevan, 1955, figs. 729, 730; Friedrich Sarre, Erzeugnisse islamischer Kunst. Teil II. Seldschukische Kleinkunst, Leipzig, 1909, figs. 10, 15, 16, 21, 23, and pis. IV, V; E. Kiihnel, Islamische Kleinkunst, Berlin, 1925, fig. 159.

65 For a discussion of these forms see S. Der Nersessian, Manuscrits armeniens, pp. 53-56.

68 Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, No. 538, Gospel written in a.d. 1193 at the Monastery of Katen in Cilicia. Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 1568, a.d. 1173: Svirine, op. cit., p. 50.

67 S. Der Nersessian, The Chester Beatty Library. A Catalogue of the Armenian Manuscripts with an Introduction on the History of Armenian Art, Dublin, 1958, pi. 13; L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, p. 105; G. Hovsep'ian, "Catholicos Constantine I" (in Armenian), Hayastanyaitz Yegehetzy, New York, IV (1942), figs. 12-15.

68 Galata-Istanbul, Church of St. Gregory the Illuminator, No. 35, Gospel illustrated at Mamistra

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The decoration of the opposite page is more interesting {fig. 44). An interlacing scroll covers the entire surface of the rectangle, and the leaves of this scroll are replaced by human or animal heads and birds. These form an integral part of the interlace, for the stems are, for the most part, the prolongations of the pointed bonnets worn by the human heads, or of the jaws, horns, necks, and tails of the animals. The early stages of this type of "animal scroll" may be seen in dated Armenian manuscripts of the 12th century, and in undated examples which are perhaps still older. It was fully developed in the 13th century, particularly in Cilicia, where we find a wide variety of combinations.69 Similar types appear also in the arts of other nations. Several openwork silver plaques of the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad, which were found in the valley of Kotchkar, in Central Asia, are perhaps among the earliest examples.70 In the 12th and 13th centuries these "animal scrolls" appear on objects produced in various parts of the Muslim world.71 The medallions of a copper canteen in the Freer Gallery of Art, which was made in Syria in 1249, offer a striking resemblance to the miniature of our manuscript.72

The shapes and ornaments of the headpieces are closely related to those already used at Hromkla in the Gospel of A.D. 1166. As in this manuscript, and several other Cilician examples,73 a medallion framing the Lamb of God holding a cross is painted above the headpiece of John, a motif which is particularly suited for this Gospel {figs. 52 and 350). The iconographic type is identical with the Lamb of God on the silver-gilt cross of Justin II in the Vatican,74 but such images dis- appeared from Byzantine art after the Quinisex Council of 692 which forbade the representations of Christ in the form of a lamb. The Armenian examples cannot be considered as survivals of the Early Christian type for there are no witnesses earlier than the 12th century; their sudden appearance at this time, in a region which was in close contact with the Latins, is probably due to the influence of western models. The medallion of our manuscript recalls the wax disks impressed with the figure of a lamb known as an Agnus Dei. The surviving examples of these disks belong to the 14th century, but literary sources testify to their existence

in 1223; Antilias, Armenian Catholicosate, No. 1, Gospel illustrated at Hromkla in 1248 by Kirakos; Istanbul, Armenian Patriarchate, Gospel of "Zeytun," illustrated at Hromkla in 1256 by T'oros Roslin; Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, No. 251, Gospel illustrated at Hromkla in 1260 by T'oros Roslin.

69 A. Mnatsakanian, Armianskoe ornamental 'noe iskusstvo, figs. 1030, 1031, 1072, 1087; J. Baltrusaitis, Le moyen age fantastique, Paris, 1955; see chap. IV: "Arabesques fantastiques," figs. 46, 49a.

70 J. Strzygowski, Altai-Iran und Volkerwanderung, Leipzig, 1916, fig. 180.

71 One of the earliest dated examples in Muslim art is a pen-case in the Freer Art Gallery dated a.h. 607 (=a.d. 1210): E. Herzfeld, "A Bronze Pen-Case," Ars Islamica, 3 (1936), pp. 35-43, figs. 1, 2. The origin and diffusion of this type of "animal scroll," which may also be seen in Latin manu- scripts, is a complex question requiring a special study and cannot be undertaken here.

72 J. Baltrusaitis, op. cit., fig. 50.

73 L. Azarian, op. cit., fig. 11 ; S. Der Nersessian, op. cit., p. 62, pi. XXIX; N. Akinian, Das Skevra- Evangeliar, fig. 13; Istanbul, Arm. Patr., Gospel of "Zeytun."

74 A. Grabar, L'iconoclasme byzantin. Dossier archeologique, Paris, 1957, p. 41, fig. 73.

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FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

from the 11th century on.75 The Paschal Lamb also appears on copper coins which have been assigned to the reign of Raymond II, count of Tripoli (1152-87) ; on these the cross is not held by the lamb but stands behind him.78 It is worth noting in this connection that a gold seal and a gold coin of Leo I of Cilicia, dating shortly after his coronation in 1198, carry on their reverse a crowned lion (leo) holding a cross in exactly the same attitude as the lamb of our miniature.77

The elaborate foliate ornaments drawn in the outer margin of the first page of each Gospel (figs. 45, 48, 50, 52) are a normal feature of Cilician manuscripts of this period. The painter has varied each time the shape of the cross as well as the design of the floral motifs. The latter are sometimes made up by interlacing leaves; at other times, as on folio 15 (fig. 45), the leaves come out of a succession of vases and cornucopia. The richness of these combinations contrasts with the simplicity of the marginal ornaments in the body of the manuscripts. Floral designs accompany the first lessons of Matthew and Luke and the last chapters of all four Gospels, but elsewhere the pericope numbers are merely framed by circular bands as in older manuscripts. Exceptionally, on folio 282, we have a marginal composition: a dove flies down toward a chalice containing a fish and surrounded with flowers. This image accompanies the lesson of Christ's appearance to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias when He ate bread and fish with them (John 21: 13).

We saw in the preceding manuscript that the painters who worked at Hromkla in the 12th century did not form the first letter of each Gospel with the symbol of the evangelist but represented the symbol next to the initial. The scribe Hohannes, like his contemporary artist at Hromkla, the scribe Kirakos,78 excludes the symbol from the first page, using only a simple type of ornate letter (figs. 45, 48, 50, 52). The symbol appears on the opposite page together with the portrait of the Evange- list: the angel, the lion, and the ox, each holding a book, fly out of the building in front of which the Evangelists are seated; the eagle is perched on the lectern from which hangs a long scroll (figs. 46, 47, 49, 51).

These portraits show that the painter was as skilled in depicting the human form as he was in drawing the complex ornaments of the decorative pages. There is a marked difference from the linear style of the previous Gospel. The well- proportioned figures sit in easy and convincing poses as they meditate or write the opening sentence of the Gospel. The faces, arms, and feet are vigorously modeled; the folds of the draperies, though arranged in such a manner that they create interesting patterns, do not obscure or modify the underlying forms. The portrait of Matthew is superior in quality to the other three; the contrasts between shadows

75 Dictionnaire de theologie catholique; s.v. Agnus Dei.

76 G. Schlumberger, Numismatique de I 'Orient latin, Graz (Austria), 1954, p. 103, pi. IV, 8. On some gold coins of the 13th century the lamb holds the bannered cross: ibid., p. 495, pi. XIX, 9; Philip Grierson, "A Rare Crusader Bezant with the Christus Vincit Legend," The American Numismatic Society, Museum Notes, VI (1954), pp. 169-178, pi. XVIII, 1, 2.

77 G. Schlumberger, "Bulles d'or et sceau des rois Leon II (I) et Leon VI (V) d'Armenie," Revue de I'Orient latin, I (1893), pp. 161-167, pi. II.

78 S. Der Nersessian, The Chester Beatty Library, pi. 17b and p. 29, where several other manuscripts written by Kirakos are mentioned. The Gospel formerly at Roman is now at Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 9509. To this list one should add Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7690, a.d. 1249.

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and highlights are less marked and the colors are less harsh (fig. 46). The lilac mantle is modeled with blue shadows, and this gives to it the impression of being made of a light, transparent material through which one can see the dark-blue tunic. The other three Evangelists also wear blue tunics, but Mark's mantle is a dark purple, that of Luke is a salmon pink, while John's mantle is yellow.

These portraits have much in common with the ones painted by the scribes Kirakos and Sargis of Hromkla (fig. 355) ; the facial types, the attitudes, the build- ings represented in the background are almost identical, except that one does not find in these manuscripts the symbols coming out of these buildings.79 But though the iconographic similarities show that the same models were used by the miniaturists of Hromkla, there are notable differences. The figures drawn by Kirakos and especially by Sargis have shorter proportions, the heads are often too large in relation to the body; the feeling for three-dimensional form is also less marked. The compositions are simpler and do not display the love for rich ornaments which is one of the characteristic traits of the Freer manuscript. In the latter the chairs and desks are covered with varied designs and studded with brilliantly colored small disks imitating inlaid precious stones. The scribe Hohannes also takes delight in representing figured materials as hangings, as covers of the back and seat of the chairs, or as small rugs under the feet of the Evangelists. Very little is known about the textile industry in Cilicia, but the rich materials represented in this and contemporary Cilician manuscripts, in particular the sumptuous garments worn by the members of the royal family whose portraits adorn the manuscripts written for them, show that figured textiles were widely used in Cilicia.80

The Freer Gospel is a work of high quality and an excellent example of the type of illuminated manuscript produced at Hromkla by the older generation of painters employed by the Catholicos Constantine. Hohannes, Kirakos and Sargis, who appear to have been the principal painters during the earlier period of his prelacy, paid particular attention to the decorative pages, developing the orna- mental designs used by the painters of the 12th century. In many respects however these artists display a conservative attitude; they retain the earlier type of ornate letter for the initial of each Gospel, and they rarely use the zoomorphic letters which were already known in the previous century. Judging from surviving ex- amples, they did not illustrate the text of the Gospel, not even by means of a few selected scenes as their predecessors had done. They limited the figure representa- tions to the portraits of the Evangelists, to which, in one instance, the portrait of the young Prince Leo was added (introduced now in Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7690). In this respect the manuscripts illustrated by the older painters contrast markedly with the new trend which, as we shall see with the next example, developed at Hromkla under the leadership of T'oros Roslin.

79 S. Der Nersessian, The Chester Beatty Library, pis. 14-17. Three portraits have been misplaced: Matthew should be on pi. 14 (instead of 16) ; Mark on pi. 15 (instead of 14) ; Luke on pi. 16 (instead of 15). Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 7690; see L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, p. 102.

80 A. Sakisian, Pages d'art armenien, Paris, 1940, pp. 41-45; A. Tchobanian, Roseraie d'Armenie, II, pp. XI, 26; S. Der Nersessian, Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, pi. XXVII.

FGA 32.18. FOUR GOSPELS, 13TH CENTURY

Description. — Thick, cream-colored vellum; 334 + 4 folios measuring 31.1 to 31.5 x 23.5 to 24 cm.; written surface 24.5 to 25 x 16.5 to 17 cm. Text in upright erkat'agir (uncial), written in black ink on two columns usually of 19 lines each. The first page of each Gospel and the pericope initials are in ornate letters; the first three lines of the pericopes, the initials of the verses, and the nomina sacra are in gold letters. The title of each Gospel is written in medium-size upright gilt erkat'agir under the headpiece, and again in larger gilt erkat'agir at the end of the Gospel. The concordances in the lower margin, the numbers of the verses, the corrections or the omissions, and occasional explanations added in the lateral margin are in sloping angular erkat'agir contemporary with the text.

