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Gondar Homiliary

Zämänfäs Qeddus (Scribe)

late 17th century (early Gondarine)

ink and paint on medium weight/quality parchment with yellowed edges between fabric-covered wooden boards covered with blind-tooled leather and protected by a textile chemise
(Manuscripts and Rare Books, Ethiopia)

This Homiliary was created in Gondar, Ethiopia, during a period of artistic flowering in the late seventeenth century. The Imperial court and its accompanying aristocracy took up permanent residence in Gondar at this time, and the taste of these wealthy patrons for paintings and extensive image cycles is exemplified by this richly illuminated manuscript. The text, a Homiliary focused on the Miracles of the Archangel Michael, combines liturgical readings with forty-nine brightly colored renderings of God, St. Michael, and the miracles related in the text. Sections of the manuscript would have been read aloud on monthly feast days of the Archangel, and the images would have punctuated the readings. The artists were likely trained as painters, rather than solely as manuscript illuminators, and their art can therefore be linked stylistically to contemporary mural painting.

Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.**

Gäbrä and Giyorgis Sellase [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Kidanä and Sählä Maryam [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Joseph Knopfelmacher Collection, New York, No. 2 [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Sale, Wright Gallery, New York, 1995-1996; Walters Art Museum, 1996, by purchase.

Exhibitions

2006-2007	Angels of Light: Ethiopian Art from the Walters Art Museum. Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton; Museum of Biblical Art, New York.
1996	Ethiopian Art at The Walters. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore.

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Geographies

Ethiopia, Gondar (Place of Origin)

Measurements

H: 10 1/4 x W: 9 1/4 x D: 3 1/2 in. (26 x 23.5 x 8.89 cm)

Credit Line

Museum purchase with funds provided by the W. Alton Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund, 1996

Location in Museum

Not on view

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

W.835

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Related Objects

The Archangel admonishing the idle man, continued

Zämänfäs Qeddus

late 17th century (early Gondarine)

Gondar Homiliary

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

Exhibitions

Geographies

Measurements

Credit Line

Location in Museum

Accession Number In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

Do you have additional information?

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Provenance

**Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.**

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.