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[ENLUMINURE]. [ARMENIA]. Leaf extracted from a manuscript of…
See original version (French)
[ENLUMINURE]. [ARMENIA]. Leaf extracted from a manuscript of…
See original version (French)
Lot no. 23
Books, manuscripts, old papers and historical documents Religious art Arts of the Middle East and the Mediterranean
Description[ENLUMINURE]. [ARMENIA].
Leaf extracted from a manuscript of the Gospels.
Resurrection of Lazarus
Inscription in Armenian (in lower-case characters "bolorgir") above the miniature: "Resurrection of Lazarus; Christ raised the four-day dead" (Macler translation, 1913).
Oriental paper, ink, tempera, liquid gold.
Iran, Isfahan [New Julfa (Armenian quarter)], early 17th century [1615].
Attributed to the illuminator Mesrop de Khizan (b. circa 1560, active 1605-1651).
Good condition, paper restoration in the lower left corner, some minor paint rubbing, small stain on the head of Christ.
Sheet size: 230 x 170 mm
Rediscovery of a leaf painted by Mesrop de Khizan, from the Tetraevangile of Jacques de Morgan, an important archaeologist and collector.
This folio is one of the missing leaves from the manuscript kept at the Getty Museum as Ms. Ludwig II 7 (83.MB.71), the text of which was copied by Hayrapet and illuminated by Mesrop de Khizan for a certain "Martiros" and his wife "Mariam". This is a manuscript containing the Four Gospels (Tetraevangile), formerly part of the Jean Pozzi collection, see Rheims et Laurin, commissaires-priseurs, Collection Jean Pozzi, sale Paris, Drouot, 30 April 1971, no. 104. Note that the leaves of this manuscript are of the same format (230 x 171 mm) as the present leaf showing the "Resurrection of Lazarus" (230 x 170 mm).
When the manuscript was acquired by the Getty Museum in 1983, some leaves were already missing, some of which were found (Nativity and Adoration of the Magi and Shepherds, acquired by the Getty Museum, 2019 (Ms. 118 (2019.129)), a leaf from the former Charles Ratton (1895-1986) collection; Baptism of Christ, acquired by the Getty Museum, 1985 (Ms. Ludwig II 7a); Crucifixion, acquired by the Getty Museum, 2021 (Ms. 123 (2021.55)). Two leaves are also in the Chester Beatty collection in Dublin (Sirarpie Der Nersessian (1958), no. 576, vol. I, pp. 88-90).
The illumination is attributable to the painter identified as Mesrop of Xizan or Mesrop of Khizan, one of the greatest Armenian painters of his generation, with his vivid colours and rich iconography. In fact, the colophon of the manuscript held by the Getty Museum indicates that it was written by the priest Hayrapet in Isfahan in 1615 and illuminated by Mesrop of Khizan.
An Armenian living in Persia, Mesrop de Khizan (c. 1560 - c. 1652) was a manuscript illuminator, as well as a scribe, cleric, teacher, doctor of theology, restorer and bookbinder. Mesrop de Khizan was born around 1560 in Turkey (Ottoman Empire) to Armenian parents from the Khizan region (now known as Hizan), near Lake Van. The artists who painted in this region are sometimes grouped together under the name "Van School", and the manuscripts produced in this region are highly polished. After defeating the Ottoman Empire around Lake Van, in 1604 Shah Abbas I of Persia (reign: 1587-1629) forcibly relocated many Armenians from the region to his new capital, Esfahan, and more specifically to a district called "New Julfa" ("Mesrop's departure from Khizan should, no doubt, be connected with the forced transportation of the Armenians by Shah Abbas, following his victory over the Turkish armies in 1604" (Sirarpie Der Nersessian, 1958, p. 89). After his family was displaced, Mesrop's father, Martiros de Khizan, himself a painter and illuminator, was replaced by his son, who now painted and lived in Isfahan, Iran, among the displaced Armenian community. The last known work by Mesrop de Khizan is dated 1651.
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Missouri) also holds a Tetraevangile manuscript painted by Mesrop de Khizan, which in turn holds the miniature catalogued as "The Second Coming of Christ" (Mesrop of Xizan, painter and scribe, and Yovhannes, scribe, The Second Coming from The Four Gospels, New Julfa, Isfahan, Iran, Armenian culture, 1618-1622, acquired in 2015: call number 2015.27.14). It seems to us that it is more a question of the Resurrection of Lazarus.