The quires, normally of 12 folios each, are numbered by letters written in the lower margin by a later hand. Another hand has numbered the folios with Armenian letters written on the outer margins.

Two conjugate vellum leaves, taken from a Ritual written in angular sloping erkat'agir, are bound in at the beginning and two others at the end of the manu- script. They contain the following readings: Fol. Ar, Lections for Maundy Thursday, I Epistle of John, 4: 17-21; Gospel of John, 13: 1-7; fol. Av, John 13:7-15; Prayer; fol. Br-v, Prayers for the ordination of a deacon; fols. C-D, Lections for the burial of a priest.

The small foliate ornaments painted in muddy blue and green on a red ground resemble the marginal designs of manuscripts written in Great Armenia in the late 12th or early 13th century.

Binding. — Modern, brown leather over boards, stained and scraped. A sheet of white water-marked paper lines each cover.

Condition. — The margins have been trimmed, occasionally cutting off part of the miniatures and the marginal ornaments. Thirteen folios are missing but the modern pagination has taken these into account and omitted the numbers of these pages. The lacunae are as follows: Matthew 27:46-52 (pp. 189-190); Mark 6: 15-23 (pp. 237-238) ; Mark 9: 1-8 (pp. 259-260) ; Luke 1:31-41 (pp. 335-336); Luke 3:21-36 (pp. 355-358); Luke 4:22-23 (pp. 363-364); Luke 16: 6-24 (pp. 465-468) ; Luke 23: 27-36 (pp. 523-524) ; John 14: 22-26 (pp. 647- 648) ; John 20: 26-21 : 10 (pp. 687-690).

The first folio of the Gospel of Mark (pp. 199-200) does not belong to the original manuscript. The uncial script, which tries to imitate the older writing, is larger and less regular; the text does not come to the bottom of the second column of page 200 and even repeats two words of verse 6 written on page 201. The narrow H-shaped headpiece on page 199 is decorated with a simple design of intersecting lines forming a succession of small crosses within blue and green squares. The first three letters of the Gospel are formed by small wedge-shaped

26

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elements; the marginal ornament of interlacing palmettes is fairly small and the work of an unskilled hand (fig. 111).

A few folios have been mutilated, cutting off part of the text and, obviously, a miniature where there is no lacuna ; in several instances the missing verses have been rewritten, in notrgir, on the outer margins. The mutilated leaves are as follows: Pages 73-74, lower third of the outer column; about half of Matthew 12:43 is missing on page 73, there is no lacuna on page 74. Pages 153-154, up- per third of the outer column; end and beginning of Matthew 24: 23-24 missing on page 153 ; end and beginning of Matthew 24: 26-27 missing on page 154, as well as the ornate initial of the pericope. Pages 327-328, lower half of the outer column; the Gospel of Mark ends in the middle of the second column of page 327; it is possible that a brief colophon was written on the part of the folio which was cut off. Pages 603-604, upper part of the folio; missing text, John 8 from the end of verse 51 to the middle of verse 53 (p. 603), and verses 56-59, as well as the pericope initial on page 604.

Several folios are mounted on stubs and there are a few loose leaves.

History of the manuscript. — In 1926 this manuscript was at Constantinople, in Turkish hands; its prior history is not known.81 It entered the Freer Gallery of Art in 1932.

List of illustrations :

In the Gospel of Matthew (pp. 1-198)

P. 1. First page of Matthew {fig. 53). P. 2. Ancestors of Jesus, 1 : 2-6 {fig. 54). P. 3. Ancestors of Jesus, 1:7-12 {fig. 55).

P. 4. Ancestors of Jesus, 1 : 13-17. Part of the first medallion is cut off {fig. 56).

P. 5. Joseph's dream, 1:20-21 {fig. 57).

Pp. 8-9. Adoration of the Magi, 2:11 {fig. 60).

P. 10. Flight into Egypt and Massacre of the Innocents, 2: 14-16. The faces of Joseph and Jesus are

smeared and partly rubbed off {figs. 58, 59). P. 11. Joseph's dream, 2: 19-20. Inscription on the tower, "Egypt" {fig. 61). P. 17. Temptation, 4:11 {fig. 65). P. 20. Sermon on the Mount, 5 : 1-2 {fig. 62).

P. 42. Healing of Peter's mother-in-law, 8: 15. Inscription on the upper border, "house of Simon" {fig. 63).

P. 43. Healing of the sick, and Isaiah, 8: 16-17. Inscriptions: on the upper border of the miniature, "many sick and possessed"; on the scroll held by Isaiah, "with his stripes we are healed" {figs. 64, 66).

P. 44. Stilling of the tempest, 8:23-25. Inscription, "Jesus Christ sitting in the ship slept and they came." The margin has been trimmed and only the trumpet held by the personification of the wind remains {fig. 67).

P. 47. The paralytic healed and the calling of Matthew, 9 : 7-9. Inscription on the house, "it is the Sabbath" {fig. 69).

P. 49. Jesus and Jairus, 9:18. The figure of Jairus is partly cut off {fig. 68). P. 50. Healing of a woman with an issue of blood, 9 : 20 {fig. 70). P. 51. Two blind men, 9: 27 {fig. 71).

81 A. Sakisian, Pages d'art armenien, p. 18, n. 6.

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P. 52. A demoniac healed, 9: 33-34. Inscription on the scroll "it is the seventh day" {fig. 72). P. 67. Healing of the withered hand, 12: 13 {fig. 73). P. 69. Healing of the demoniac, 12: 22-23 {fig. 76).

P. 75. Jesus teaches from a ship; the sower, 13:2-4. Inscription on upper border, "Lord Jesus having

entered a ship." The feet of the sower and of the bird are cut off {figs. 74, 75). P. 85. Herod's banquet, 14:6-11 {fig. 77).

P. 86. Burial of John the Baptist, 14: 12. The legs of the two disciples and part of the sepulchre are

cut off {fig. 78). P. 87. Feeding of the Five Thousand, 14: 15-19 {fig. 79).

P. 89. Jesus walks on the water, 14: 26-31. The figure of Jesus is partly cut off {fig. 80). P. 95. Healing of the sick, 15:30. Inscriptions: "lame, blind, dumb, maimed" {fig. 81). P. 99. Peter confesses Jesus Christ, 16: 16-18. Inscriptions: "Jesus came into the City of Philippi;

Thou art the Son of God." The feet of Jesus and the apostles are cut off; also part of the segment

of sky with the Hand of God painted in the upper margin {fig. 83). P. 104. Healing of the lunatic, 17: 14-18 {fig. 84).

P. 106. Soldiers ask for the tribute money, 17:24-25. Inscription: "they demand the didrachma" {fig. 82).

P. 107. Peter casts the line, 17: 27. The lower part of the figure and the water are cut off {fig. 85).

P. 108. Jesus sets a child in the midst of the disciples, 18:2-3 {fig. 88).

P. 117. Jesus blesses the little children {fig. 87) ; The rich young ruler, 19: 13-15 {fig. 86).

P. 124. Jesus speaks to James and John and to their mother, 20: 20-22. Inscription on the upper border:

"are ye able to drink of the cup" {fig. 89). P. 126. Healing of the two blind men, 20: 30-34 {fig. 90). P. 127. The disciples bring the ass and the colt, 21 : 7 {fig. 91). P. 129. Entry into Jerusalem, 21 : 8-11 {fig. 93). P. 130. The fig tree, 21: 18-19 {figs. 130, 131). P. 133. Vine stock (parable of the vineyard), 21 : 33.

P. 141. The Ancient of Days, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 22: 32 {fig. 94). P. 150. Jesus foretells the destruction of the temple, 24: 1-3 {fig. 92).

P. 159. Parable of the wise and foolish Virgins, 25: 7-12. The nimbuses of Christ and of the angel are partly cut off {fig. 95).

P. 167. Jesus anointed in the house of Simon the Leper, 26:6-12. Inscriptions: next to the standing figure, "Simon the Leper" ; next to the beardless youth, "do not, do not." The lower parts of the figures are cut off {fig. 96).

P. 168. Judas receives the thirty pieces of silver, 26: 15 {fig. 97).

P. 169. The Last Supper, 2*6:20 {fig. 98).

P. 177. Jesus is brought before Caiaphas, 26:57-65. Inscription on the building to the right: "the

(high) priest rent" {fig. 101). P. 180. Peter's repentance; Jesus led to Pilate's house, 26:75-27:2. Inscription on the wall behind

Peter: "Peter went out and wept bitterly" {fig. 102). P. 181. Judas hangs himself, 27:5 {fig. 100).

P. 183. Pilate's wife sends him a messenger, 27: 19. Inscription: "say, have thou nothing to do with that just" {fig. 99).

P. 184. Judgment of Pilate, 27: 24-25. Inscriptions: on the large arch, "Jesus stood silent and gave no (answer) ; Pilate took water and washed (his hands)"; on the small arches, "His blood be on us" {fig. 103).

P. 192a. Joseph of Arimathea before Pilate, 27:58. Inscription on the upper band: "Give me that body" {fig. 108).

P. 192b. Entombment of Jesus, 27: 59-61. Inscriptions: on the rock of the sepulchre, "the burial of the Lord" ; on the upper border, "they sat over against the sepulchre." The feet of Joseph of Arimathea are partly cut off {fig. 104).

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P. 193. Pilate is asked to set a guard at the sepulchre, 27:62-65. Inscription on the upper border:

"Three days; ye have a watch" {fig. 105). P. 194. The sleeping soldiers, 28:4 {fig. 109).

P. 195. The holy women at the sepulchre, 28:5-6. Inscription on the upper border: "Come, see" {fig- 107).

P. 196. The soldiers are bribed, 28: 12. Inscription on the upper border: "they gave much money" {fig. HO).

P. 197. Jesus appears to the disciples in Galilee, 28: 17-18. Inscription: "they saw Him" {fig. 106).

In the Gospel of Mark (pp. 199-327)

P. 199. First page of Mark {fig. 111).

P. 213. Healing of the withered hand, 3:5 {fig. 112).

P. 218. The mother and brothers of Jesus seek to see Him, 3: 31-35 {fig. 113).

P. 219. Jesus teaching from a ship, 4: 1 {fig. 114).

P. 227. Healing of the Gadarene demoniac, 5: 6-12 {fig. 116).

P. 231. Healing of the woman with an issue of blood, 5: 33-34 {fig. 115).

P. 250. Healing of the deaf and dumb man, 7:33-37. Inscriptions: on the upper border, "Looking up to heaven he said, Ephphatha"; on the gold ground, "they were beyond measure astonished" {fig. 120).

P. 251. Jesus asks his disciples how many loaves they have, 8: 1-5. Inscription on the gold ground: "the

disciples" {fig. 118). P. 255. Healing of the blind man, 8:23-24 {fig. 119). P. 263. Healing of the lunatic, 9:23-24 {fig. 117). P.278. Healing of blind Bartimaeus, 10:50-51 {fig. 122).

P. 303. The disciples seek a room for the Passover, 14: 13-16. Inscription on the upper border: "Where

is the guest-chamber for the Passover?" {fig. 121). P. 305. An apostle, 14: 27. The figure is partly cut off and the face is smeared {fig. 127). P. 310. Jesus is seized and brought before the high priest, 14:50-53. Inscription: "When the Jews

seized Jesus with swords and staves" {fig. 123). P. 314. Repentance of Peter, 14:72 {fig. 128). P. 315. Jesus brought before Pilate, 15: 1-2 {fig. 124).

