Repatriation of Armenian Cultural Treasure

Rev. Dr. Nerses Vrej Nersessian, London, 2011

By
Reverend Dr. Nerses Vrej Nersessian
London
2011

Rev. Dr. Nerses Vrej Nersessian, London, 2011

By
Reverend Dr. Nerses Vrej Nersessian
London
2011

"I have saved from captivity this precious garden, this fragrant orchard, this pure and shining book in memory of myself and of my parents, my wife, and my children. Blessed is he with a child in Zion".

The integral part of an Armenian manuscript is its «Յիշատակարան», literally, "place of memory" – derived from the verb «յիշեմ» meaning "to remember, to recollect, to record" which incorporates every detail concerning the production of the manuscript including that of the scribe, artist, sponsor, binder and its owner. The primary purpose of the colophons was to perpetuate the memory of all those who had contributed to the production of the manuscripts, tying them all to the saving powers of the Armenian Church.  From very early on the act of copying a manuscript or receiving a manuscript was consid­ered as an act of piety. The instruction of Christ  ‘lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust can corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal’ (Matthew 6:20). ‘The Zion’ is the church and ‘the child’ is the manuscript.

The deep sense of veneration with which manuscripts were regarded account for the abundance of various kinds of warning with respect to the proper handling of manuscripts, as well as anathemas against those who violated these injunctions.

The scribes beseech the owners of the manuscripts, whether individu­als or ecclesiastical institutions, not to regard manuscripts as sellable merchandize or an object that can be mortgaged. For instance, a scribe writes:
 

The scribes placed a moral obligation on future generations to recover manuscripts carried off as booty, by ransom or other means. In the Middle Ages captured manuscripts were never referred to as booty, but rather, like human beings, they were either ‘carried off into captivity’, or they were ‘rescued or purchased from captivity’. An example of this kind of injunction is found in a Gospel manuscript copied by the scribe Kostandin Vahkatsi in 1413:

 

The scribe Avag writes in the colophon dated 1337: "and should any­one dare to steal this holy Gospel, or tear off pages from it, or remove it from the great church of the holy and most immaculate monastery of Tat’ev, may he share the fate of Cain, Judas and the crucifiers and in­herit the doleful maledictions, amen". There were also injunctions against tearing off folios from the manuscripts, as in the following colo­phon written in 1410 by the scribe Step’anos "and whoever approaches this holy book with a sword or a knife and cuts off folios from this book, may the flaming sword cut off his loins" (Matenadaran, MS.4737).

 

 

The era of the Armenian Cilician Kingdom, between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries, marks the golden age of Armenian manu­script illumination. In the first half of the thirteenth century the most beautiful and sumptuous manuscripts were copied and illuminated un­der royal patronage by the most famous Armenian artist T’oros Roslin. The following seven manuscripts, dating between 1256 and 1268, are signed by him:
 

1. The Four Gospels, dated 1256, copied for Catholicos Kostandin I (Erevan, Mat. 10450).

2. The Four Gospels, dated 1260, copied for Catholicos Kostandin I (Jerusalem, Arm. Patr. 251).

3. The Four Gospels, dated 1262, copied for the priest Thoros (Baltimore, Walter’s Art Gallery, 539).

4. The Four Gospels, dated 1262, copied for Prince Levon, son of Hethum (Jerusalem, Arm. Patr. 2660).

5. The Four Gospels, dated 1265, copied for the daughter of Kostandin of Lambron, the Lady Keran (Jerusalem, Arm. Patr. 1956).

6. Mashtots (Ritual), dated 1266, copied for Bishop Vardan of Hromklay (Jerusalem, Arm. Patr. 2027).

7. The Four Gospels (formerly Jerusalem, Arm. Patr. 3627, now Erevan Mat. 10675).

 

Armenian manuscript experts Levon Azarian, Sirarpie Der Nersessian and A. Mkhitarian attribute to T’oros Roslin the following five unsigned manuscripts:
 

Included among these five is the Queen Keran Gospels, completed in 1272, commissioned on the occasion of her coronation with her con­sort, King Levon. In the dedicatory picture the Queen is represented on one of the final leaves, together with her husband. King Levon III and their five children – kneeling in front of picture of Christ enthroned flanked by Virgin Mary and John the Baptist [Gk.Deisis]. In the long colophon where all the members of the royal family are mentioned, the scribe Avetis writes that when he had completed the copy of the manuscript, the Queen gave it to ‘a man skilled and honoured in the art of the scribes, in order to adorn it’ who has been identified as being T’oros Roslin, but according to Prof. S. Der Nersessian "the anonymous illustrator of the Queen Keran (MS. 2563), as gifted a painter as T’oros Roslin if not more so, gave a different impulse to Cilician paintings". Queen Keran commissioned the Gospels and presented it to the Monas­tery of Akner.
 

Fols.5v-6r. Letter of Eusebius to Carpianus

Fols.7v-16r. Canon Tables

Fol.l7v.St Matthew

Fol.l80v. St Luke and Theophilus

286v. St John and Prochoros

Fol.21r. Nativity

Fol.25r. Baptism of Christ

Fol.69r. Transfiguration

Fol.l66r. Last Supper

Fol.l76r. Resurrection of Christ

Fol.l84r. Annunciation

Fol.l91r. Presentation at the Temple

Fol.333r. Rising of Lazarus

Fol.340v. Washing of the feet

Fol.349. Pentecost

Fol.362v. Crucifixion

Fol.368r. Doubting of Thomas

Fol.380r. Family Portrait of King Levon III, Queen Keran and their five

Children

 

The manuscript was bound in Jerusalem in 1727 in gold repousse work by the monks of St James in Jerusalem for the vardapets Grigor Shkhta-yakir (the Chainbearer,1715-1749), Hovhannes Kolot (1715-1741) and Abraham (II Khosharetsi, 1730-1734). The front cover represents the Crucifixion, and the back the Virgin and Child; on the claps are the four Evangelists.

