Armenian illuminated manuscripts
Armenian illuminated manuscripts, form an Armenian tradition of formally prepared documents where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. They are related to other forms of Medieval Armenian art, Persian miniatures, and to Byzantine illuminated manuscripts. The earliest surviving examples date back to the Golden Age of Armenian art and literature in the 5th century. Armenian illuminated manuscripts embody Armenian culture; they illustrate its spiritual and cultural values.
Example of an Armenian illuminated manuscript. A explanation of the Canon Tables with a portrait of its author, Eusebius. Made in Isfahan, Persia.
One of the four oldest pages of Armenian miniatures. Echmiadzin gospels, 500s-600s AD. Miniatures of the Bible (in biblically chronological order); annunciation of Zechariah, annunciation of Mary, adoration of the magi and the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.
Example of an Armenian illuminated manuscript from the Gladzor University, 13-14th century.
Page from the Homiliary of Mush, Matenadaran, 1200-1202
A manuscript was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has come to be understood to further include any written, typed, or word-processed copy of an author's work, as distinguished from the rendition as a printed version of the same.
Christ Pantocrator seated in a capital "U" in an illuminated manuscript from the Badische Landesbibliothek, Germany (from c. 1220).
Image of two facing pages of the illuminated manuscript of "Isagoge", fols. 42b and 43a. On the top of the left hand page is an illuminated letter "D" – initial of "De urinarum differencia negocium" (The matter of the differences of urines). Inside the letter is a picture of a master on bench pointing at a raised flask while lecturing on the "Book on urines" of Theophilus. The right hand page is only shown in part. On its very bottom is an illuminated letter "U" – initial of "Urina ergo est colamentum sanguinis" (Urine is the filtrate of the blood). Inside the letter is a picture of a master holding up a flask while explaining the diagnostic significance of urine to a student or a patient. HMD Collection, MS E 78.
Inside the letter is a picture of a master in cathedra expounding on the Aphorisms of Hippocrates. Initial "V" rendered as "U" of "Vita brevis, ars vero longa", or "Life is short, but the art is long". "Isagoge", fol. 15b. HMD Collection, MS E 78.
Manuscript, Codex Manesse. Most manuscripts were ruled with horizontal lines that served as the baselines on which the text was entered.
