Walters Ms. W.840, Single leaf with Saint Luke

W.840

Single leaf with Saint Luke

This single leaf originally belonged to a Gospel book, and was created in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia. The strong abstraction of the figure and his surroundings are characteristic of Ethiopian illumination of the late fourteenth century. The image, which is on the verso of the page, depicts the Evangelist St. Luke and would likely have originally faced the opening of his Gospel. Here Luke is presented as an Ethiopian scribe and is surrounded by the tools of his trade, including ink horns, reed pens, and a scraping knife. His upward gaze suggests the divine inspiration he received while writing his Gospel, the first words of which are inscribed on the page he holds. Despite being badly abraded, the pigments still retain much of their original vibrancy.

Late 14th century CE

Lake Tana, Ethiopia

Leaf

Scriptural

The primary language in this manuscript is Geez.

Parchment

Heavy yellowed parchment

Foliation: Not applicable

25.4 cm wide by 35.0 cm high

1. Image: 22.2 cm wide x 29 cm high

1. Title: Portrait of Evangelist Luke
2. Decoration note: Full-page miniature in orange, yellow, green, black, blue, and salmon tempera, now badly abraded; decorative headpiece; orange border

fol. W.840v:

1. 
2. Title: Evangelist Luke writing his Gospel
3. Form: Full-page miniature
4. Comment:

   The inscription reads: "እስመ፡ ብዙኃን፡ እለ፡ ወጠኑ፡ ይንግሩ፡ ወይምሀሩ፡ (ǝsmä bǝzuḫan ǝllä wäṭänu yǝngǝru wä-yǝmharu)," or "Since many have undertaken and taught." (Lk 1:1)

Originally created as part of a Gospel book, Lake Tana, Ethiopia, late fourteenth or early fifteenth century

Joseph and Margaret Knopfelmacher collection, New York, before 1996

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Knopfelmacher, 1996

Holbert, Kelly, ed. Ethiopian Art: The Walters Art Museum. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 2001, pp. 100-101, cat. no. 12.

Principal cataloger: Getatchew Haile, .

Cataloger: Herbert, Lynley

Editor: Herbert, Lynley

Conservators: Owen, Linda; Quandt, Abigail

Contributors: Bockrath, Diane; Emery, Doug; Isaac, Ephraim; Noel, William; Tabritha, Ariel; Toth, Michael B.

The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.