Provenance :
1. Jacques de Morgan (1857-1924), Paris. - The manuscript was purchased by de Morgan in Isfahan around 1897 when he was General Delegate of the Ministry of Public Instruction for archaeological excavations in Persia. After 1924, certain pages were removed from the manuscript. Jacques de Morgan sold the manuscript to Charles Ratton (around 1924?), who was probably responsible for removing several leaves with full-page illuminations. The manuscript was described and viewed by F. Macler in 1913 (Journal asiatique, 1913, vol. II, pp. 643-651). Macler lists the 16 paintings of the Life of Christ originally placed at the beginning of the manuscript now in the Getty Museum. In a subsequent study, Miniatures arméniennes: Vies du Christ, peintures ornementales (Xe au XVIIe siècle) (Paris, 1913), F. Macler devotes a note to this manuscript which he studied: "Bibliothèque de M. J. de Morgan. Evangile arménien": "This manuscript was copied in 1615 AD, near Isaphan, first by the priest Hayrapet (first memorial), then by the copyist and illuminator Mesrop, from Khizan, near Van (second memorial). It is for this reason that I classify this manuscript as belonging to the Van school, since the illuminator is from Khizan, although the copy was made in Persia. Moreover, the figures of the characters show a strong Persian influence, and this is not the least interest of this precious copy of the Gospel" (Macler, 1913, p. 29). The present miniature Resurrection of Lazarus is reproduced in Macler, Miniatures arméniennes (1913), pl. XXXV, fig. 85.
2. Jean Félix Anne Pozzi (1884-1967) (?). It should be noted that Pozzi was the owner of the manuscript (now in the Getty Museum in Los Angeles) as well as of individual leaves donated by Charles Ratton (?). See Rheims and Laurin, auctioneers, Collection Jean Pozzi, sale Paris, Palais Galliéra, 5 December 1970, lots 103-108: "Six miniatures from a gospel copied in Isfahan for Martiros by Hayrapet and illustrated by Mesrop from Khizan". This miniature may correspond to lot 185 of the following sale: Rheims et Laurin, commissaires-priseurs, Collection Jean Pozzi, sale Paris, Palais Galliéra, 2 December 1970: Armenian miniature from a gospel: Christ and his disciples. 17th century [in the Pozzi sale, could this be the miniature of the Resurrection of Lazarus, with Christ surrounded by his disciples behind him?] Unfortunately, the Pozzi catalogue (sale of 2 December), which is rather vague in its description, does not give the dimensions of the folio in question.
3. France, private collection.
See also Frédéric Macler, "Notices de manuscrits arméniens vus dans quelques bibliothèques de l'Europe centrale", in Journal asiatique, Paris, 1913, vol. II, pp. 643-651, with list of miniatures. - Frédéric Macler. Miniatures arméniennes : Vies du Christ, peintures ornementales (Xe au XVIIe siècle), Paris, 1913, pp. 29-30, pl. XXXIII-XLIV, the Resurrection of Lazarus is reproduced pl. XXXV, fig. 85. - Sirarpie Der Nersessian. The Chester Beatty Library: A Catalogue of the Armenian manuscripts, Dublin, 1958, no. 576, pp. 88-90, plate 576a (Christ in Glory, donors) and 576b (Holy Women at the Sepulchre). - Taylor, Alice and Walsh, John. Book Arts of Isfahan: Diversity and Identity in Seventeenth-Century Persia. Malibu, 1995: see in particular the chapters: "Isfahan and Its People, 1597-1722: An Historical Overview"; "The Place of Memory: Armenian Manuscript Illumination". - Nersessian, Vrej. Treasures from the Ark: 1700 years of Armenian Christian art. London, The British Library, 2001, pp. 216-217: two other manuscripts illuminated by Mesrop de Khizan. - Arakelyan, Mikayel. Mesrop of Xizan: An Armenian Master of the Seventeenth Century. London, Sam Fogg, 2012. An important study devoted to the painter Mesrop de Khizan, which lists a total of 45 manuscripts linked to the artist: "The outstanding Armenian miniaturist Mesrop of Xizan was one of the most significant representatives of the Vaspurakan or Xizan (canton of Mokk', south of Lake Van) and New Julfan (Persia) schools of manuscript illumination of the first half of the seventeenth century" (Arakelyan, 2012, p. 9).
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