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A Russian Aprakos

Lot 45
11.06.2024 14:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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£ 20 160
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1214880
Lot 45 | A Russian Aprakos
Estimate value
£ 15 000 – 20 000
A Russian Aprakos
Aprakos (a Gospel Lectionary), in Church Slavonic, decorated manuscript on paper [Russia, 2nd half 15th century]
A 15th-century Russian Aprakos, or Gospel Lectionary containing readings from the Gospels from Easter through Vespers on Holy Saturday and readings for Sundays and feast days.

255 x 195mm. 211 leaves, complete, in gatherings of 8, modern pencil foliations followed here, two columns of 27 lines written in Cyrillic semi-uncial in black and brown ink by a single scribe, headings, rubrics, initials and marginal cross-references in red, capital letters often with decorative flourishes, opening headpiece in Balkan style of interlocking circles and strapwork infilled with small red flowers, painted in pale brown and turquoise with red detailing, traces of gathering signatures throughout, watermarks identical to Briquet 15150 (Châtel-sur-Moselle, 1466), very close to Briquet 14359 (Savoie, 1478) and Briquet 8730 (Epinal, 1476), and a related version of Briquet 15078 (Toulouse, 1468) (a few pages rubbed and smudged, one or two leaves loose, a few repaired).

Binding:
17th-century Armenian binding, maroon velvet over wooden boards, sewn on 4 cords, edges gauffered and gilt, with central brass crucifix and metallic corners of engraved images of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John on upper cover, four studs on lower cover (velvet worn and torn, brass centerpiece of the crucifixion damaged with images of the Virgin Mary and St John lost, only a portion of the corner-piece of St John remains, lacking clasps). Fitted box.

Provenance:
(1) Armenian ownership, 17th century. 17th-century ownership inscriptions and solicitations for intercessory prayer on ff.211v and 148v-150. These later inscriptions refer to the servants of God Matfey Mizevich, Matrena, Semen, Ivan and others.

(2) Paul M. Fekula (1905-1982): his MS 442, published in Matejic, 1983 and Keenan, 1988. His sale at Sotheby's, Russian Manuscripts from the Fourteenth to the Nineteenth Century From the Paul M. Fekula Collection, 29 November 1990, lot 62 to:

(3) The Schøyen Collection, MS 707.

Contents:
The text of the full Aprakos, starting with Readings from the Gospels for each day from Easter through Vespers on Holy Saturday, ff.1-185; Gospel Readings for Sundays, ff.185-188v; Gospel Readings for Holidays up to August 31, ff.189-211; a later inscription of various names of persons to be remembered in prayers, f.211v.

Aprakos is a liturgical book with Gospel readings organised according to the church circle of service. The text is therefore not in its biblical order, and instead begins with readings from the Holy (Easter) Week in the Eastern Orthodox Church. The text of aprakos-gospels begins with the Gospel according to John (In the beginning was the Word [...]), unlike regular Gospels which would begin with the Gospel according to Matthew.

The manuscript contains readings from the Gospels from Easter through to Vespers on Holy Saturday, and readings for Sundays and feast days. Later inscriptions clearly place the manuscript in Ukraine in the seventeenth century, although the language here suggests a Russian origin. Despite this, and rather unusually for aprakos of the later-15th century, the manuscript displays no South Slavonic features.




Literature

Keenan, Edward L., ed., The Paul M. Fekula Collection: a Catalogue, 1988, Fekula MS.442.

Matejic, M., Slavic Manuscripts from the Fekula Collection: a Description, 1983, F-XVI.
Place of origin:Eastern Europe, Europe, Russia
Auction house category:Books and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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11.06.2024 – 11.06.2024
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