Bible
Unknown Artist
ca.1250
Medium
Tempera and gold on parchment; leather binding
Dimensions
Overall (closed): 5 3/4 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (14.6 x 8.9 x 5.7 cm)
Classification
Manuscripts and Illuminations
Culture
French
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Museum Accession
Accession Number
X.418
Art Historical Context
Step into the luminous world of 13th-century France with this exquisite Bible, crafted around 1250 by an unknown artist. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Medieval department, this manuscript exemplifies the Gothic era's reverence for scripture. At a compact 5 3/4 x 3 1/2 x 2 1/4 inches when closed, its leather binding made it portable for personal devotion or liturgical use, a treasure for clergy or nobility amid the era's booming cathedral culture and growing literacy among the elite. Illuminated with tempera paints—vibrant pigments mixed with egg yolk—and lavish gold leaf on fine ...