The Mokvi Four Gospels ( ka, მოქვის ოთხთავი) is a 13th-century

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

of the

Four Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message was reported. In this sense ...

in Georgian, copied in the ''

nuskhuri The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: Asomtavruli, Nuskhuri and Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their letters share the same names and alphabetical order and are writte ...

'' script and richly adorned with miniatures at the Mokvi Cathedral in

Abkhazia Abkhazia, officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a List of states with limited recognition, partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It cover ...

. The Mokvi Gospels contains 329 pages, each 30 x 23.5 centimetres in size, and a long cycle of 157 miniatures painted on gold leaf. The manuscript is preserved at the

Georgian National Center of Manuscripts The Georgian National Centre of Manuscripts ( ka, საქართველოს ხელნაწერთა ეროვნული ცენტრი; formerly the ''Institute of Manuscripts''), located in Tbilisi, Georgia (country), Georg ...

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

. Dated to be made in 1300, the manuscript and its miniatures were by monk Ephraim at the Mokvi Monastery after being commanded by Daniel Mokveli, the Archbishop of Mokvi. It was transferred to the Gelati Monastery's library for its preservation in the 1880s, until it had to be transported to France alongside other treasures due to the Soviet invasion of Georgia. The manuscript was returned in then- Soviet Georgia in 1945 at the National Center of Manuscripts. The manuscript itself had to go under preservation efforts in 2015 due to its condition.

Description and text

The

contains the text of the

written on 329 pages made out of parchment, each page being 30 x 23.5 centimetres in size. The text in the manuscript is written in the

Georgian language Georgian (, ) is the most widely spoken Kartvelian language, Kartvelian language family. It is the official language of Georgia (country), Georgia and the native or primary language of 88% of its population. It also serves as the literary langu ...

in ''

'' script in two columns, possibly from using

iron gall ink Iron gall ink (also known as common ink, standard ink, oak gall ink or iron gall nut ink) is a purple-black or brown-black ink made from iron salts and tannic acids from vegetable sources. It was the standard ink formulation used in Europe for t ...

. It is unbound, with some of the quires not being in the right order. The manuscript was adorned with 157 subject miniatures and four miniatures of the

Four Evangelists In Christian tradition, the Four Evangelists are Matthew the Apostle, Matthew, Mark the Evangelist, Mark, Luke the Evangelist, Luke, and John the Evangelist, John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four canonical Gospel accounts ...

painted on gold leaf, alongside ten canon tables. In one of the miniatures, Daniel Mokveli, Archbishop of Mokvi, is portrayed in one of the miniatures as praying before the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. Under the gold leaf, a mixture of

lead white Lead white is a thick, opaque, and heavy white pigment composed primarily of basic lead carbonate, , with a crystalline molecular structure. It was the most widely produced and used white pigment in different parts of the world from antiquity unti ...

, yellow ochre, and

gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate Hydrate, dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, drywall and blackboard or sidewalk ...

or chalk were added. Paint used for the miniatures included lead and

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

white for white pigments or paint fillers, vermillion for the red pigment,

azurite Azurite or '' Azure spar'Krivovichev V. G.'' Mineralogical glossary. Scientific editor A. G. Bulakh. — St.Petersburg: St.Petersburg Univ. Publ. House. 2009. — 556 p. — ISBN 978-5-288-04863-0. ''(in Russian)'' is a soft, deep-blue copp ...

mixed with either of the white pigments and vermillion for the blue pigment, gold in a pure quality for the yellow pigment in the miniatures, and green earth as the green pigment.

History

The manuscript itself and its miniatures was dated to be made in 1300 at the Mokvi Monastery by monk Ephraim at the command of Mokveli, and donated to the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin at Mokvi. The architectural historian Rudolf Naumann and art historian

Hans Belting Hans Belting (7 July 1935 – 10 January 2023) was a German art historian and media theorist with a focus on image science, and this with regard to contemporary art and to the Italian art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Biography Be ...

assume that Ephraim was trained in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

around 1290 and brought the

Byzantine style Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great established a new Roman capital in Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until the fall of the ...

of the miniatures to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The manuscript was then transported to the Gelati Monastery's library near

Kutaisi Kutaisi ( ; ka, ქუთაისი ) is a city in the Imereti region of the Georgia (country), Republic of Georgia. One of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it is the List o ...

in the 1880s for its preservation. In 1921, Georgian historian

Ekvtime Takaishvili Ekvtime Takaishvili (sometimes anglicised as Euthymius Takaishvili, also spelled Taqaishvili, ; 3 January, 1862 – 21 February, 1953) was a Georgian historian, archaeologist, public benefactor and Eastern Orthodox saint. Born in the village of ...

ordered for the transcript's transport to France alongside other Georgian national treasures because of the Soviet invasion of Georgia. It and other of the treasures returned to the then- Soviet Georgia in 1945 at the

. Due to its deteriorating condition, conservation and repair efforts were made on the manuscript in 2015. It is recorded by the

Memory of the World Programme UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is an international initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time and climatic conditions, as well as deliberate destruction. It ca ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

due to the manuscript's high value.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* {{Authority control 13th-century illuminated manuscripts Georgian manuscripts 13th-century biblical manuscripts 13th century in the Kingdom of Georgia History of Abkhazia

Description and text

History

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography