Walters Ms. W.838, Ethiopian canon tables Canon tables Eusebius, Caesariensis, Bishop of Caesarea, ca. 260-ca. 340 Principal cataloger Getatchew Haile, . Cataloger Herbert, Lynley Editor Herbert, Lynley Contributor Bockrath, Diane Contributor Emery, Doug Contributor Isaac, Ephraim Contributor Noel, William Contributor Tabritha, Ariel Contributor Toth, Michael B. Conservator Owen, Linda Conservator Quandt, Abigail The Walters Art Museum

Licensed for use under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Access Rights, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/legalcode. It is requested that copies of any published articles based on the information in this data set be sent to the curator of manuscripts, The Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201.

 This fragmentary manuscript, comprised of four canon tables spread over one bifolium, would originally have been the introductory pages of a fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century Gospel book. Written in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia, the pages contain canons I-V, which relate the concordance of the Gospels through a chart in which each number corresponds to a Gospel passage, a system originally created by Eusebius of Caesarea in the early fourth century. The numbers here, in keeping with a long tradition, are placed within an arcade of brightly decorated columns and arches. Common within Ethiopian canon table decoration are the curtains, which hang from the sides of the columns, and the interlace-filled arches adorned with birds. These pages provide an excellent example of Ethiopian canon table illumination from the early Solomonic period. Baltimore The Walters Art Museum W.838 The primary language in this manuscript is Geez. 1r - 2v Canon tables The extant canons are I-V

Heavy yellowed parchment

 Foliation: i+2+i35.0 25.5 29.5 23.0 It is a bifolium with modern parchment flyleaves

i, 1(2), i None None

Dimensions refer to overall decorated surface Four architectural tables comprised of two columns and one large arch with birds above, decorated with geometric and knot patterns in green, yellow, and orange; inscriptions and canon numbers in black ink Canon table Eusebian canon I Full-page miniature Canon table Eusebian canon II Full-page miniature Canon table Eusebian canons III and IV Full-page miniature Canon table Eusebian canon V Full-page miniature

Housed in a modern portfolio of heavy archival paper

 Late 14th or early 15th century CE Lake Tana, Ethiopia Originally created as part of a Gospel book in the Lake Tana region of Ethiopia, late fourteenth or early fifteenth century Joseph and Margaret Knopfelmacher collection, acquired in Addis Ababa ca. 1960 Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Knopfelmacher, 1996 Relevant Works Holbert, Kelly, ed. Ethiopian Art: The Walters Art Museum. Baltimore: Trustees of the Walters Art Gallery, 2001, pp. 102-103, cat. no. 13. "Canon tables," in Siegbert Uhlig, ed., Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, Vol. I. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003, pp. 680-681. Art Medicine Museum Poetry Script Muhammad, the Prophet Kashmiri Horses Walters Art Museum Document Astrology Devotion History Legal Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Liturgy Philosophy Science Science -- Medicine Scripture Sufism Theology Mineralogy Logic Geography Geomancy Cosmology Cartography Fortune-telling Koran Qur`an Firman Palimpsest Prayer Bible Gospels Psalter Missal Lectionary Book of Hours Antiphonary Homilary Processional Horologion Breviary Hymnal Chronicle Maghreb Sub-Saharan (West) Africa Turkey Afghanistan Central Asia Egypt England India Iran Iraq Pakistan Germany France Austria Netherlands Ethiopia Armenia Flanders Greece Mamluk Mughal Ottoman Ottonian Armenian Byzantine Abbasid Qajar Rajput Christian Arabic Austrian Dutch Egyptian Fatimid German Indian Islamic Persian Safavid Timurid Turkish Umayyad English French Flemish Ethiopian Carolingian Calligraphy Colophon Headpiece Illumination Illustration Medallion Miniature Ornament Painting Early Abbasid script Ragini Romanesque Gothic Watermark Grotesques Historiated initial Inhabited initial White-vine lettering Textura Batarda Humanistic Uncial Accordion book Album Book Codex Manuscript Heraldry Saint's Life Drawing Grisaille Binding New Abbasid style Musical notation Russia Romania Charter Russian Genealogy Mass book Prayer book Gospel Lectionary Psalter-Hours Treatise Grammar Gloss Pontifical Private devotional text Gradual Protective scroll Scroll 10th century 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 8th century 9th century Block book Caroline minuscule Central Arab lands (Near East) Chart English secretary hand Kufic Gothic book hand Original binding Treasure binding Gospel Book Spanish Spain Italian Italy Coptic Scrapbook American United States Maryland Historical Society Friendship book Friendship Liturgical Devotional Scriptural Theological Legal Historical Scientific Scientific -- Medical Literary -- Prose Literary -- Poetry Philosophical Astrological Sufi English Gospels Christian Ethiopian Illumination Manuscript Miniature Painting Walters Art Museum Ethiopia 14th century 15th century Scripture Theology