« previous next »
The Shepochkin Apostol | MS 708 (1)

THE SHEPOCHKIN APOSTOL

MS 708
MS Short Title THE SHEPOCHKIN APOSTOL
Text
  1. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM AND OTHER CHURCH FATHERS: COMMENTARY ON ACTS AND THE EPISTLES (APOSTOL)
  2. SAINT PAUL'S TRAVELS, HIS DEATH IN ROMA, AND HIS ROMAN CITIZENSHIP
  3. BIBLE: EXODUS 20:1-17; THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Description MS in Russian Church Slavonic on paper, Russia, ca. 1500, 393 ff. (- ca. 3), 41x26 cm, 2 columns, (29x20 cm), 36 lines in Cyrillic half-uncial, 4 very fine illuminated initials, headpieces with circles of scrolling foliage, painted in bright colours on highly burnished gold grounds, a very elaborate calligraphic headpiece and initial in geometric designs on a tessellated background in colours, a full-page illuminated miniature of 18 medallions of Christ, mother of God, and Saints with portrait busts in colours with haloes in gold, connected by foliate flower vines encircling the busts, in a form and style reminiscent of the frescoes of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Kremlin in Moscow.
Binding Russia, ca. 1500, blindstamped calf over wooden boards, sewn on 4 bands, 3 brass cornerpieces, fittings and central medallion showing St. George, lower cover 19th c
Provenance 1. Anton Fedorovich Okunov, Kaluga merchant (1825); 2. P. Shepochkin (from 1825); 3. The Paul M. Fekula Collection, New York, MS 651 and F-XXVIII (until 1990); 4. Sotheby's 29.11.1990:64.
Commentary The present monumental Apostol is the only copy in private hands.
Exhibited University of Oslo. Domus Bibliotheca, 6-15 May 1996: European medieval manuscripts from The Schøyen Collection.
Place of origin Russia
Dates ca 1500 AD