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Detailed record for Harley 1810
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| ff. 14-268 |
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| Title |
Four Gospels |
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| Origin |
Eastern Mediterranean (perhaps Cyprus or Palestine) |
| Date |
last quarter of the 12th century or 1st half of the 13th century |
| Language |
Greek |
| Script |
Greek minuscule |
| Decoration |
22 full-page or large miniatures in colours and gold, most of the life of Christ, and Evangelist portraits (ff. 19v, 20, 61, 83, 93v, 95, 107v, 135v, 139v, 142, 146v, 174, 202, 204, 205v, 206v, 211v, 230, 239, 243, 246, 261v). 9 canon tables in colours and gold, within micro-architectural frames decorated with curtains, capitals, and usually birds, one also with dogs or foxes ? (ff. 18v-22v). Large headpieces in colours and gold with foliate decoration at the beginning of 3 Gospels (ff. 94, 140, 212). Large zoomorphic or decorated initials in red or in colours and gold at the beginning of Gospels. Small initials in red with penwork decoration. Simple headpieces in red or red and black. Small initials in gold. Text in red or gold. |
| Dimensions in mm |
230 x 155 (160 x 105) |
| Official foliation |
ff. 1* + 269 ( + 3 unfoliated modern flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Brown leather with gold tooling; gilded edges |
| Provenance |
16th-century diagrammatic ownership inscription of a monastery of the Holy Cross (on a paper fragment pasted onto f. 1*).
ff. 1-13v are added text on paper, with small initials and simple headpiece in red.
In a monastery dedicated to the prophet Elias (Elijah), 17th century: inscription (f. 269).
Ownership inscription of Botiros (?), 17th century (f. 1*).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta Cavendish, née Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d.1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Notes |
The conclusions of each section of text are written in geometric shapes.
Part of the 'Nicaea School', (see Carr 2005 p. 40).
ff. 1* and 269 are paper leaves. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I, no. 1810.
Walter de Gray Birch and Henry Jenner, Early Drawings and Illuminations: An Introduction to the Study of Illustrated Manuscripts (London: Bagster and Sons, 1879), p. 1. pl. 6.
[George Warner], Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series I, (London: British Museum, 1907), pl. 2..
J. A. Herbert, Illuminated Manuscripts (London: Methuen, 1911), pp. 58-61.
[J. A. Herbert], British Museum: Reproductions from Illuminated Manuscripts, Series 1, 3rd edn (London: British Museum, 1923), pl. I.
[J. A. Herbert], Illuminated Manuscripts and Bindings of Manuscripts Exhibited in The Grenville Library, Guide to the Exhibited Manuscripts, 3 (Oxford: British Museum, 1923), no. 4.
D. Talbot Rice, English Art 871-1100, Oxford History of English Art, 2 (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1952), p. 110.
The Christian Orient (The British Library: London, 1978), no. 10 [exhibition catalogue].
Byzantium: Treasures of Byzantine Art and Culture from British Collections, ed. by David Buckton (London: British Museum, 1994), no.194 [exhibition catalogue].
Kurzgefasste Liste der griechischen Handschriften des neuen Testaments, ed. by Kurt Aland, Arbeiten zur neutestamentlichen Textforschung, 1 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1994), no. 113.
Barbara Zeitler, 'The Distorting Mirror: Reflections on the Queen Melisende Psalter (London, B. L., Egerton 1139)', in Through the Looking Glass: Byzantium Through British Eyes, ed. by Robin Cormack and Elizabeth Jeffreys, Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies, 7 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1995), pp. 69-81 (p. 69 n. 3).
Summary Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts (London: British Library, 1999- ), I, 90-91.
The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come, ed. by Frances Carey (London: British Museum, 1999), pp. 66-67, no. 3 [exhibition catalogue].
Annemarie Weyl Carr, ''Gospel Frontispieces from the Comneian Period', in Cyprus and the Devotional Arts of Byzantium in the Era of the Crusades (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, orig. publ. in 1982), III, p. 2.
Annemarie Weyl Carr, 'A Group of Provincial Manuscripts from the Twelfth Century', in Cyprus and the Devotional Arts of Byzantium in the Era of the Crusades (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, orig. publ. in 1982), I,p. 40 n. 16.
Elisabeth Yota, ‘Le tétraévangile Harley 1810 de la British Library. Contribution à l’étude de l’illustration des tétraévangiles du Xe au XIIIe siècle’, Phd dissertation, University of Fribourg and University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne (Fribourg, 2001), http://ethesis.unifr.ch/theses/downloads.php?file=YotaE.pdf [accessed on 12 June 2013]
Scot McKendrick and Kathleen Doyle, Bible Manuscripts: 1400 Years of Scribes and Scripture (London: British Library, 2007), no. 92. |
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ff. 14-268 |
| Four Gospels |
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f. 18v
Canon table |
f. 19
Canon table |
f. 19v
Canon table |
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f. 20
Canon table |
f. 20v
Canon table |
f. 21
Canon table |
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f. 21v
Canon table |
f. 22
Canon table |
f. 25v
Evangelist Matthew |
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f. 26
Nativity |
f. 61
Transfiguration |
f. 83
Last Supper |
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f. 93v
Mark |
f. 94
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f. 95
Baptism of Christ |
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f. 107v
Martyrdom |
f. 135v
Christ in Majesty |
f. 139v
Evangelist Luke |
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f. 140
Headpiece |
f. 142
Annunciation |
f. 146v
Presentation |
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ff. 173v-174
Dormition |
f. 173v
Text page |
f. 174
Dormition of Mary |
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f. 174v
Dormition of the Virgin |
f. 204
Crucifixion |
f. 205v
Deposition of Christ |
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f. 206v
Resurrected Christ |
f. 207v
Text page |
f. 211v
Evangelist John |
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f. 212
Headpiece |
f. 229v
Dog and hare |
f. 230
Pentecost |
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f. 239
Raising of Lazarus |
f. 243
Entry into Jerusalem |
f. 246
Washing of the Feet |
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f. 261v
Thomas and Christ |
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