London Canon Tables

The London Canon Tables (British Library, Add. MS 5111) is a Byzantine illuminated Gospel Book fragment on vellum from the 6th or 7th century. It was possibly made in Constantinople. The fragment consists of two folios of two illuminated Eusebian canon tables set beneath an ornamental arcade and the Letter by Eusebius of Caesarea which prefaces the canon tables. The fragment is bound together with a 12th century Gospel Book (British Library, Add. MS 5111 and 5112) which is thought to have belonged to one of the monasteries on Mount Athos.

The folios are 220 by 150 mm. They were originally larger, but were trimmed to their current size when they were bound with the 12th century Gospel Book. The two folios are stained gold, an attribute even more rare than purple-stained folios such as are in the Vienna Genesis. The arches and the columns of the arcades are filled by brightly colored abstract ornamentation. This ornamentation causes the arcade to lose much of its structural sense. Below each of the arches, there is a medallion with a portrait painted in classical style. As there would have been twelve of these arches it is likely these portraits represent the Apostles, although there is no direct connection between the Canon Tables or the letter of Eusebius and the twelve Apostles.

External links

• Leuven Database on Ancient Books: catalogue entry.
• British Library: catalog entry.

References

• Kitzinger, Ernst. Early Medieval Art. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1940, pgs. 115–116.
• Weitzmann, K. Late Antique and Early Christian Book Illumination London, 1977, p.116.

Further reading

• The Christian Orient. London: The British Library, 1978, no. 2.
• Splendeur de Byzance. Europalia 82 Hellas-Grèce. Brussels: Musées Royaux d'Art et d'Histoire, 1982, no.M3.
• Buckton, D., ed. Byzantium. Treasures of Byzantine Art and Culture from British Collections London: British Museum, 1994, no. 68.
• Cavallo, G. Ricerche sulla maiuscola biblica. 1967, plate 85 (illus.)
• Nordenfalk, C. Die spätaniken Kanontafeln. Gothenburg, 1938, pp.127 ff.