P. 319. Mocking of Jesus, and Raising of the Cross, 15:17-23. Inscription "They put a crown upon his head and they smote him on the head with a reed; they gave him wine with myrrh" {fig. 125).

P. 323a. Descent from the Cross, 15 : 46. The left arm of Jesus and the hands of the man on the ladder are cut off {fig. 126).

P. 323b. John and a holy woman at the sepulchre, 15:47 {fig. 129).

In the Gospel of Luke (pp. 329-538) P. 329. First page of Luke {fig. 132).

P. 333. Annunciation to Zacharias, 1:9-21. Inscription: "the burning of incense by Zacharias" {fig. 133).

P. 339. Circumcision and naming of John the Baptist, 1 : 59-63 {fig. 134). P. 345. Circumcision of Jesus, 2: 21. Inscription: "the manger" {fig. 137).

P. 349. Jesus among the doctors, 2 : 46-49. Inscriptions : on the horizontal bands, "thy father and I we sought" ; on the book held by Jesus, "in my father's house" ; on the scroll held by one of the doctors, "there is one Lord" {fig. 135).

P. 359. Ancestors of Jesus, 3: 37-38 {fig. 138).

P. 361. Temptation, 4:13-14. Inscription on the building: "And Jesus returned in the power" {fig. 136).

P. 369. Miraculous draught of fishes, 5:3-9 {fig. 139).

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P. 372. The paralytic healed, 5:25 {fig. 140).

P. 373. Jesus at the house of Levi, 5: 29. Inscription on the horizontal band and on the building: "the

publican and Christ, healer of the sick" (fig. 141). P. 386. Raising of the widow's son, 7: 11-14 {fig. 142). P. 391. Jesus anointed at the house of a Pharisee, 7:36-38 {fig. 143). P. 397. Jesus awakened during a storm, 8: 23-24 (fig. 145). P. 401. Jesus and Jairus, 8: 41 (fig. 144). P. 447. Healing of the bent woman, 13: 11-13 (fig. 146).

P. 452. Healing of the man who had the dropsy, 14:2-4. Inscriptions: next to the man, "it is the

dropsical"; on the scroll, "God saith it is the sabbath" (fig. 147). P. 461. Return of the prodigal son, 15: 20-26 (fig. 148).

P. 472. Healing of the ten lepers, 17: 12-14. Inscription: "the lepers" (fig. 150). P. 477. Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, 18: 10-13 (fig. 151).

P. 483. Healing of the blind man, 18:40-43 (fig. 149); Zacchaeus in the sycamore tree, 19:3-4 (fig. 152).

P. 484. Jesus at the house of Zacchaeus, 19: 8-10. Inscription on the house: "Salvation is come to this

house" (fig. 155). P. 489. Entry into Jerusalem, 19:37-38 (fig. 153). P. 493. Vine stock (parable of the vineyard), 20: 9. P. 499. The widow's mite, 21 : 2-4 (fig. 154). P. 508. Communion of the Apostles, 22: 19 (fig. 157). P. 512. Agony in the Garden, 22:43 (fig. 156). P. 513. Judas leading the multitude, 22:47 (fig. 158). P. 515. Peter at the house of the high priest, 22: 55 (fig. 161).

P. 516. Peter's denial; Mocking of Jesus, 22:60-65. Inscriptions: on the upper bands, "they covered

his face"; on the scroll, "I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (fig. 160). P. 520. Jesus before Pilate, 23: 11. The faces of the Jews and of the soldiers have been erased (fig. 159). P. 522. Jesus on the way to Golgotha, and Simon of Cyrene, 23: 26-28 (fig. 163). P.533. Supper at Emmaus, 24:30-31 (fig. 162).

P. 535. Jesus appears to the apostles, 24:36-40. Inscription on the scroll: "These wounds in my

hands with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (fig. 165). P. 536. Jesus eats before the apostles, 24:41-43 (fig. 164).

P. 537. Ascension, 24: 51. The upper half of the mandorla, the wings and feet of the angels are cut off (fig. 166).

In the Gospel of John (pp. 539-694)

P. 539. First page of John (fig. 167).

P. 548. Marriage feast at Cana, 2: 1-10 (fig. 168).

P. 577. The people seek Jesus, 6: 24. The personification of the wind is partly cut off (fig. 169).

P. 595. Jesus and the woman taken in adultery, 8: 6-9. Inscriptions on the upper border: "He that is

without sin among you; they went out one (by one)" (fig. 171). P. 607. The Pharisees question the man born blind, 9: 15-17. Inscriptions: on the upper border, "He

put clay upon (my) eyes"; on the scroll, "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy." The figure

of the seated Pharisee is partly effaced (fig. 172). P. 610. The Pharisees question the parents; the man born blind worships Jesus, 9:18-21, 35-38.

Inscriptions: in the left half, "he shall speak for himself; the parents of him that had received his

sight" ; in the right half, "Dost thou believe in the Son of God ? For thou hast seen him and he

talketh" (fig. 173).

P. 625. Raising of Lazarus, 1 1 : 38-44. Inscription on the upper border, "Lord Jesus have mercy on

Vasak, Thy servant, the owner of this, Thy Holy Gospel" (fig. 170). P. 666. Jesus arrested, 18:6. The face of Judas has been smeared (fig. 174).

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P. 667. Jesus led to the house of Annas, 18: 10-13 {fig. 175).

P. 674. Pilate speaks to the Jews, 19: 4. Inscription on the building: "the Judgment hall" {fig. 176). P. 691. A fish and a bird drawn next to, 21 : 15.

STUDY OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

The colophon is missing. We have, therefore, no definite information about the date and provenance of this manuscript which, on the basis of the paleography and the style of the illustrations, can be assigned to Cilicia and the second half of the 13th century. The name of the owner is written in gold letters on the marginal medallion of page 52 : "Lord bless the Baron Vasak" ; and again on the upper band of the frame around the Raising of Lazarus: "Lord Jesus have mercy on Vasak, Thy servant, the owner of this, Thy holy Gospel" (fig. 170).

Given the general date of the manuscript, the Baron Vasak can be no other than the younger brother of King Het'um I, the lord of the fortress of Chanchi, in the northeastern mountains of Cilicia, who died at Sis on March 13, 1284, and was buried at the monastery of Akner.82 Vasak does not seem to have taken an active part in the affairs of the realm for he is rarely mentioned by the historians. In 1268 he was sent as a hostage to Egypt in order to obtain the release of his nephew, Prince Leo, made a prisoner in 1266.83 Leo returned that same year to Cilicia, and Vasak either accompanied him or followed him soon after. Like the other members of his family, Vasak had been a patron of the arts; he had erected a church at Sis and presented to it rich vestments, liturgical vessels, and precious manuscripts.8* In addition to the present Gospel, one other written for Vasak is preserved; this is Codex No. 2568 of the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem, adorned with delicately painted Canon tables, full-page and marginal miniatures, and the por- traits of Vasak and his two sons kneeling before Jesus and introduced to Him by the Virgin.85 A single leaf in the Feron-Stoclet Collection in Brussels also belonged to a manuscript written for Vasak, for he is again portrayed with his two sons, kneeling this time before the Virgin and Child and introduced by his brother, Bishop John.86

The illustrations of the Jerusalem Gospel are executed in a style characteristic of a school of painters which flourished in the third quarter of the 13th century and they are very different from those of the Freer Gospel. The latter manuscript is, however, closely related to a sumptuous, though sadly mutilated Gospel, written and illustrated at Hromkla, in 1266, for Vasak's brother, Het'um I (Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 5458). 87 These two Gospels are identical in size, in script, in

82 This information is given by his brother Bishop John : see below, p. 60, Nos. 8 and 9 of the list.

83 L. Alishan, Sissouan, p. 214; Armenian ed., p. 194.

84 Ibid., Armenian ed., p. 540.

85 A. Tchobanian, Roseraie d'Armenie, vol. II, p. XII h.t.

86 Adolphe Stoclet Collection. Part I. Selection of the Works Belonging to Madame Feron-Stoclet, Brussels, 1956, pi. 296; A. Sakisian, "Un portrait du baron Vassag frere du roi Hethoum Ier de Cilicie," in Pages d'art armenien, pp. 17-22, pi. vi.

87 Only the beginning of the colophon has been preserved on fol. 310v. It informs us that the manu- script was written in 1266 at Hromkla, during the prelacy of the Catholicos Constantine and by "order

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the layout of the pages. The marginal designs, the ornate initials, and the two remaining miniatures of Het'um's manuscript are also very similar to the illustra- tions of the Freer Gospel {figs. 357-359). We can, therefore, be certain that our manuscript was written at Hromkla about the same time as Het'um's Gospel, perhaps shortly after 1268, as a thank offering for Vasak's successful mission and his safe return to Cilicia.

The Freer Gospel is one of the finest and most extensively illustrated Cilician manuscripts of the 13th century. There must have been originally an even greater number of illustrations. Large decorative Canon tables certainly formed the initial quire; there were probably the portraits of the Evangelists, facing the opening page of each Gospel, and the donor's portrait at the end of the manuscript, as in the two Gospels written for Vasak mentioned above and in other manuscripts commissioned by members of the royal family. A calculation based on the usual number of lines on each page and the length of the lacunae indicates that there were miniatures on the missing folios and even on some that are mutilated. By comparing these passages with the corresponding ones in allied manuscripts one can suggest that the following major scenes from the life of Christ had been represented: Crucifixion on page 189 or 190; Transfiguration on page 259 or 260; Annunciation and/or Visitation on pages 335 and 336; Baptism on page 355; Pente- cost on page 647 or 648; Incredulity of Thomas on page 687 or 688. Smaller compositions may have been painted on some of the other folios; for instance, Herod's banquet or the Imprisonment of John the Baptist on page 237 or 238; Jesus Teaching in the Synagogue, or the Jews chasing Him out of the City on page 363 or 364; the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus on one of the pages between 465 and 468; Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross on page 523. Medallion portraits must have been painted in the margins of pages 357-358 which contained the names of the ancestors of Christ (Luke 3:23-36) since all those who are mentioned in the last verses, 37 and 38, are portrayed on page 359 {fig. 138).

We have clear indication of the existence of a marginal miniature on page 154, for a long gold bar with a short crossbar can still be seen in the lower part of the outer margin which is intact. The prediction of Christ's second coming (Matthew 24: 27-31) is written on this page and this passage has been illustrated in Cilician manuscripts of the 12th and 13th centuries. The marginal miniature of a Gospel illustrated by T'oros Roslin in 1260 (Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, No. 251, fol. 83) shows the type of composition which may have existed in the Freer Gospel. In the upper part a small gold cross, the "sign of the Son of man" has been depicted; below it three birds, the eagles that are "gathered together" (v. 28) ; then, continuing in the margin and interrupting the gold bar which extends

of and through the expenses of the pious and God-loving King" ; the name is missing but given the date of the copy we can add: Het'um I. Several of the vellum leaves are intact (fols. 249-254, 256-258, 260- 262, and passim) ; they have been added to a Gospel written on paper in the 14th or 15th century; a considerable number of the initials and marginal ornaments were cut off from the original manuscript and pasted on the paper leaves. G. Hovsep'ian, "Remnants of the Illustrated Gospel of Het'um I" (in Armenian), Ba'ikar, Boston, 1949, pp. 7-11.