 

Sometime in the 1910 two leaves from this sumptuous manuscript were torn out and sold. It was bought by the Dutch collector of antiquities Michel Van Rijn and a description of it was published in Icons and East Christian Works of Art, edited and published by Michel Van Rijn, Am­sterdam, 1980. Under entry 53 there is this description  ‘Two pages from an Illuminated Manuscript portraying an evangelist, probably Luke or Mark, and Christ’s Ascension. 32 x 22cm, Armenian, 2^nd half 13^th cen­tury (Plates 52 and 53 reproduce the miniatures in full colour).

 

In 1987 Mr. Thanassis Martinos acquired from a Greek dealer the Van Rijn collection which included the two manuscript leaves. On 18^th of May 2011, I received a letter from Mrs. Maria Mersinia, Librarian-archivist on the suggestion of Mr. Timothy Bolton (Medieval Manu­script expert at Sotheby’s). In my response I confirmed that the two leaves did belong to an Armenian manuscript and their ‘return to its lawful owner would restore the manuscript to its former glory’. In re­ply I was assured that Mr. Thanassis has no intention to sell the leaves and has the full intention to return the two miniatures as a gift to the Armenian Patriarchate, if I could provide solid proof that the leaves belonged to an Armenian manuscript.
 

Having investigated the matter and collected all the required documen­tation I prepared the following brief study for Mr. Thanassis:

Mr. Thanassis Martinos

Eastern Mediterranean Maritime Limited

69 Grigorioy Lamprald Street

GR-166 75 Glyfada, Athens, Greece

 

Narkiss, Bezale, ed. Armenian Art Treasures of Jerusalem, Phaidon, 1980, Pp.64-74; Portrait of the Royal Family, fol.380 and The Descent of the Holy Ghost (Pentecost, fol.349. Colour plates 77 and 78. Full description on p. 149 (enclosed).
 

Mkhitarian Arbak, Treasures of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusa­lem, St James’ Press. 1969. Entry no.ll, pp.23-24, figs.ll:l-2. The Royal Family and The Last Supper.
 

Nersessian Sirarpie Der, Etudes Byzantines et Armeniennes = Byzan­tine and Armenian Studies. Tome I-II. Imprimerie Orientaliste, Lou-vain 1973. See enclosed images: fig.402.fol.l7v.Portrait of St Matthew, Portrait of St Mark,fol.ll5v missing folio]; fig.405. Portrait of St Luke with Theophilus, fol.l80v. Portrait of St John and Prochoros, fol.286v.

 

Scenes from the Life of Christ fig.252. The three women at the tomb, fol.l76v; fig.253 Nativity, fol.21v. fig.254. Resurrection of Lazarus, fol.33v., fig.372 Ascension, foL284v missing folio].

Nersessian Sirarpie, Der, Miniature paintings in the Armenian King­dom of Cilicia from the twelfth to the fourteenth century. Vols. I-II. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and collection, Washington D.C. 1993.
 

Fig.372. Ascension, Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate 2563, AD. 1272, foL284v.

Fig.398. Portrait of St.Mark. Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate 2563, AD.1272,foL115v.
 

Disc containing images from the Jerusalem Armenian Ms.2563 pre­pared on 14th June 2011.

The number of the manuscript can be seen inside the front cover top left corner pasted over the pink coloured doublures.
 

In the above listed publications the presence of the portraits are listed as follows:

Fol.l7v. St. Matthew.

Fol. 180v. St Luke and Theophilus.

Fol.286v. St John and Prochoros.

 

The portrait of St Mark is missing. On the reverse side of the folio in your possession there is the original pagination number 115v, which depicts the Portrait of St Mark. In the disk provided the page on the left has been cut out leaving the title page of the Gospel of St Mark, whose initial word «Ubhqpu» [Beginning] is formed of two confronting lions, which is the customary symbol of the Evangelist. The Portrait of the Evangelist St Mark is reproduced in black and white as Fig.398 by Prof. S. Der Nersessian in her Miniature paintings in the Armenian Full page miniature.

 

In the sequence of the scenes representing the major events in the Life of Christ, the missing miniature is that of the Ascension, which has the original number on the reverse side of the folio as folio 284v, which is clearly demonstrated by the evidence on the disk enclosed. This is also supported by Fig.372 in Prof. S. Der Nersessian’s volume on Miniature paintings in the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, which is the reproduc­tion in black & white of the image in your collection.

 

 

 

The numberings still in place at the back of the two leaves (folio 115v and folio 284v) leave no doubt in my mind that these two miniatures once belonged to the magnificent Armenian manuscript of the four Gospels in the collection of the Armenian Patriarchate of St James’, Jerusalem, as MS.no.2563 called the Queen Keran Gospels. The two miniatures in your collection belong to the Queen Keran Gospels, cop­ied by the scribe Avetis and illuminated by the celebrated artist T’oros Roslin in 1272 AD in Sis the capital city of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

In the Middle Ages, captured manuscripts were never referred to as booty, but rather, like human beings, they were either "carried off into captivity", or they were "rescued or purchased from captivity". In a manuscript of the Gospels copied by the scribe Kostandin Vahkatsi in 1413, now in the Patriarchate ofSt James’, Jerusalem, the scribe writes:
 

On behalf of the Armenian people and the Brotherhood of St James’, Jerusalem, we will forever be grateful for the return of these two leaves "back to its place".