Amida Gospels

This Gospel Book, with richly painted Evangelist portraits, canon tables, and marginal illuminations, was made in Armenia in the early seventeenth century. An extensive colophon reveals that it was commissioned by a woman named Napat' as a memorial for herself and her family, and the book was consequently given by her to the Church of St. Sargis in Amida. The illuminator of the manuscript, Hovannes, was one of the most prolific among the artists and scribes at the Amida scriptorium. On the present codex he worked with the scribe Melk'on. Known collaborators, Hovannes and Melk'on executed a number of codices together.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Created by Hovannes, son of Chanipek and Et’ar, and copied by Melk’on, for Napat', Amida, Armenia (modern Diyarbakir, Türkiye), early 17th century; Church of Surb Sargis (St. Sargis), Amida, Armenia, by gift, 17th century [1]. Henry Walters, Baltimore, by 1924/1926 [2], by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

[1] The precise location of this manuscript is unknown between the 17th century and the mid 1920s. Massacres targeting Armenians and Assyrians occurred in Amida from 1895-1915, and the church was destroyed during WW I and the Armenian genocide.

[2] This manuscript was either purchased from Ohanian of Galatz, Bulgaria (modern Gala?i, Romania) in 1924 or from Kelekian or Gruel in 1926.