Sotheby's auctions off 17th-century Armenian gospel book for £69,300
A 17th-century beautifully illuminated Armenian gospel book was auctioned off for £69,300 at Sotheby’s.
The manuscript was initially expected to fetch £7,000-10,000.
34 bids had been placed on the lot before it closed on 1 December.
The book with 197 leaves is believed to have been copied in Amida by the scribe Minas.
A full-page miniature of an Evangel can be found at the start of each book, with the facing text written in gold with ornithomorphic illuminated letters and an illuminated headpiece.
The iconography and decoration of the gospel book is remarkably similar to a manuscript (Ms.w.541) in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, which was written by the scribe Melk'on and illustrated by Hovannes in the scriptorium of Amida in the early seventeenth century.