![ARMENIAN HYMNAL [SARAKNOC], copied by the scribe Awetis, illuminated by the artist Hovhannes Lrwec'i. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER [Awendanc', (Khizan, Van), A.D. 1647]](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/1995/CKS/1995_CKS_05424_0027_000(103221).jpg?w=1)
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ARMENIAN HYMNAL [SARAKNOC], copied by the scribe Awetis, illuminated by the artist Hovhannes Lrwec'i. ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER [Awendanc', (Khizan, Van), A.D. 1647]
134 x 98mm, 416 leaves + 4 original fly-leaves from a 15th-century Latin breviary on vellum. COLLATION: 1-3512 368 (lacking 10 leaves and final 2 blanks = 1/1 and 8-12, 2/1, 3/12, 5/1 and 12, 11/1, 36/7 and 8), quire signatures throughout, later ink pagination and pencil foliation (slightly incorrect). 22 lines, justification 93 x 55mm, written in black ink in small bolorgir, rubrics in red, first lines of principal hymns in gold bolorgir, initials in gold or colours, paragraph initials in gold, musical notation signs [khaz] above the lines. 4 half-page and 6 smaller ornamental headpieces, marginal decoration of painted stylized floral and foliate ornaments, some containing birds, 28 MARGINAL MINIATURES AND 11 LARGE MINIATURES. (Stitching partly broken and a number of leaves detached, but miniatures in brilliant condition). Contemporary calf binding over wooden boards, tooled in blind to a geometric strapwork design, flap tooled with strapwork ornaments, brown silk doublures, (upper cover and spine partly torn, with a portion of leather missing, thongs lacking)
PROVENANCE:
(1) The principal colophon on folios 390-394 begins in form of a verse in praise of the Holy Trinity, recording towards the end on ff 393-4 the history of the manuscript in verse and prose. It was copied in 1096 [i.e. A.D.1647] by the scribe Awetis in the village called Awendanc' [in the province of Mayekac', in the city of Hizan or Khizan, Van] "under the shelter of the church of Saints Peter and Paul and Gevorg 'the General' during bitter, most grievous and anxious times, due to the severity of the high taxation caused by the infidels". This refers to the incessant wars fought between the Ottoman Turks and the Persian dynasty of the Safavis (1500-1722), when Armenia was divided into two spheres of influence, the larger around Lake Van falling to the Turks, the smaller, including Erevan to the Persians. Below the miniature of the Resurrection (f.136), there is an inscription recording the date as 'In the year 1647 of Our Saviour and in 1096 [Armenian era]'. Another inscription by the artist in red bolorgir is found below the miniature of the Pentecost (f.188v), which translates "O brothers open and look and pray for mercy for the unworthy Larwec'us in the year 1647".
A. Hovhannisyan, Hayeren Jeragreri xvii dari Hisatakaranner [i.e. Armenian manuscript colophons of the 17th century], Erevan 1974-84, records six colophons belonging to Hymnals copied by this scribe between 1629 and 1650, the present one being unknown
(2) An early 19th-century inscription on the verso of the last leaf records in Armenian 'No.21. For the enjoyment of Mr. Zorap Zakharitch-Melikov 30/9/1837'.
TEXT:
The text is divided into the canons proper to the days of the liturgical year. The order of these canons and hymns is generally of the same use as that of the first edition of the Hymnal printed at Amsterdam in 1664. This order is decribed by F.Conybeare in his analysis of a manuscript hymnal (B.L.add.8999) in Catalogue of the Armenian Manuscripts in the British Museum (1913), pp 96-104.
ILLUMINATION:
Awendanc' in the province of Mayskac' (Khizan, Van) had a scriptorium in the monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul and St.Gevorg from the 14th century and a number of manuscripts produced there are known. The artist can be identified from the inscription below the miniature of Pentecost on folio 188v (as described above under 'Provenance') as Yovhanes Larwec'i (1610-1666), who worked in the scriptorium at Awendanc' with the scribe Awetis. Of six other Hymnals copied by Awetis, three were illuminated by Yovhanes Larwec'i. These are Jerusalem ms 1639 (A.D.1645), Matenadaran ms 8454 (A.D.1646) and Jerusalem ms 1659 (A.D. 1644), cf. Hovhannisyian, op.cit., vol.III pp 183, 219-20, 395. Norayr Polarian, Hay Nkarolner [i.e. Armenian Artists XVI-XVII cent.], (Jerusalem 1989) pp 207-9, lists a total of six manuscripts illuminated by Larwec'i, the present manuscript being unknown. The paintings are very stylized, in brilliant colours on burnished gold ground.
