On view
Illuminated Devotional Manuscript,
18th century
Ethiopia’s adoption of Christianity as the state religion in the second half of the fourth century ushered in a long and robust tradition of manuscript production. Religious texts continued to be handwritten in manuscripts well into the twentieth century, even after the introduction of the printing press in Ethiopia in the late nineteenth century. This manuscript comprises a compilation of devotional texts including Psalms, prayers of supplication and praise from the Old and New Testaments, and miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary as well as hymns in her honor. The text is written in the indigenous language Gǝʿǝz (Classical Ethiopic) using a rare green ink. More than one hundred images accompany the prayers, attesting to the manuscript’s deluxe status. Its leather binding is adorned with a detachable cover made of imported silk.
Meseret Oldjira, Graduate School Class of 2024
More Context
Special Exhibition
<p>It is thought that this unusual manuscript was made for private devotion by a member of the Ethiopian royal family. The best painters and scribes were likely engaged in its manufacture in the royal scriptorium at Gondar, the location of the eighteenth-century court. Each page includes an inspirational story about a biblical figure as well as images to be used in reflection and prayer. Some of the ancient Täwahədo Ethiopian Orthodox Church’s most beloved texts appear here: the biblical canticles ascribed to Moses, Isaiah, Jonah, and others as well as The Praise of Mary and The Gate of Light, both celebrating the Virgin Mary. In this image, the Virgin Mary is depicted as a queen, larger than those around her and with the physical characteristics that Ethiopians considered most beautiful. The manuscript may have been acquired by Emperor Mənilək II, who had a keen interest in Ethiopia’s cultural history, to give to his wife Queen Ṭaytu Bəṭul upon their marriage in 1883.;</p>
Handbook Entry
The Ethiopian Christian community traces its roots to the fourth century A.D. when the king of the state of Aksum was converted to Christianity. Elaborately printed manuscripts such as these were presented by wealthy patrons to monasteries and churches, and reflected the prestige of the benefactor and the scholarship of the scriptorium where they were produced. The quality of the script and the vellum of the Princeton manuscript indicate that in all likelihood this manuscript was produced in a royal scriptorium at Gondar, the Ethiopian capital established in the sixteenth century. Christian texts were translated into Ge’ez, the ancient liturgical language of Ethiopia. The Princeton manuscript contains Canticles (songs) of the Prophets, an Encomium (praises) of Mary, Psalms and Prayers, and legendary and apocryphal accounts of Mary. Mary’s importance to Ethiopian Christianity increased in the mid-fifteenth century, during the reign of Emperor Zär’a Ya‘eqob, who integrated readings about Mary into church ritual and established more than thirty feast days in her honor. In addition to numerous portrayals of Mary, there are illustrations of Adam and Eve (at left), the burning bush, Daniel in the lions’ den, and Saint George. The rich images also provide a pictorial reference for numerous aspects of eighteenth-century Ethiopian life, including costumes, historical buildings and churches, liturgical and household objects, and weaponry. Ethiopian Christian manuscripts often contain Ethiopic legends as well as Christian subject matter. Illustration 103 of the Princeton manuscript depicts the legend of Yared and the creation of the Ethiopian musical system of chants (at right). Prior to Yared’s creation of these chants, music and singing were not common in the Ethiopian church. The top of the illustration shows Yared inspired by three birds. Below, Yared sings to the sixth-century emperor, Gebre Mesek, who becomes so entranced that he absentmindedly stabs Yared in the foot with a spear. The system of chants attributed to Yared remains widespread in Ethiopian churches today. .
Information
18th century
Africa, Ethiopia, possibly Gondar
- "Recent acquisitions," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 10, no. 2 (1951): p. 22-23., p. 23
- Richard Pankhurst, "Secular themes in Ethiopian ecclesiastical manuscripts: V: a catalogue of illustrations of historical and ethnographic interest in Princeton University Library and Art Gallery", Journal of Ethiopian studies 30, no. 1 (1997): p. 75-88.
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 263 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 315