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far down on the page, we see the sun, the moon, and a star, illustrating the words "the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven" (v. 29). 88 On page 74, where there is no lacuna in the text, a small scene representing the mother and brothers of Jesus who had come to see Him may have been painted in the outer text column, under Matthew 12: 47.

The system of decoration comprises marginal miniatures and miniatures introduced into the text. The smaller compositions usually occupy the width of one column and are painted immediately before or after the relevant passage. The larger ones extend across both columns and frequently occupy the lower margin ; in these instances the text columns are often shorter so as to leave ample room for the picture. When a single figure is depicted in the outer margin the text lines are usually shorter, so that the miniature is partly introduced into the text.

Most of the miniatures are painted against the neutral vellum background; at times there is a gold or blue background with a narrow blue band at the top which carries an explanatory inscription written in white uncial letters. Archi- tectural elements may be drawn on one side of the gold background or, in a few instances, constitute the setting for the entire composition. Only a few miniatures have a real frame formed by a narrow red fillet or a slightly wider band.

Several painters collaborated in the illustration of the Freer Gospel, but their work cannot be differentiated from one another by means of external criteria, such as the presence or absence of a gold background or of a frame, for within each one of these groups of miniatures notable stylistic divergencies can be observed. Nor is it possible to discern how the work was distributed among the painters, for the miniatures painted on conjugate leaves, or even on the recto and verso of the same folio, have not always been executed by the same person. Without attempting to assign all the miniatures to individual hands, I shall point out the outstanding characteristics of the principal groups through the analysis of typical compositions.

The work of the master artist of the scriptorium can be recognized in some of the larger compositions, like the Adoration of the Magi, the Entombment, Jesus Appearing to the Apostles, the Raising of Lazarus {figs. 60, 104, 165, 170) , as well as in some of the smaller miniatures, such as the Descent from the Cross or the Agony in the Garden {figs. 126, 156). The figures have slender proportions but, with the exception of Christ, they are generally below the normal height; they never appear in static poses but in varied attitudes and lively movement. The faces and draperies are delicately modeled ; there are few white highlights and the color harmonies are very subtle. The reproduction of the Raising of Lazarus {fig. 170) will give an idea of the range of colors used by the artist and the way in which the delicate shades are set off by a few bright hues. The austere, monumental style of the late 12th century, as seen in Codex 50.3, has given place to a more immediate approach to the subject. By their attitudes, their gestures and facial

88 For a 12th-century example of this scene, see S. Der Nersessian, Manuscrits armeniens, pi. xxx. In the Gospel illustrated by T'oros Roslin in 1262 (Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, No. 539, fol. 104) two groups of angels carrying a mandorla, which encloses the throne and a cross, are depicted in the upper margin ; the lower arms of the cross, a fairly wide gold band, extends in the middle margin.

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expressions the figures translate the basic human emotions, and we sometimes find a rich variety within a single composition, as in the scene of Christ Appearing to the Apostles {fig. 165). In the Adoration of the Magi {fig. 60) the artist has stressed the youthful appearance of the Virgin who is a delicate, almost girlish figure; in the healing scenes Christ's compassion for the sick is brought to the fore. The painter's eagerness to tell a lively story may be seen in such scenes as Herod's Banquet or the Feeding of the Multitude {figs. 77 and 79), while in others, like the Entombment {fig. 104), deep pathos is conveyed without recourse to dramatic effects. The new lyrical mood is accompanied by a change in the formal aspects of the paintings. The linear pattern, which had already been attenuated in the minia- tures of the middle of the 13th century, is further subordinated to the feeling for the roundness of the body and the expression of convincing action.

These stylistic traits are characteristic of the art of T'oros Roslin, the well- known master of the scriptorium of Hromkla, whose signed works range from 1256 to 1268 {figs. 319, 341, 342, 344-346, 360-364) ,89 Some of the features which differen- tiate Roslin's last dated work (Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, No. 3627, figs. 361-363) , from the earlier examples, namely, shorter proportions, subtler color har- monies, a more painterly style, are precisely those which characterize the finest compositions of the Freer Gospel. This gives us further reason to assume that our manuscript was illustrated around 1268, under the leadership of T'oros Roslin.

A second group of miniatures was executed by several painters who closely followed the style of the master. In compositions such as those on pages 391, 472, 508, and 537 {figs. 143, 150, 157, 166) we find the same delicate color harmonies, but the style is slightly more linear, the features and especially the contours of the figures are more sharply marked and there is a tendency to create geometric pat- terns through the arrangement of the folds of the draperies and the highlights. Movement is also more exaggerated as in the Healing of the Woman with an Issue of Blood where Jesus turns sharply back, and where the painter has emphasized the billowing folds of the edge of the tunic as well as the windblown end of the mantle {fig. 70).

A third group of miniatures is characterized by the heavy and extremely short proportions of the figures, the coarse facial type of Christ with bulging eyes, the thicker paint that has been used, and, in general, the poorer quality of both the drawing of individual figures and the composition of the scenes. The comparison of

89 Istanbul, Arm. Patr., Gospel of "Zeytun," a.d. 1256; Jerusalem, Arm. Patr., No. 251, Gospel, A.D. 1260 ; Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, No. 539, Gospel, a.d. 1262 ; Jerusalem, Arm. Patr., No. 2660, Gospel, a.d. 1262; ibid., No. 1956, Gospel, a.d. 1265; ibid., No. 2027, Ritual, a.d. 1266; ibid., No. 3627, Gospel, a.d. 1268. For reproductions from some of these manuscripts, in addition to those in this vol- ume, see A. Tchobanian, Roseraie d'Armenie, vol. II, pp. 46, 48 h.t., 87, 100 h.t., 124, 176 h.t., 258 h.t.; G. Hovsep'ian, "Catholicos Constantine I" (in Armenian), Hayastanyaitz Yegehetzy, New York, October 1942, pp. 85-124, figs. 2-26; S. Der Nersessian, Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, pis. xxv. 1, xxxvii. 1, xxviii; S. Der Nersessian, "Armenian Gospel Illustration as Seen in Manuscripts in American Collections," New Testament Manuscript Studies, edited by Merrill M. Parvis and Allen P. Wikgren, The University of Chicago Press, 1950, pi. v; David Diringer, The Illuminated Book, London, 1958, pis. II, 37b, and II, 38b.

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Jesus before Pilate (p. 315, fig. 124) with the Judgment scene on page 310 {fig. 123), painted by one of the artists of the second group, shows how greatly the miniatures of the third group differ from the work of the painters who more faithfully and ably imitated the style of their master and who, together with him, were responsible for the major part of the illustrations.

One miniature, Pilate's wife sending a messenger to her husband (fig. 99) , is a wash drawing. This is not a preliminary sketch, but a finished picture, different in technique, though not in style, from the other representations. It is impossible to determine the reasons for this exception, which also occurs, in one instance, in another manuscript illustrated by T'oros Roslin, Walters Art Gallery, No. 539, A.D. 1262 (fol. 195). However, the technique itself is not unknown and in several Cilician manuscripts the marginal miniatures as well as the full-page portraits of the Evangelists are wash or tinted drawings. In some examples we find the reverse procedure from the Freer and Walters manuscripts: one miniature is painted in full color and the others are merely tinted.

Throughout the manuscript there is a definite attempt to place the miniatures close to the relevant passages ; in consequence the component elements are sometimes separated from one another. Thus in the scene of the Holy Women at the Sepulchre, the sleeping soldiers are painted in the lower margin of page 194, after the words "and for fear of him the keepers did shake and became as dead men" (Matthew 18:4), while the women talking to the angel occupy the upper margin of page 195, before verse 5: "and the angel answered and said to the women" [figs. 109,107). Similarly, on page 314, the cock is depicted in the middle margin, next to the word (the cock) "crew," and Peter, repentant, is seated lower down on the same page after the words "and he wept" (Mark 14: 72, fig. 128).

This same desire to bring together text and image has sometimes resulted, on the contrary, in arbitrarily joining separate episodes. On page 180 (fig. 102) Peter, weeping, is seated under the first column of text which ends with the words "and wept bitterly" (Matthew 26:75) ; Christ being led to the house of Pilate is represented under the second column of text which ends with the words "and when they had bound him they led him away" (Matthew 27:2). But as this second scene comprises several figures it extends to the miniature painted under the first column of text, and only the different types of background and the direction in which the figures are turned distinguish the two episodes from one another. We find a similar example on page 667 (fig. 175). Peter cutting the ear of Malchus, related in the first column, is joined to the group of men leading Christ to the house of Annas depicted in the upper margin of the second column, immediately before the relevant passage (John 18: 13).

In a few instances separate episodes have been contracted into a single composition, a contraction independent from the relation of the picture to the text. The large miniature of page 310 occupies almost half the height of the page (fig. 123) and only the following passage is written above it: "And they all forsook him and fled. And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him. And he left the

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linen cloth and fled from them naked. And they led Jesus away to the high priest" (Mark 14: 50-53). The fleeing apostle illustrates the first verses of this passage and Jesus before the high priest the last one; the group with Judas embracing Jesus, in the center, is alien to this scene, and belongs to the Betrayal which is related on the preceding page, but which was not illustrated there.

On page 319 we have the brief account of the arrival at Golgotha and of the Crucifixion (Mark 15: 22-26), but we see instead the Mocking of Christ related on page 318; moreover the carrying of the Cross by Simon of Cyrene, also related on page 318, has been combined with the Raising of the Cross which is not spe- cifically mentioned {fig. 125). The only detail connected with the passage written on this page is the small cup held by one of the Jews on the right; it refers to the words "and they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but he received it not" (v. 23).

There are, however, very few examples of this type of contraction ; in general the text has been followed with the utmost care and precision. The first Gospel is more fully illustrated than the other three: there are 59 miniatures in Matthew, 18 in Mark, 34 in Luke, and 10 in John. When the same or a similar episode occurs more than once the artists have avoided a monotonous repetition by introducing slight but significant changes. The Healing of the Blind is a particularly good example since the subject itself offered but slight opportunities for variations. In the Gospel of Matthew the painter has focused his attention on the words "and when Jesus departed thence two blind men followed him" (9: 27), which precede the actual miracle {fig. 71). The people gathered at the city gate gaze intently into the distance, suggesting by their attitudes that Jesus, though not represented, is still within sight. The blind men approach, unheeded by the crowd, tapping the ground with their sticks; the younger one raises his head in the characteristic posture of the blind. The other compositions adhere more closely to the traditional iconography, but specific details call attention to the textual differences in the Gospels; on page 255 {fig. 119) the young man points to a tree in accordance with the words "and he looked up, and said, I see men as trees walking" (Mark 8: 24) ; on page 278 {fig. 122) a mantle lies on the ground, for the blind man "casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus" (Mark 10: 50).

The detailed pictorial cycle which often illustrates successive moments, also includes scenes rarely represented elsewhere.

