Leaf from the Epistle to the Hebrews, 12th century (1101)
Byzantine; Found in Meteora, Greece (before 1898)
Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment; 8 x 6 1/4 in. (20.3 x 16 cm)
Purchase, The Cloisters Collection, Rogers and Harris Brisbane Dick Funds, and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1991 (1991.232.15)
Technical Glossary
Byzantine; Found in Meteora, Greece (before 1898)
Tempera, gold, and ink on parchment; 8 x 6 1/4 in. (20.3 x 16 cm)
Purchase, The Cloisters Collection, Rogers and Harris Brisbane Dick Funds, and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1991 (1991.232.15)
This leaf, the first page of Saint Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews written in Greek, is decorated with a handsome rectangular headpiece and a letter topped with a portrait bust of the author. The leaf was originally part of a Praxapostolos, a text used only for the celebration of the Eucharist, which was copied by the scribe Joannes Koulix in 1101. Most of the remainder of the manuscript is now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
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