Manuscript No. 24: Ritual Book

Item Overview

Title

Manuscript No. 24: Ritual Book

Uniform title

Mashtots'

Date Created

1693

Date

1693

Language

Armenian

Collection

Armenian Manuscripts

Notes

Description

Text in bolorgir, written in one column of 17 lines. Subtitles in red bolorgir, and several initial lines of individual texts in red or magenta bolorgir. Large erkatagir initials throughout the codex.Seventeen quires numbered with the letters of the Armenian alphabet, written in bolorgir in he lower margin of the page. Except for quire 17, which has only two leaves, the quires have gatherings of twelve leaves each.

Colophon

Fol. 232v. Principle colophon.Fol. 90. Fol. 218v In notragir.On endsheet facing inside back cover, in Minasian’s handwriting.

Provenance

According to the colophon on fol. 232v, the writing of the codex was completed on April 10 in the year 1142 of the Armenian Era (= A.D. 1693). He place of execution is not known; but the colophon indicates that the book was written for an individual named Mamar and her husband Awetik. The colophon does not mention the name of the scribe, but the text on fol. 90 ends with the prayer: “I plead wit h you to remember the unworthy and most sinful and worthless priest Astuacatur.” We can perhaps assume, then, that Astuacatur himself copied the codex. It can also be surmised that the book was executed at New Julfa in Isfahan. This supposition is partially based on the fact that the colophon on fol. 232v also asks the reader to “remember in Christ Espahan and his son Mnac’akan.”We learn from an inscription on fol. 218v that the book was rebound by the zhamarar (officiating priest) Yarut’iwn. The date and place are not mentioned, but we can assume that the rebinding is a product of the 19th century. From a notice on the endsheet facing the inside of the back cover we learn that the MS was acquired by Dr. Minasian in June 1956 as a gift from an individual named Hrand Nahapetian.

Physical Description

Extent

232 folios

Dimensions

14.5x8.5 cm.

Binding note

Rebound, probably in the 19th century. Upper board missing. Brown mottled calfskin over pasteboard, gold-tooled border using two different rolls. Some tools used to divide the spine into four panels, each wit ha floral tools in center. Edges of boards also gilt with one of the roll tools. Endbands of blue and pink silk, bead on the edge. Paper pastedowns. Edges sprinkled red. Spine lined with paper. Textblock split in two at spine, and appears to be sewn on three cords; but neither the sewing structure nor the board attachment is visible. The fore-edges of the text are have been severely trimmed (marginal decorations partially trimmed off). Some pages from another MS (or perhaps replacement pages written for missing leaves), done by a different scribe, have been used with the rest pf the text, as have some blank sheets. There are three tipped-in engravings taken from an Armenian printed book. The head of all of the original text was apparently damaged. Not a traditional Armenian binding.

Condition note

The codex has been extensively repaired. What was evidently the original portion is composed of folios of a thin white paper, which has also been used to repair the tops of many of the older sheets. The three engravings taken from a printed book are on yet a third king of paper, similar in color to the original folios but with a softer surface. They are glued onto sheets of the white paper.The book is broken into two almost equal halves. When the codex was rebound, the missing leaves were replaced, and a number of leaves were misbound. Despite these defects, the book is in a fairly good state of preservation.

Illustrations note

The illustrations of this codex consist of two headpieces (fols. 1 and 7), seven marginal palmettes, eighteen bird-form initials, and three tipped-in engragins cut from a printed book.The headpiece on fol. 1, which is on the white paper used for repairs, is drawn in swift strokes of red over a very faint brown underdrawing. On top, the traditional palmette forms have been reinterpreted with two concentric repeats of a silhouette of leaves, The field below is occupied by similar rilobes, fleshed out with hatching and sprouting leafy vines. THe headpiece on fol. 7, which is par of the original codex, contains two interlocking lozenges framing buds. The straight lines are ruler-drawn, the curves somewhat unsteady. The ground has been tinted red. Most of the headpiece’s marginal palmette has been cut away.The marginal palmettes and buds are part of the original codex. All were damaged (cut away or glued over) in the repairs. They are drawn in gray by a sure hand, and highlighted with the magenta and orange used in the rubrics, as well as with a blue-gray.The three ripped-in engravings, which represen the Annunciation (fol. 37v), the Last Supper (fol. 83v), and St. Gregory the Illuminator (fol. 90v.), have captions provided in Armenian. The printed text can sometimes be discerned on the reverses (e.g., fol. 90), despite the fact that the pages are firmly glued in. The engravings are in an Italo-Flemish style, fairly quiet in tone. In the Annunciation, Gabriel approaches the Virgin as she kneels at a lectern. He holds a branch of lily flowers and buds. In the Last Supper, we look through an archway at Christ sitting at a rectangular table, surrounded by his apostles. John, shown as a beardless youth, leans his head on Christ’s shoulder. This page was numbered 42 in the cannibalized book. St. Gregory the Illuminator is shown in the dress of a bishop, standing on a high platform, preaching to a grop of turbaned men. This was page 304 in the cannibalized book.

Keywords

Genre

Manuscripts
Illuminations

Resource type

text