The Circumcision of Christ is absent even from the two Byzantine Gospels which have a detailed narrative cycle: Paris gr. 74 and Laur. VI. 23. The brief mention in the Gospel of Luke is immediately followed by the account of the Presentation, and since the latter was the more important event it was the one selected for illustration. The only known examples of the Circumcision occur in manuscripts in which the miniatures accompany the lections for special feast days; it is represented above the readings for January 1 in the Gospel-Lectionary of the Vatican Library, gr. 1156 (fol. 283) and in the Menologium of Basil II. These two miniatures differ from one another and in turn from the composition of the Freer Gospel. In the Lectionary Mary is seated holding the Christ Child on her

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lap; Joseph stands behind her and a young Israelite, advancing in rapid motion, is about to perform the rite. In the Menologium Mary and Joseph, standing, together hold the Christ Child and the mohel approaches them, knife in hand; behind him appears the temple.90 The composition of the Freer Gospel is partly patterned on the Presentation but with significant differences {fig. 137). The event takes place in the grotto of the Nativity, and Joseph, with veiled hands, holds the Child above the manger, clearly identified by an inscription. A liturgical character is given to the event by the women, holding lighted tapers, who stand behind the mohel.

This same liturgical character appears in the Circumcision of John the Baptist, a subject even more rare than the Circumcision of Christ. Men with lighted tapers stand behind the mohel and Zacharias who carries the child in his arms; Zacharias is represented a second time writing his son's name on a tablet {fig. 134). These two scenes are preceded on page 333 by the Annunciation to Zacharias. The old priest points to his lips to indicate that he was struck dumb when he doubted the message given to him by the angel ; to the left are the people who waited outside the temple {fig. 133). Three episodes also follow one another in the Laur. VI. 23, the birth, the circumcision, and the naming of John the Baptist, but there is no correspondence between these miniatures and ours. In the Circumcision the Byzantine painter has repeated the iconographic scheme of the Presentation of Christ: Elizabeth, followed by Zacharias, holds out the infant John; an old man stands facing her, but the rite of the circumcision is not even suggested, for this old man also holds the Child with both hands.91 The naming of John, depicted in a separate scene, includes the people who watch Zacharias as he writes his son's name on a tablet.

Minor episodes are often illustrated. For instance, on page 577 {fig. 169), we see the men who, after being miraculously fed, "took shipping and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus" (John 6: 24). They are crowded into three small boats, tossing on the waves, as the personification of the wind blows on the waters ; their frantic gestures express their confusion and their dismay at seeing that Jesus had departed. A simpler version of the same scene, a single boat, occurs in another Armenian manuscript, the Gospel illustrated in 1272 for Queen Keran (Jerusalem, Arm. Patr., No. 2563, fol. 308v) ; in the Byzantine Gospel of Florence (Laur. VI. 23, fol. 180), Jesus speaks to the men approaching in a boat, but this miniature lacks the lively quality of the composition in the Freer manuscript.

This liveliness, and an attempt to translate the Gospel narrative into the language of everyday life, characterize the illustrations of our manuscript. It is in this respect, more than in any other, that these compositions differ from the traditional themes of Byzantine art. We find here a fresh and imaginative approach to the subject, as if the painters were trying to visualize for the first time the events related in the Gospel. Small details enliven the compositions or stress a particular moment. In the scene of the adulterous woman {fig. 171) our attention is drawn

90 // Menologio di Basilio II, Turin, 1907, p. 287.

91 The Rockefeller McCormick New Testament. Volume III. The Miniatures, by Harold R. Willoughby, Chicago, 1932, pi. L.

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to the accusers who, "being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one" (John 8:9). In the healing of the deaf and dumb man, the gestures and expressions of the bystanders recall the words of the Gospel, "and were beyond measure aston- ished" (Mark 7: 37), and these words have been written above them, on the gold ground {fig. 120). In the healing of the demoniac {fig. 72) Jesus has not been represented, but the import of the miracle is clearly conveyed by the gestures of the multitude who "marvelled, saying. It was never seen in Israel" (Matthew 9: 33). Elsewhere, the pictorial translation of a figure of speech gives greater meaning to the scene; the men who stand next to Pilate washing his hands, point to their heads as they cry out: "His blood be on us, and on our children" (Matthew 27: 25) ,92 For greater clarity their words are written on the arches of the building {fig. 103) and this method of inscribing sentences or words, which may or may not be in the Gospel text, is a characteristic trait of our manuscript. When Jesus is anointed at the house of Simon the leper, Judas rises in protest and the words "don't, don't," written next to him, stress the indignation he felt at what he consid- ered to be a waste of costly material {fig. 96). 93 A further realistic touch is added to this composition: Simon is clearly represented as a leper, also identified as such by the inscription, and he stands outside, apart from his guests. In the scene of the man with the dropsy, whom Christ healed on the Sabbath day, one of the Jews makes an admonitory gesture and holds a scroll with the words "It is the Sabbath, says God" {fig. 147). When the man born blind, who also was healed on the Sab- bath day, appears before the Pharisees one of them holds a scroll with the inscrip- tion: "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" {fig. 172). The same protest on the part of the Jews is recalled in the healing of the paralytic, even though the Gospel does not say that it took place on the Sabbath; as the youth walks away, carrying his bed on his back, he turns around and looks at an old man seated inside a small circular building on which is written "it is the Sabbath" {fig. 69).

Other miniatures introduce familiar details or give a familiar interpretation to the entire scene. Salome, an elegant young woman in contemporary dress, dances before Herod to the tune of a reed pipe and a tambourine, the instruments which to the present day are the favorite ones played at all popular festivities {fig. 77). The Jews paying the thirty pieces of silver to Judas, or bribing the soldiers who guarded the sepulchre, are seated on the ground and weigh the money, or actual "pieces" of silver, in their scales, like merchants in a bazaar {figs. 97, 110). When the apostles, seeking a room for the Passover, meet the man bearing a pitcher of water and ask him, as Jesus had told them, "Where is the guest chamber?" the servant points to the "upper room," above a flight of stairs {fig. 121). Perhaps to

92 For an earlier, unrelated, example of this scene in Western art see O. Pacht, C. R. Dodwell, and F. Wormald, The St. Albans Psalter, London, I960, pp. 91-92, pi. 28b; here Pilate is sprinkling the Jews with water. The composition of our manuscript is further developed in two Armenian Gospels of the 14th century: the Jews not only point to their head but lay the other hand on the heads of the children standing in front of them (London, British Museum, Or. 5304, fol. 23; Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 212, fol. 91).

93 Judas's protest is mentioned only in John 12: 4-6; Matthew and Mark refer to the indignation of the disciples, but do not single out Judas.

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suggest that this room was "furnished and prepared," the painter has also portrayed the master of the house, waiting for his guests.94

The best example of a composition which radically departs from the usual types is the Entry into Jerusalem. The miniature on page 129 {fig. 93) is a simpli- fied version of the traditional iconography, in which, as in other Armenian manu- scripts, the conventional image of a temple stands for the city of Jerusalem. But on page 489 we have a unique interpretation of this scene {fig. 153) . The triumphal procession is almost over, Jesus is about to enter the city, and only the hind legs of the ass are still visible under the gate; behind come the apostles and the people carrying branches and praising the Lord.

In the Judgment before Pilate the gestures of the Jews accompanied the words they uttered. The miniatures which illustrate Christ's own words are a slightly different form of the same type of illustration. Four small roundels, painted next to the words "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob" (Matthew 22: 32), portray the Ancient of Days with a jeweled cross in- scribed in a gold nimbus, and the three patriarchs with identical features but blue, red, or gold haloes {fig. 94). To illustrate the words of Jesus: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church" (Matthew 16: 18), the painter has represented behind the apostles the small conventional image of a church erected upon a rocky mound {fig. 83) . The hand of God, coming out of the segment of sky, appears in the upper margin, and a fine red line, a ray of light, extends downward to the symbolized church. This passage is also singled out in other Cilician manu- scripts where we sometimes find merely a small church painted in the margin, at other times the bust figure of Peter inside this church.95

The prophet Isaiah portrayed on page 43 may be considered as another ex- ample of a literal interpretation of the text. The sick and possessed who were brought to Jesus to be healed (Matthew 8: 16) are represented in the upper part of the same page, while the prophet stands next to verse 17: "That it might be ful- filled what was spoken by Esaias the prophet saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses" {figs. 64, 66). However, the inscription on Isaiah's scroll does not repeat the words of the Gospel, which refer to Isaiah S3 : 4, but gives us the next verse in Isaiah: "with his stripes we are healed."

This difference is worth noting; the inscription is not a purely mechanical transcription of the words written next to the image, but a conscious attempt to call attention to the concordance between the two Testaments, to the fulfillment of what was predicted in the Old Testament. This is even more apparent when a prophet, holding a scroll with an appropriate quotation, is introduced into a composition, although there is no such reference in the Gospel text. Thus while "the men that held Jesus mocked him and smote him" (Luke 22 : 63-64) , a prophet, half hidden by the gold background {fig. 160), displays a scroll with the inscrip- tion: "I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (Isaiah, 50: 6). When Christ

94 In the Byzantine Gospel of Florence, Laur. VI. 23, fol. 91v, the master of the house stands inside the door and speaks to the two disciples.

98 Istanbul, Arm. Patr., Gospel of a.d. 1256, fol. 66v.

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appears to the apostles after the Resurrection and shows them His wounds (fig. 165), a prophet, standing behind the mountain, waves a long scroll bearing the words: "these wounds in my hands with which I was wounded in the house of my friends" (Zechariah 13:6).

The relation between the two Testaments is also shown in a different way. On the opening page of the Gospel of John (fig. 167) the nimbed eagle, the symbol of the Evangelist, is painted twice above the headpiece while the initial is formed by Jacob's vision of the ladder which "reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it" (Genesis 28: 12-13). This image, so skillfully adapted to the shape of the letter, is in part based on the last verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of John, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man," but the painter, or the person who directed him, was acquainted with the commentaries which explain this passage by reference to Jacob's dream.

A liturgical or a theological interpretation has sometimes been substituted for, or combined with, the narrative illustration. As in some Early Christian manu- scripts and Byzantine churches the Communion of the Apostles takes the place of the Last Supper, but a characteristic detail connects this miniature with the ritual of the Armenian church (fig. 157). Behind the apostles, the artist has painted the curtain which is drawn back from the altar when the faithful advance to receive holy communion.

Again, as in Early Christian and Byzantine art, the illustration of the Parable of the Ten Virgins stresses its real meaning and its connection with the Last Judg- ment. The wise virgins, carrying lighted torches, have entered the church and are blessed by Christ who appears, in bust, above them; an angel sounding the trumpet flies over the foolish ones who, in sorrowful attitudes, stand outside (fig. 95). The same idea is expressed in different ways in other Cilician manuscripts. In the Walters Gospel, T'oros Roslin represented the foolish virgins in the large compo- sition of the Last Judgment; they stand to the left of the enthroned apostles, one of whom closes the door to prevent them from entering.96 In a Gospel of the Mekhitharist Library in Vienna, No. 278, fol. 85, an angel with drawn sword threatens the foolish virgins, while Peter leads the wise ones toward a gate, just as in the Last Judgment he precedes the righteous approaching the gates of paradise.