THE SUBJECTS OF THE LARGE MINIATURES ARE:
folio 108. The Raising of Lazarus
folio 119. The Washing of the Feet. Christ washing the feet of St.Peter, the other Disciples looking on.
folio 122. The Betrayal, Christ and Judas surrounded by soldiers
folio 124v.The Crucifixion. Mary, St.John and Nicodemus below
folio 133. The Entombment. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus holding Christ's shrouded body in a stylized chamber, with the Virgin and Mary Magdalen looking on
folio 136v.The Resurrection
folio 174v.The Ascension
folio 188v.Pentecost, the Virgin and disciples, the Holy Ghost above, three figures symbolizing the benighted world in a chamber below
folio 225v.The Transfiguration. Christ with Moses and Elijah on Mount Tabor, three disciples below
folio 233v.The Dormition of the Virgin. She is surrounded by the Apostles, Christ standing above with the ascended virgin
folio 244v.Two Apostles, one holding the Cross aloft, symbolizing the Feast of the Holy Cross
The figures in the 28 marginal miniatures at the beginning of the hymns and within the texts represent saint's and feast days.
(f.6) Archangel Gabriel. (f.7) The Virgin. (f.31v) St.Anthony the Anchorite. (f.33v) Emperor Theodorus. (f.35v) The boy David, with a sword and the severed head of Goliath. (f.37) St.Stephen, the Protomartyr. (f.39v) Sts. Peter and Paul. (f.41v) St.John the Evangelist. (f.48) Jonas in the Whale. (f.50) St.Sargis and his son Martiros. (f.63v) Christ with the lamb [face smudged]. (f.81v) The Forty Martyrs of Sebastia. Forty heads in a bowl, above forty crowns of gold. (f.92) St.Gregory the Illuminator in a snake pit. (f.114v) The five wise virgins. (f.118) The eternal Flame, for Maunday Thursday. (f.143v) The head of John the Baptist [slightly smudged]. (f.207) John the Baptist. (f.208v) St.Gregory the Illuminator. (f.213) St.Nerses the Great. (f.216) St.Hripsime. (f.262v) A Prophet holding a scroll. (f.266) St.Mesrop Mastoc'. (f.268v) St.James of Nisibis. (f.272) Archangel Gabriel. (f.274v) A Patriarch. (f.284) A Calf, symbolizing the martyrdom of saints Suk'iaseants. (f.289) A golden Calf, symbolizing the martyrdom of saints Lewondeants. (f.324v) An angel.
LITERATURE: Hravard Hakobyan, Armenian Miniature School of Vaspurakan (in Armenian). Erevan 1978. Ashot Hovhannisyan, op.cit., Erevan 1974-78. Archbp. Norayr Polarian, op.cit., Jerusalem 1989
134 x 98mm, 416 leaves + 4 original fly-leaves from a 15th-century Latin breviary on vellum. COLLATION: 1-3512 368 (lacking 10 leaves and final 2 blanks = 1/1 and 8-12, 2/1, 3/12, 5/1 and 12, 11/1, 36/7 and 8), quire signatures throughout, later ink pagination and pencil foliation (slightly incorrect). 22 lines, justification 93 x 55mm, written in black ink in small bolorgir, rubrics in red, first lines of principal hymns in gold bolorgir, initials in gold or colours, paragraph initials in gold, musical notation signs [khaz] above the lines. 4 half-page and 6 smaller ornamental headpieces, marginal decoration of painted stylized floral and foliate ornaments, some containing birds, 28 MARGINAL MINIATURES AND 11 LARGE MINIATURES. (Stitching partly broken and a number of leaves detached, but miniatures in brilliant condition). Contemporary calf binding over wooden boards, tooled in blind to a geometric strapwork design, flap tooled with strapwork ornaments, brown silk doublures, (upper cover and spine partly torn, with a portion of leather missing, thongs lacking)
PROVENANCE:
(1) The principal colophon on folios 390-394 begins in form of a verse in praise of the Holy Trinity, recording towards the end on ff 393-4 the history of the manuscript in verse and prose. It was copied in 1096 [i.e. A.D.1647] by the scribe Awetis in the village called Awendanc' [in the province of Mayekac', in the city of Hizan or Khizan, Van] "under the shelter of the church of Saints Peter and Paul and Gevorg 'the General' during bitter, most grievous and anxious times, due to the severity of the high taxation caused by the infidels". This refers to the incessant wars fought between the Ottoman Turks and the Persian dynasty of the Safavis (1500-1722), when Armenia was divided into two spheres of influence, the larger around Lake Van falling to the Turks, the smaller, including Erevan to the Persians. Below the miniature of the Resurrection (f.136), there is an inscription recording the date as 'In the year 1647 of Our Saviour and in 1096 [Armenian era]'. Another inscription by the artist in red bolorgir is found below the miniature of the Pentecost (f.188v), which translates "O brothers open and look and pray for mercy for the unworthy Larwec'us in the year 1647".
