Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Gospel manuscript with separated leaves
Ethiopian (Northern Highlands, Tigray, Ethiopia)
Not on view
While Ethiopian illuminators typically drew from existing pictorial models, this manuscript stands apart for its remarkably original visualization of sacred history. Here, the prefatory cycle of the Gospel, which traditionally features selected episodes from the life of Christ, focuses instead on an expansive treatment of the Journey of the Magi, which is transformed into an unprecedented nine-page royal entourage. The procession, featuring baggage trains, guards, attendants, porters, musicians, and a large encampment, culminates on the next folio in a scene of adoration, where an angelic host encircles the Virgin Mary and Jesus.
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