The underlying meaning of the Parable of the Prodigal Son has also been em- phasized (fig. 148) . The father is nimbed and clad in classical garb ; the fatted calf, brought by the servants who carry the "best robe," the ring, and the shoes, is also nimbed ; so is the young man standing on the right, attired in classical dress like the father. His attitude, as he turns to speak to one of the servants, suggests that he is the elder son who, hearing sounds of rejoicing, asked "what these things meant" (Luke 15 : 26) . According to the majority of commentators, the father is an image of God, the two sons represent the sinners and the righteous, and the fatted calf is

S. Der Nersessian, Armenia and the Byzantine Empire, pi. xxviii.

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a figure of Our Lord sacrificed for the sinners. This is why both the father and the fatted calf are nimbed, and this may also be the reason why a nimb was used for the elder son who personifies the righteous. But there may be yet another explana- tion. According to Theophanes Cerameus, a Byzantine author of the 12th century, the elder son who never transgressed and was ever with the father is an image of the angels.97 In our miniature, the figure on the extreme right is not only nimbed and clad in classical dress, but he also holds a lance, attribute of the archangels, and like them has a fillet in his hair. One may therefore suggest that the artist followed a similar interpretation and gave to the elder son the appearance of an archangel. This hypothesis finds a corroboration in a miniature in a Serbian manuscript of the 13th century, known as the Prizren Gospel. The father of the parable is represented as God the Father and the son as Adam, both of them identified by the accompany- ing inscriptions; to the right stands the archangel Michael, sword in hand.98

We cannot comment on all the miniatures of this richly illustrated manuscript; the typical examples that have been discussed show the variety and originality in the interpretation of the Gospel narrative. The artists were capable of expressing pathos, though always with great restraint. In the Burial of Christ (fig. 104) the mourning women seated by the sepulchre watch in silent sorrow as Joseph of Ari- mathea winds the strips of linen around the body stretched on the marble slab; the emaciated form of Christ, His sunken cheeks, the deep shadows around His eyes all bear the marks of His passion. In the Agony in the Garden (fig. 156), Christ, prostrate, does not raise His head to look at the angel flying down to comfort Him. The rapid movement of the angel, his gesture and expression give an intensity to the scene which is lacking in the Byzantine examples where he stands facing Christ, or approaches from behind.99 Elsewhere, as in the Feeding of the Five Thousand, the animated groups give to the composition the appearance of an outdoor festivity (fig. 79). Expressive gestures enliven many of the scenes; to the examples already mentioned one may add the miniature of the Tribute Money where the soldier speaking to Peter holds up two fingers in order to make it clear that he is asking for the "didrachma" (fig. 82).

The stylistic analysis showed the marked affinities between the miniatures painted by the master artist and the illustrations of the manuscripts signed by T'oros Roslin ; the iconographic study also leads to the conclusion that the Freer Gospel is a product of his atelier. Many compositions belong to the common repertoire of Cilician miniaturists of the 13th century, but the more unusual representations find their closest parallels in the work of T'oros Roslin — in particular, the Walters Gospel which also has a detailed narrative cycle. We find in this manuscript, as in

97 Migne, P. G. 132, cols. 380A, 392-396.

98 A. Grabar, Recherches sur les influences orientales dans I'art balkanique, Strassburg, 1928, pp. 72- 73, pi. viii, 1. This manuscript, formerly in the National Library of Beograd, No. 297, was destroyed by fire in 1941. S. Radojcic, Stare srpske minijature, Beograd, 1950, p. 65.

99 See, for instance, H. Omont, Evangiles evec peintures byzantines du Xle siecle, Pan's, 1908, pis. 45, 85, 135; K. Weitzmann, "The Narrative and Liturgical Gospel Illustrations," New Testament Manu- script Studies, pi. xvii.

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ours, such scenes as Judas leading the Jews (fig. 346) the Apostle fleeing naked at the time of the Betrayal, the Jews bribing the soldiers who guarded the Sepulchre.100 In this manuscript, as in the Freer Gospel, Christ is not included in the composition which illustrates the Healing of the Sick (fig. 360). In the Return from Egypt (fol. 20v) Joseph carries the infant Jesus on his shoulders and Mary and a young man follow on foot, the iconographic scheme used for the Flight in our manuscript (fig. 58), which differs from the usual type in which Mary is seated on an ass. In the scene of Jesus among the Doctors, the latter hold scrolls bearing excerpts from the Decalogue (fol. 213v). When Christ is in a boat He is incongruously represented seated on a throne (fols. 41v, 223v, fig. 74). There are also points of contact with other manuscripts illustrated by T'oros Roslin. For instance, the Adoration of the Magi is identical with the composition of the Jerusalem Gospel No. 3627 (figs. 60 and 362), and very similar to the one in Jerusalem No. 251 (fol. 15v) ; in all three manuscripts the Virgin is seated on exactly the same type of throne placed in the opening of the cave. When Jesus appears to the disciples after His resurrection, the "closed doors" are added to the landscape setting in the Freer Gospel (fig. 165) ; the same curious inconsistency may be seen in the composition of the Incredulity of Thomas in Jerusalem No. 3627 (fig. 363) where the scene takes place out of doors, but where the "closed doors" are depicted on the right, next to the mountain.

These comparisions are instructive in two respects. They show on the one hand a close relationship between the Freer Gospel and the manuscripts of T'oros Roslin, a relationship which is even more apparent when one considers the work done in other Cilician scriptoria. But they also bring out the fact that T'oros Roslin hardly ever repeated the same composition; slight variations, differences in the attitudes, in the number and grouping of the figures show the vitality of this group of miniaturists who avoided the slavish copying of established models.

* * *

The Gospel of Prince Vasak is the third manuscript at the Freer Gallery which can be assigned to the scriptorium of Hromkla. Codex No. 50.3 showed a type of illustration favored by the Armenians, namely, full-page miniatures of the major events in the life of Christ. The painters of Great Armenia grouped these scenes at the beginning of the manuscript, those of Cilicia place them close to the passages that are illustrated. Codex No. 44.17 is a typical example of the work of the older generation of miniaturists who worked for Catholicos Constantine, and who limited the illustrations to the portraits of the evangelists. When T'oros Roslin takes over the leadership of the scriptorium of Hromkla a narrative cycle is added to the earlier method of full-page compositions of the major feasts. Among surviving manuscripts this narrative cycle is best exemplified by the Freer and Walters Gospels. It must also have existed in the Gospel written for Het'um I (Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 5458) for the two miniatures that are preserved illustrate sec- ondary episodes. One of them represents the angels worshiping Jesus after the

Fols. 128v, 190, 191. S. Der Nersessian, op. cit., in New Testament Manuscript Studies, pi. v.

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Temptation (fig. 359) ; the second (fig. 358) portrays Christ standing with an open book in His hands next to John 4: 26 and the words he utters, "I that speak unto thee am he," are written on His book.101 We can see, moveover, that there was another miniature illustrating the conversation of Jesus with the woman from Samaria. The lower part of folio 250 has been mutilated; the missing text on the recto, John 4: 2-3, would have filled the seven lines that have been cut off, but only the last words of verse 6, "it was about the sixth hour," are lacking between the extant part of folio 250v and folio 251. There must have been, therefore, a minia- ture depicting Jesus seated by Jacob's well and speaking to the Samaritan woman.

This sudden appearance of a narrative illustration in the second half of the 13th century is not confined to the scriptorium of Hromkla. The study of Codex No. 56.11 will show that the painters who worked under the leadership of Bishop John, the brother of Vasak and Het'um I, also used at times a fairly detailed picture cycle which, however, followed different iconographic types. Yet another trend may be seen in the manuscripts illustrated by a school of miniaturists which flour- ished in the latter part of the 13th century; the outstanding products of this group are the Gospel of Queen Keran, A.D. 1272 (Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate, No. 2563), the Lectionary of Het'um II, A.D. 1286 (Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 979), and the Gospel of Erevan, No. 7651, partly illustrated in the 13th century and completed in 1320.

The determining factors of this new development cannot be thoroughly investigated so long as the extant manuscripts of these different schools have not been completely published and studied. We shall merely indicate here the various artistic traditions with which the artists of Cilicia were acquainted in order to suggest what may have been the sources of inspiration.

A detailed picture cycle was not entirely an innovation in Armenian book illumination for it had already been used in the 11th century in the Gospel written for King Gagik of Kars. A ruthless hand has cut out the majority of the miniatures introduced into the text, but the few remaining pictures prove that events of sec- ondary importance, and even the successive moments of these events, had been illus- trated.102 The scenes common to the Gagik Gospel and the manuscripts of T'oros Roslin present different iconographic schemes, but other 11th-century manuscripts with a narrative cycle may have existed and found their way to Cilicia, and ele- ments of such a cycle already appear in a Cilician Gospel of the late 12th or early 13th century.103 The possibility of a revival, partly based on earlier Armenian models, cannot therefore be excluded.

The artistic creations of other countries must also be taken into consideration,

101 The first of these two miniatures has been cut off and pasted on one of the paper leaves, fol. 235v; it is framed by a narrow red fillet and painted on a gold ground. The second miniature, fol. 252, is painted in the outer margin and intrudes into the text column where the lines are slightly shorter in order to provide ample space for the figure.

102 Jerusalem, Arm. Patr., No. 2556: A Tchobanian, Roseraie d'Armenie, vol. Ill, pp. X h.t., XI, XVII, XVIII h.t., 5, 15, 22, 24, h.t., 73, 109, 132, 240 h.t., 271.

103 Venice, Mekh. Library No. 888: S. Der Nersessian Manuscrits armeniens, pp. 87-102.

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and first of all those of Byzantium. The strong current of Byzantine influence in Great Armenia coincides with the period of the expansion of the empire in the 1 1th century. In Cilicia also, historic and geographic conditions had brought the Armenians into close, if not always friendly, contact with Byzantium and facilitated artistic exchanges. In fact, we have definite proof that one of the Byzantine manu- scripts with an extensive narrative cycle, namely the Gospel in Florence, Laur. VI. 23, was at one time in Armenian hands. G. Millet had already called attention to the fact that the pages of this manuscript were numbered, at a later date, with Armenian letters, that Armenian inscriptions were added in the margin on two pages, and that, consequently, it had belonged to Armenians at one time.104 It can now be shown that this Greek manuscript was in Cilicia in the 13th century and was used as a model for some of the illustrations of the Gospel of Erevan, No. 7651, mentioned above. Entire series of miniatures are copied from the Laur. VI. 23; the compositions are almost identical and they follow one another in exactly the same order.105

The illustrations of the Laurentian manuscript, which consist of strip composi- tions with small figures and successive episodes, differ from those of the Freer Gospel, but since we have definite proof that this Byzantine Gospel was used as a model by a contemporary of T'oros Roslin, we must try to see whether the latter had not also had access to a Greek manuscript which he may have imitated if not actually copied.

Among the miniatures discussed above there are two types of illustrations which do not occur in earlier Armenian manuscripts : those which stress the inter- dependence of the two Testaments, usually by introducing the figure of a prophet; those which are literal interpretations of the text or pictorial translations of a poetic image. The first type appears in different forms in Byzantine art. In the sixth- century Gospels of Rossano and Sinope, prophets holding inscribed scrolls ac- company each one of the Gospel scenes. Later, in the Psalters with marginal illustrations, scenes from the life of Christ are placed next to the passages which are considered as a prediction of these events. In manuscripts of the 12th and 13th centuries we encounter a form which is more closely related to the one used in the Freer Gospel. In the Laurentian VI. 23 when the words of a prophet are re- called in the text, or even when there is a mere reference to a prophecy, the image of a prophet is introduced into the composition, as in the scenes mentioned above, or it is drawn in the margin. In a few other manuscripts, where such portraits are

104 G. Millet, Recherches sur I'iconographie de I'Evangile aux XIV e, XVe et XVIe siecles, Paris, 1916, p. 569.

105 In particular the illustrations on fols. 17v to 33v, which correspond to those of the Laur. VI. 23, fols. 9v to 21v, and those on fols. 85 to 107v, which correspond to Laur. VI. 23, fols. 63v to 80v. See an example in L. Durnovo, Drevnearm, Min., pi. 42, and Laur. VI. 23, fol. I5v (Paris, Ecole des Hautes Etudes, C 378). For the corresponding scene of the first miniature on fol. I5v, depicting the Healing of Peter's mother-in-law, see L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, p. 111. Inscriptions in other Byzantine manuscripts, for instance the Psalter No. 609 in the Vatopedi Monastery, also prove that they had belonged at one time to Armenians. G. Millet and S. Der Nersessian, "Le Psautier armenien illustre," Revue des etudes armeniennes, IX (1929), p. 181, pi. X.

