Details

LOT 0376

Ethiopian Manuscript Page with Mary Rescuing the Two Scribes from Devils

17TH CENTURY A.D.

11 5/8 x 10 1/4 in. (40 grams, 29.5 x 26 cm).

Leaf from a vellum manuscript with hand-coloured image: Mary, right, nimbate in red floor-length robe and blue mantle holding aloft a soul in yellow kilt, its neck seized by two crouching winged dark-skinned demons; a third demon, left, with protruding tongue seizing the upper body of another soul; foreground: two male figures seated on low stools, each with vellum page in one hand and quill in the other; panels of red Coptic text above the scribes, beside their souls; the right edge damaged, left edge folded and pierced for binding. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Collection of David Buxton (1913-2003), author of 'Travels in Ethiopia', 1949.

Literature

Cf. Wallis, Budge, E.A.W., The miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and The life of Hannâ (Saint Anne), and the magical prayers of ʻAhĕta Mîkâêl, London, 1900, pp.55ff., pls.LV-LVII.

Footnotes

The image is related to the tale of Virgin Mary and the two brothers who were scribes. In this tale, Mary rescues the souls of the scribes who had committed sins whilst they were engaged in writing a copy of the Book of the Miracles of the Virgin Mary.