A. Hovhannisyan, Hayeren Jeragreri xvii dari Hisatakaranner [i.e. Armenian manuscript colophons of the 17th century], Erevan 1974-84, records six colophons belonging to Hymnals copied by this scribe between 1629 and 1650, the present one being unknown
(2) An early 19th-century inscription on the verso of the last leaf records in Armenian 'No.21. For the enjoyment of Mr. Zorap Zakharitch-Melikov 30/9/1837'.
TEXT:
The text is divided into the canons proper to the days of the liturgical year. The order of these canons and hymns is generally of the same use as that of the first edition of the Hymnal printed at Amsterdam in 1664. This order is decribed by F.Conybeare in his analysis of a manuscript hymnal (B.L.add.8999) in Catalogue of the Armenian Manuscripts in the British Museum (1913), pp 96-104.
ILLUMINATION:
Awendanc' in the province of Mayskac' (Khizan, Van) had a scriptorium in the monastery of Sts. Peter and Paul and St.Gevorg from the 14th century and a number of manuscripts produced there are known. The artist can be identified from the inscription below the miniature of Pentecost on folio 188v (as described above under 'Provenance') as Yovhanes Larwec'i (1610-1666), who worked in the scriptorium at Awendanc' with the scribe Awetis. Of six other Hymnals copied by Awetis, three were illuminated by Yovhanes Larwec'i. These are Jerusalem ms 1639 (A.D.1645), Matenadaran ms 8454 (A.D.1646) and Jerusalem ms 1659 (A.D. 1644), cf. Hovhannisyian, op.cit., vol.III pp 183, 219-20, 395. Norayr Polarian, Hay Nkarolner [i.e. Armenian Artists XVI-XVII cent.], (Jerusalem 1989) pp 207-9, lists a total of six manuscripts illuminated by Larwec'i, the present manuscript being unknown. The paintings are very stylized, in brilliant colours on burnished gold ground.
THE SUBJECTS OF THE LARGE MINIATURES ARE:
folio 108. The Raising of Lazarus
folio 119. The Washing of the Feet. Christ washing the feet of St.Peter, the other Disciples looking on.
folio 122. The Betrayal, Christ and Judas surrounded by soldiers
folio 124v.The Crucifixion. Mary, St.John and Nicodemus below
folio 133. The Entombment. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus holding Christ's shrouded body in a stylized chamber, with the Virgin and Mary Magdalen looking on
folio 136v.The Resurrection
folio 174v.The Ascension
folio 188v.Pentecost, the Virgin and disciples, the Holy Ghost above, three figures symbolizing the benighted world in a chamber below
folio 225v.The Transfiguration. Christ with Moses and Elijah on Mount Tabor, three disciples below
folio 233v.The Dormition of the Virgin. She is surrounded by the Apostles, Christ standing above with the ascended virgin
folio 244v.Two Apostles, one holding the Cross aloft, symbolizing the Feast of the Holy Cross
The figures in the 28 marginal miniatures at the beginning of the hymns and within the texts represent saint's and feast days.
(f.6) Archangel Gabriel. (f.7) The Virgin. (f.31v) St.Anthony the Anchorite. (f.33v) Emperor Theodorus. (f.35v) The boy David, with a sword and the severed head of Goliath. (f.37) St.Stephen, the Protomartyr. (f.39v) Sts. Peter and Paul. (f.41v) St.John the Evangelist. (f.48) Jonas in the Whale. (f.50) St.Sargis and his son Martiros. (f.63v) Christ with the lamb [face smudged]. (f.81v) The Forty Martyrs of Sebastia. Forty heads in a bowl, above forty crowns of gold. (f.92) St.Gregory the Illuminator in a snake pit. (f.114v) The five wise virgins. (f.118) The eternal Flame, for Maunday Thursday. (f.143v) The head of John the Baptist [slightly smudged]. (f.207) John the Baptist. (f.208v) St.Gregory the Illuminator. (f.213) St.Nerses the Great. (f.216) St.Hripsime. (f.262v) A Prophet holding a scroll. (f.266) St.Mesrop Mastoc'. (f.268v) St.James of Nisibis. (f.272) Archangel Gabriel. (f.274v) A Patriarch. (f.284) A Calf, symbolizing the martyrdom of saints Suk'iaseants. (f.289) A golden Calf, symbolizing the martyrdom of saints Lewondeants. (f.324v) An angel.
LITERATURE: Hravard Hakobyan, Armenian Miniature School of Vaspurakan (in Armenian). Erevan 1978. Ashot Hovhannisyan, op.cit., Erevan 1974-78. Archbp. Norayr Polarian, op.cit., Jerusalem 1989