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used, the words of the prophecy are written on the scroll, as they are in the Freer Gospel. For instance, in the Entry into Jerusalem in a 13th-century Gospel, Berlin qu. 66, a prophet standing behind the mountain holds a scroll with the inscription "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion" (Zachariah 9:9), while in a Psalter in the Vatopedi Monastery, No. 760, David appears carrying a scroll with a few words from Psalm 8 : 3. 108

It is possible that similar representations gave to T'oros Roslin the idea of in- cluding a prophet in some of the Gospel scenes. In the Entry of Jerusalem which he painted in the Walters manuscript (fol. 124) a prophet, displaying a scroll with the same inscription as the one in the Berlin manuscript, appears under the domed structure which crowns the city gate. But Roslin and his assistants stressed the interdependence of the two Testaments in other ways as well, of which no cor- responding Byzantine examples are known. Jacob's vision of the ladder used for the initial of the Gospel of John has already been mentioned; attention should also be called to the decoration of the Canon tables in the Walters Gospel and in other manuscripts illustrated by T'oros Roslin, where the lunettes frame the bust portraits of prophets carrying scrolls on which are written passages from the Messianic prophecies.107 In this last instance the source of inspiration may have been the symbolic interpretations of the Canon tables composed by Armenian authors.108 Though no prophets are specifically mentioned in these texts, their principal theme is the fulfillment of the predictions of the Old Testament.

The second method of illustration, that is, a literal interpretation, is also well known in Byzantine art through the Psalters with marginal illustrations, and it also occurs in Gospel manuscripts. Miniatures of this type are more common in Gospel Lectionaries, especially those in which a marginal image accompanies the opening verse of a sentence, but they are also to be seen in the Laurentian VI. 23 where the miniatures are introduced into the text. However, I have not been able to find exact correspondences between the Byzantine examples and the Freer Gospel. Independently from one another, Greek and Armenian painters display a desire to follow the text as closely as possible, translating the words into pictorial forms

106 G. Millet, Iconographie, pp. 265-266, fig. 244; K. Weitzmann, "Aristocratic Psalter and Lectionary," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, XIX (I960), p. 105, fig. 3. For other examples see G. Millet, op. cit., pp. 268-269 ; H. Buchthal, Miniature Painting in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, Oxford, 1957, pi. 144a and b.

107 Jerusalem, Arm. Patr. Nos. 251, 2660, and 3627. This method of representing a selected number of prophets holding scrolls with Messianic prophecies is very different from the one used in the sixth-century Syriac Gospel of Rabula where the prophets and other Old Testament figures are depicted next to the Canon tables.

108 See above, pp. 16-17. Images of prophets and other figures are also painted in small medallions above the Canon tables of the 12th-century Georgian Gospel of Gelati (Tbilissi, Institute of Manuscripts No. Q 908). Fol. 5v, Sacrifice of Abraham; fol. 6, Zephaniah standing in front of a mountain looking at flames; fol. 6v, Isaiah, a hand coming out of the segment of sky presents the live coal to him; fol. 7, Jeremiah; fol. 7v, Ezekiel; fol. 8, Daniel; fol. 8v, David; fol. 9, Solomon and next to him an icon of the Virgin; fol. 9v, John Chrysostom writing; fol. 10, Deesis and angels. Greek inscriptions accompany these representations.

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even when no action is involved, and there is little agreement between the pas- sages they have selected or the way in which they have interpreted them.

If from a consideration of the types of illustration we pass to the iconography of the individual scenes, we notice that the compositions which adhere to the Byzan- tine types are less numerous than those which differ from them, and that this adher- ence appears primarily in the representations of the principal scenes of the life of Christ. In a few instances the earlier formulae have been discarded in favor of those which occur in contemporary or slightly earlier Byzantine examples. In the Descent from the Cross, the Armenian artists of the 11th century had depicted Joseph embracing the body of Christ, still erect on the cross, but with both hands loosened, hanging down, and Mary and John standing symmetrically on either side.109 In the Freer Gospel {fig. 126) we find the Byzantine type in which Nico- demus removes the nail from the left hand while Mary kisses the right hand that has been freed. In most examples of this type John still faces Mary on the other side of the cross, but there are also compositions where the favorite disciple has not been included.110

In the Raising of Lazarus {fig. 170) T'oros Roslin has suppressed the realistic detail of the attendant who raises his hand to his nose as a protection from the evil smell, although we find this figure in other manuscripts painted by him. He has added the group of the Jews, absent from earlier Armenian miniatures, and which reappear in many manuscripts of the Middle Byzantine period.111

The Armenian artists usually combined the Adoration of the Magi with the Nativity,112 while in the Freer manuscript it is represented in a separate scene, on the lower margins of two confronting pages {fig. 60). This iconographic type, with Joseph standing next to Mary and the angel introducing the Magi, appears in monuments of an early date, for instance at Santa Maria Antiqua and in the Oratory of John VII in Rome, and continues in the Middle Byzantine period. The miniature of the Freer Gospel is closely related to the composition in the Menologium of Basil II, even though Joseph is not represented there, for in both examples the angel is a full-length figure and Mary is seated in the opening of the cave.118 The Armenian miniaturist has added the manger behind Mary, perhaps a survival of the compositions which combined the Nativity and Adoration.

Divergencies from the current iconographic types occur more frequently. Several unusual compositions have already been discussed, others also show interesting variations. In its main features the Marriage at Cana adheres to the

109 Jerusalem, Arm. Patr. No. 3723, Gospel of a.d. 1045; Erevan, Matenadaran, No. 3784, Gospel of a.d. 1057; see F. Macler, Miniatures armeniennes, pi. XII, fig. 24.

110 Millet, Iconographie, pp. 470-475. In three miniatures of Laur. VI. 23 John has not been represented : ibid., figs. 527-529.

111 Ibid., pp. 237-238.

112 Ibid., pp. 149-152 ; L. Durnovo, Miniatures armeniennes, pp. 43, 57.

118 H. Kehrer, Die Heiligen Drei Konige in Literatur und Kunst, Leipzig, 1909, II, pp. 58-70; II Menologio di Basilio II, p. 272. At Santa Maria Antiqua and in the Paris Gregory No. 510, the half- length figure of a flying angel appears above the Magi. J. Wilpert, Romische Mosaiken und Malereien, Freiburg in Breisgau, 1917, IV, pi. 161.2; Omont, Miniatures des plus anciens manuscrits, pi. XXXII.

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Middle Byzantine type used in the Gospels of Paris, gr. 74, and Florence, Laur. VI. 23 114 : Christ remains seated and is not represented a second time next to the stone jars filled with water {fig. 168). However, the group around the table is very different: the Virgin and Christ are side by side in the middle of the table, flanked by the bride and bridegroom, while in Byzantine examples Christ is at the head of the sigma-shaped table and His Mother stands next to Him. The Armenian composition has given greater prominence to Mary, as well as to the bridal couple, and relegated the guests to the background.

There is no close Byzantine parallel for the deeply moving composition which shows the preparation for burial, rather than the entombment itself. "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre" (Matthew 27: 61) watch Joseph of Arimathea as he wraps strips of linen cloth around Christ's body (fig. 104). The painter has taken pains to represent the napkin that was placed about Christ's head and which Peter found "in a place by itself" when he entered the sepulchre (John 20: 17). In Byzantine compositions of the ninth and tenth centuries, the women watching by the tomb sit below or next to the scene in which Joseph and Nicodemus carry the shrouded body of Christ toward the sepul- chre.115 Later, the Entombment is combined with the "Threnos" that is, Mary, Joseph, and John weeping over the dead body of Christ, but in none of these ex- amples do we see the actual preparation depicted in the Freer manuscript.116 There is one detail, however, that suggests a knowledge of Byzantine examples or of a Byzantine tradition : Christ's body lies on a mottled red slab. One of the most precious relics venerated at the church of the Pantocrator in Constantinople was the "red stone" (XtGoq £pu9p6<;) on which Christ's body was said to have been laid as it was shrouded and prepared for burial.117 It cannot be mere coincidence that the stone of our miniature is also painted red ; this miniature is, therefore, a particu- larly illuminating example of the way in which the artist worked and the type and degree of connection with Byzantine art. He retains a significant element, known to him either through a Byzantine example, or through the accounts of those who had visited the capital and seen the relic, but he gives a personal interpretation to the scene, creating a new image.

In this case, as in many others, this new imagery results from a faithful ad-

114 Paris, gr. 74, fol. 170v: Omont, op. cit., pi. 147 ; Laur. VI. 23, fol. 170v: photograph Ecole des Hautes Etudes, C 427.

115 Millet, Iconographie, pp. 462-463, figs. 483-485. In the 13th-century manuscript of Berlin, qu. 66, the two Maries are seated next to the sarcophagus in which Christ's body has been placed: Ibid., fig. 487. K. Weitzmann, "The Origin of the Threnos," De Artibus Opuscula XL. Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky. Edited by Millard Meiss, New York, 1961, pp. 476-490, figs. 1-17.

118 Ibid., pp. 489-516. There is a suggestion of the preparation for burial in one of the miniatures of Laur. VI. 23 (ibid., fig. 529) where Joseph seems to be holding the ends of the shroud in order to wrap it around Christ's body, but the composition with Mary at Christ's head and John at His feet is closely related to that of the Threnos. The preparation for burial may be seen on an archaic silver icon from the monastery of Shemokmedi in Georgia where one man is shown winding the shroud around Christ's body while the other holds the vase for anointment. G. N. Tschubinaschwili, Georgian Repousse Work, Tiflis, 1957, pi. 137.

117 G. Millet, Iconographie, p. 498.

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herence to the Gospel text, and may affect only certain parts of the composition. For instance, in the Mocking of Christ (fig. 160) the men who strike Him with their long sticks or bow in derision before Him do not differ substantially from those who are represented in Byzantine compositions; what is new and different is the long veil thrown over Christ's head in conformity with the words of the text "they covered His face" (Luke 22: 64) which are once again written on the upper band of the frame. This detail distinguishes our miniature both from the Byzantine examples in which Christ is never veiled, and from those of Western Europe where he is blindfolded. The veil is absent from the representation of the same scene in the Gospel of Mark, since it is not mentioned there (fig. 125). We see instead Jesus clothed in purple, with the crown of thorns on His head and the men who "smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him" (Mark 15: 19). The woman who "was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself" (Luke 13: 11) is represented seated on the ground, her legs drawn up close to her body (fig. 146), while in Byzantine and Western European art she walks, bent forward, leaning on one or two canes. For the Armenian word karkameal used to translate the Greek auyKuirrouaa means not only bowed but can also refer to a contraction of the body, to someone who is huddled up like the sick woman of our manuscript. Christ's appearance to the disciples in Galilee immediately follows Matthew 28: 17, "and when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted," and the composition is a very accurate translation of these words (fig. 106). Jesus is clad in white raiments, as He always is in this manuscript after His resurrection, and a mandorla of light is drawn around Him to emphasize the miraculous character of His appearance. Peter, personifying those who "worshipped him," kneels and bows his head in deep reverence, behind him stand the other apostles, their gestures and expressions clearly indicating that they are those who doubted. The Byzantine artists usually illustrate the mission given to the apostles by representing Christ between two symmetrical groups, speaking to them and blessing them. Only in an 11th-century Gospel-Lectionary, Mount Athos, Dionysiu, cod. 740, do we find a miniature cor- responding to ours, though differing from it compositionally.118 Christ stands on a hill speaking to the apostles who are divided into two groups; some bend forward their hands raised in adoration, others stand aside with gestures of doubt. The miniature precedes verses 16-20, therefore the painter has also shown Christ ad- dressing the apostles and giving them the mission to baptize and teach the people, while in the Freer Gospel the composition only illustrates verse 17 and Christ ap- pears to His disciples but does not yet speak to them.

