Ethiopian Gospel Book
Date:
early fourteenth century
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Ethiopia
Dimensions:
26.7 × 17 × 11.4 cm
Description:
This early fourteenth-century Gospel book was copied in the Tǝgray region of northern Ethiopia by a scribe named Mäṭre Krǝstos, who used the liturgical language of Gǝ‛ǝz. After a series of canon tables that emphasize the unity of the four Gospels, the book contains three full-page scenes of Christ's Passion. Smaller images of the evangelists precede their individual books.
In the Crucifixion scene (fol. 6v), Christ is shown as a lamb atop a gemmed cross. The other Passion scenes suggest knowledge of real places in Jerusalem, such as the domed rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher that is the setting for the Resurrection (fol. 7r). Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, who are Miaphysites, trace their origin to King Solomon in Jerusalem, and there were (and are) Ethiopian monasteries in the city. The images of arched or circular structures topped by birds and vegetation probably evoke the Fountain of Life in the Garden of Eden (fol. 6r). The unnamed artist is thought to have been inspired by a much older Byzantine manuscript, but iconographic details (such as the lamb instead of the human Jesus) and the use of bright colors and flattened forms is distinctively Ethiopian. A Gospel book similar to this one bears a colophon that gives a fourteenth-century date.
This book still possesses its original wooden covers, carefully stitched to repair a crack.
In the Crucifixion scene (fol. 6v), Christ is shown as a lamb atop a gemmed cross. The other Passion scenes suggest knowledge of real places in Jerusalem, such as the domed rotunda of the Holy Sepulcher that is the setting for the Resurrection (fol. 7r). Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, who are Miaphysites, trace their origin to King Solomon in Jerusalem, and there were (and are) Ethiopian monasteries in the city. The images of arched or circular structures topped by birds and vegetation probably evoke the Fountain of Life in the Garden of Eden (fol. 6r). The unnamed artist is thought to have been inspired by a much older Byzantine manuscript, but iconographic details (such as the lamb instead of the human Jesus) and the use of bright colors and flattened forms is distinctively Ethiopian. A Gospel book similar to this one bears a colophon that gives a fourteenth-century date.
This book still possesses its original wooden covers, carefully stitched to repair a crack.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
9,
10
Repository and Online Resources:
• This Gospel book is at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore.
Image Credits:
Walters Art Museum
