Ethiopian prayer scroll

Accession number:

MS W.46

Title:

Created:

ca. 1955

Credit:

Bequest of Julia Parker Wightman, 1994.

Description:

1 scroll (3 vellum sections stitched together, 1 column running length of scroll) : vellum, ill. ; 1760 x 66 mm.

Provenance:

St. Stephen's Monastery, Lake Tana, Ethiopia (note in case); Dawson's Book Shop, Los Angeles (possibly List 51, 1973, no. 13); purchased from Dawson's by Julia Parker Wightman in 1973 (JPW 7554); Julia Parker Wightman Bequest in 1994.

Notes:

Ms. prayer scroll; written and decorated in Ethiopia, ca. 1955.
Decoration: 4 colored amuletic drawings: at the top a red, blue, and black angel guards the owner with upraised sword; at the center is a decorative panel with a face within a square that forms the center of a cross motif with geometrical designs; near the end is another face surrounded by rays that extend in four directions; at the end is a stylized cruciform motif. The prayer texts are written between the drawings. Decorative bars are painted at the stitched junctions of the vellum sections. The entire length of the scroll has a narrow red border on both sides. Text is written in black and red.
Binding: in brown morocco cylinder case lined with colorful paper stamped in geometrical designes, labeled: Ethiopian prayer scroll, by Julia Parker Wightman.

Script:

Ethiopic

Language:

Ge'ez

Century:

20th century

Genres:

Manuscripts

Scrolls (information artifacts)

Drawings

Vellum (parchment)

Ethiopic script