As a last example we shall consider the miniature which depicts Pilate's wife sending a messenger to her husband (fig. 99). She is still reclining in her bed, just arousing from her sleep in which she had "suffered many things" because of Jesus, and she bids the messenger to hurry and tell her husband to have "nothing to do with that just man" (Matthew 27: 19) . The words of her message are written next

K. Weitzmann, op. cit., in New Testament Manuscript Studies, pp. 166-167, pis. XXIV, XXV.

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to her. This scene is absent from the narrative cycle of Byzantine manuscripts. In some Cappadocian frescoes Pilate's wife appears at the window of the house, behind Pilate who is washing his hands;119 two separate moments have been compressed into a single scene and the sending of the message, so vividly portrayed in the Armenian miniature, is omitted.

These miniatures, to which many more could be added, are sufficient to show the position of T'oros Roslin in regard to the Byzantine tradition and to that of Great Armenia. We can be fairly certain that he had seen Greek manuscripts. He may have been inspired by them to illustrate the Gospels in far greater detail than had previously been done in Cilicia, depicting not only actual events, but also, occasionally, the words uttered by Christ or references to the prophets. Under the influence of Byzantine models, he sometimes modified the iconographic types favored by the painters of Great Armenia, and in rare instances he reproduced Byzantine compositions. But the vast majority of the miniatures of the Freer Gospel differ from the Byzantine examples and the traditional formulae. T'oros Roslin appears as a man endowed with a vivid imagination and creative ability, as an artist who devised a new imagery by closely following the Gospel text and by enlivening his compositions through careful observation of the life and people around him.

The Crusades had brought the Armenians of Cilicia into contact with the Latin world. There was constant intercourse with the kingdoms and principalities established in the Levant and fairly large numbers of Europeans had settled in Cilicia. French knights had sought service with the Armenian rulers and had become masters of fortresses; the Hospitalers and the Teutonic Order had important possessions in Cilicia; there were numerous merchants in the cities and ports, as well as members of the religious orders, in particular, the Franciscans. Among the nobility and especially the royal family the relations with the Euro- peans were strengthened by intermarriages. Het'um's sisters and his daughters were all married to Frenchmen; during his reign French and Latin were used in some of the official documents of the Armenian Chancellery. The customs of Western chivalry had penetrated into the Armenian court; the two sons of Het'um were knighted at ceremonies which were patterned on those of the West. In view of all these connections one should also consider whether any influence of western Euro- pean art can be detected in the works of T'oros Roslin.

In the Gospel illustrated by T'oros Roslin in 1268 (Jerusalem, No. 3627, fol. 328) the composition of the Crucifixion is clearly derived from a Latin model. To the left of the Cross we see the allegorical figure of Ecclesia, a crowned woman carrying a church in her right hand and a bannered cross in the left. To the right stands the personification of the Synagogue, a blindfolded woman who holds a broken reed and whose crown is thrown down from her head by an angel.120 This

119 G. de Jerphanion, Les eglises rupestres de Cappadoce, Paris, 1925-42, pis. 50.1, 142.3. See also other examples cited by G. Millet, Iconographie, pp. 621-622, and the Byzantine Psalter, Vat. gr. 372, fol. 82v.

120 In the Gospel of the Walters Art Gallery, No. 539, fol. 124, Roslin had adhered to the Byzantine

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typically Western inconography is definite proof that T'oros Roslin had seen a Latin manuscript, but this is an exceptional example, and in the Freer Gospel, as well as in his other works, there is little clear-cut evidence of Western influence.

The costumes of several women in our manuscript — Salome, the servant of the high priest, the bride in the Marriage at Cana, Pilate's wife — resemble those of western Europe, in particular, their head-dresses, to which is attached a veil that covers the shoulders {figs. 77, 99, 160, 168) . However, we know from literary sources that already in the late 12th century Latin fashions were the vogue in Cilicia, especially among the upper classes of society.121 What we have here is but another example of the introduction of elements taken from contemporary life and not the imitation of a Western model.

The miniature illustrating Christ's words, "Thou art Peter" (fig. 83), might have been considered, a priori, as an example of Western influence, since it is in the Latin world that the primacy of Peter was emphasized. But, curiously enough, the West very rarely gave a pictorial form to these words and the few known compositions differ radically from ours. An embroidered pontifical cope in the Treasury of the Cathedral of Bamberg, dating in the 11th century, is decorated, among other scenes, with several episodes from the life of Peter. One of these depicts Peter seated on a throne and looking up toward the hand of God projecting from the segment of sky. Christ's words, "Tu es Petrus . . ." are in- scribed on the frame of the roundel and next to him is the inscription "cathedra sci petri." 122 There is an even simpler composition in an Antiphonal of the beginning of the 14th century: Christ speaks with Peter and another disciple and only His words connect this image with the specific passage in the Gospel.123 The character- istic detail of the Armenian manuscripts, the church erected on a rock, is absent from these examples.

Even though no comparable compositions are known in the art of western Europe, one must still consider whether the selection of this passage in several Armenian Gospels, many of which were illustrated at the patriarchal see of Hromkla, has a special significance and can, in any way, point to the West.

Ever since the latter part of the 12th century, the Papacy had pursued its efforts to bring about a union between the Armenian church and Rome, and under the pressure of political circumstances minor concessions had been made by the Armenians, principally in disciplinary matters and certain usages. The position of the Catholicos Constantine in regard to Rome can be seen in two documents : a letter which he sent to King Het'um in 1248 outlining the answer to be given to the papal legate; and the account of the meeting of his representative, the priest

type where the Church and the Synagogue wear the maphorion ; the former, holding a chalice, is led to the Cross by an angel, and the latter is driven away from it.

121 Recueil des historiens des croisades. Documents armeniens, I, Paris, 1869, pp. 597-599.

122 E. Basserman-Jordan and Wolfgang M. Schmid, Der Bamberger Domschatz, Munich, 1914, pp. 9-11, pi. VI.

123 Marquet de Vasselot, La Collection Martin Le Roy, Paris, 1906-09, vol. V, pp. 151-152. The usual theme in Western art is the giving of the keys to Peter.

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Mekhit'ar, with the papal legate at Saint-Jean d'Acre in 1263. In his letter the Catholicos refutes the claim that only the see of Rome has authority on earth to bind and to release, and that all the churches owe her obedience.124 The report of Mekhit'ar entitled "On the equality of the twelve apostles in dignity and against those who affirm that eleven of these apostles are inferior in authority to Peter," 128 contains a long passage on the meaning of the words "Tu es Petrus." The rock on which the church was founded is not Peter alone but all the other apostles and the prophets as well; this rock is the faith of Peter and of the other apostles who also recognized Christ as the son of God.126

The position of Peter as "primus inter pares" and the equality of the apostles had as a natural consequence the equality of all the churches which, like the Armenian, claimed an apostolic origin, and hence that of the heads of these churches. This idea is implicit in the dedicatory verses written in all the manu- scripts commissioned by the Catholicos Constantine which end with the prayer addressed to Christ that he, the Catholicos, "may sit on the throne with Peter." 127

In view of all this the miniatures which illustrate the words "Tu es Petrus" cannot be considered as examples of a pro-Roman attitude.128 They are allied to the other compositions which are literal illustrations of the words of Christ, such as the medallions with the images of the Ancient of Days and the three patriarchs.

In discussing the miniature which depicts Pilate's wife sending a messenger to her husband (fig. 90), we pointed out the differences between this composition and the Byzantine representations. The illustrations of Latin manuscripts such as the Hortus Deliciarum and Queen Mary's Psalter are in some respects closer to the Armenian miniature but there are also significant divergencies.129 While in both groups Pilate's wife is reclining on her bed, in the Latin examples she is

124 The Book of Letters (in Armenian), Tiflis, 1901, pp. 503-509.

125 Macler, Documents armeniens, p. 689, n. 1 ; part of the text is given on pp. 691-698.

126 C. Galanus, Conciliationis ecclesiae Armenae cum Romana, Rome, 1661, vol. II.2, pp. 299-301.

127 G. Hovsep'ian, Catholicos Constantine I, pp. 103, 108, 110, 120.

128 In his Histoire politique et religieuse de I'Armenie (Paris, 1910, p. 289) Tournebize refers to a letter which he claims to have been written by Constantine I to Innocent IV and in which the Catholicos called the pope "the Father of Fathers" and proclaimed that the see of Rome was at the head of all the Churches. This is a mistake, for the letter in question was not written by Constantine but by a vicarius Orientis called Raban Ara. In the publication of the letter in the Monumenta Germaniae Historica {Epistolae saeculi XIII, Berlin, 1887, vol. II, pp. 199-200, No. 268) the editor himself has added the words catholicos Armeniae in the title. Not only is Raban Ara not an Armenian name, but nowhere in the letter is there any mention of, or reference to, the Armenians ; on the contrary there are indications that the writer was an Oriental prelate, perhaps a Nestorian, for he states that he is sending at the same time a libellum which he has received from China {de terra Sin) and a letter from the archbishop of Nisibis. In the edition by Baronius {Annates Ecclesiastici, XXI (1870), pp. 347-348, Nos. 32-35), the title of the letter is correctly given as being written by Orientis Catholicus. It is followed by letters from the Jacobite Catholicos and the Jacobite primatus, and one by the Nestorian archbishop of Nisibis {ibid., pp. 348-350, Nos. 36-43). The conclusions drawn by Tournebize from this letter have therefore no foundation in so far as Constantine I is concerned.

129 Herrade de Landsberg, Hortus Deliciarum, Recueil de cinquante planches . . . par Joseph Walter, Strassburg-Paris, 1952, pi. xxix; G. Warner, Queen Mary's Psalter, London, 1912, pi. 253.

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FREER GALLERY OF ART, ORIENTAL STUDIES, NO. 6

still asleep and the illustrators have given an extreme interpretation to her words, "I have suffered many things," by showing a demon haunting her in her dream. In a second scene in the Hortus Deliciarum, Pilate's wife, risen from her bed, speaks to the messenger; in Queen Mary's Psalter the messenger delivers the message as Pilate is washing his hands. The simple, direct composition of the Freer Gospel is a more faithful rendering of the Gospel text, conceived independently from other examples.

The miniatures of the Circumcision of Jesus and of John the Baptist, which include people carrying lighted tapers, are among the rare instances where one may detect the influence of Western iconography {figs. 137, 134) . In one of the stained- glass windows of the cathedral of Chartres two women carrying candles and doves are depicted in the roundel next to the Presentation of Christ and form part of this scene. Similar figures appear in