{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O130971"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O130971/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BX3032/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009BX3032/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009BX3032","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EC9266","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EC9247","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6864","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6862","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6861","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6842","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6841","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6833","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6773","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6772","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6771","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6685","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6684","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6683","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6682","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2010EB6651","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BD3618","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JT2684","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU1357","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KA5722","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MA7704","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O130971/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O130971","accessionNumber":"567-1893","objectType":"Gospel","titles":[{"title":"The Sion Gospels","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Although the manuscript of the Sion Gospels is itself beautifully written, with initials and headings in red ink, the most striking feature of the book lies in its cover. Precious bindings such as this were reserved for the liturgical manuscripts used in services.Made of gold or silver, their decoration usually included the figure of Christ or the Crucifixion and the Evangelists, the whole often lavishly encrusted with gems.\r\n\r\nWhile the enamels and outer border are probably contemporary with the manuscript, the seated figure of Christ and the surrounding strips of stamped work are likely to be later in date, perhaps twelfth-century. Few of the larger stones are original as they differ considerably from those described in a fourteenth-century note on the first page of the book.There has bee 19th century restoration to some of of the enamels.","physicalDescription":"Page Layout: Hard-point ruling, double justification lines running the height of text. Writing above top line. Written area: 160 x 140 mm. 18 lines.\r\n\r\nCollation: 1<sup>(8)</sup> (folios 1-7: first leaf pastedown, conjoint with f.7), 2-4<sup>8</sup>, 5<sup>4+2</sup> (ff.32-37, ff.35 and 36 singletons), 6<sup>6+2</sup> (ff.38-45; ff.39 and 44 singletons),7-12<sup>8</sup>, 13<sup>6+2</sup> (ff.92-99; ff.94 and 97 singletons), 14-24<sup>8</sup> (ff.100-187), 25 (f.188 sole surviving leaf of a quire with stub of conjoint leaf visible; two further stubs visible, one conjoint with rear pastedown).\n\nScript: Written in a current Carolingian minuscule. Main text written in three hands, with later addition in another hand: (1) ff.2r-147v, (2) ff.150r-168r, (3) ff.168v-188v line 2; (4) historical notes added later by a fourth hand on f.188v line 3 onwards. Rubrics in rustic capitals throughout; Roman capitals for heading on f.149v. The script has been dated to the second, or possibly the third, quarter of the 11th century, and certainly no earlier than the second; the general character is that of south German scripts, but there is no link to hands at scriptoria near Sion such as St Gall, Einsiedeln, Reichenau or Chur (see Watson 2011, p. 37).\n\nHand 1 (ff.2r-147v): occasional use of cedilla; no ampersand, three versions of letter z; minimal abbreviation; Hand 2 (ff.150r-168r): less expert hand, with neat, closely spaced minims; frequent use of ampersand, and greater use of abbreviations; uncial form of E for capitals; from f.152r, script becomes smaller, probably a new stint rather than a new scribe; Hand 3 (ff.168v-188v line 2): less skillful hand; Hand 4 (f.188v from line 3): article 7 added by a late 11th-century scribe, small, squarish letter-forms; many abbreviations, showing Italianate influence.\n\nPunctuation (1 and ): <i>punctus</i> and <i>punctus elevatus</i>, the latter either with a stroke or a 'tilde', for minor pauses; <i>punctus</i> followed by a capital for major pauses. \n\nBinding: (1) 19th century, France (ca. 1840-1850?): partially resewn; the pastedowns, attached to boards, are parts of the quires of the original text-block - this strenghtening was probably done in ca. 1851, since the inscription on the pastedown of the uper cover testifying that the manuscript had belonged to Charlemagne was sealed of the same seal, of ST Maruice d'Agaune, as was the notarial document of 1851 (see Object History). The enamel and metal covering was repaired when in the Spitzer Collection. (2) Medieval (late 12th century/): 'Treasury binding', described on f2r in a 14th-century hand: '<i>In isto testu q[uod] est de capitulo sedunen' prima postis / est coperta de plateis aureis. / Item sunt in eadem lapieds q[ui] seq[unutur], / Primo quinque saffiri, Item due emaraudes, / Item unum rubi, Item sexdecim alii lapiides</i>.' Originally sewn onto three leather cords; methods of attachment not visible. \n\nA central plaque, late 12th century shows a seated figure of Christ holding a book in the left hand, blessing with the right. It is surrounded by an enamelled inscription (text in brackets is that made for Spitzer): \n1. top line: [MATHEVS ET MARCVS]/\n2. right-hand line: LVCAS SCSQ IOHANE[S]/\n3. bottom line, letters positioned upside-down and thus reading from right to left: [VOX H]ORV[M] QVATV / \n4. left-hand line: OR REBOAT TE XPE REDEMPTOR.\n\nAn outside frame is made up of 8 enamel plaques and 8 goldwork plaques (see Object History for problems of dating), the latter with mounted gems; the outer frame is separated from the central plaque with a band of goldwork ornament set with 8 gems (for the gems, see Object History). On the verso, the board is covered in white leather, once stained purple, with a cross marked out in nails. The two clasps may be 19th century. \n\n---\n\nElaborately decorated cover enclosing a book of Gospels. The cover is of beech overlaid with plaques of gold, enriched with plaques of cloisonné enamel work and precious stones cut for the most part \"en cabochon\". The central plaque of the upper cover is repoussé in relief with  figure of Christ in Majesty, holding up his right hand in Benediction and holding in his left hand a book. This relief is surrounded by the cloisonné enamel border with an inscription in which enamel on a translucent blue ground. \r\n\r\nThe undercover is bound with red sheepskin, upon which a cross is indicated by means of iron nails. The clasps are composed of strips of leather with mounting of silver decorated with niello. \r\n\r\nThe manuscript consists of a nearly square folio of one hundred and eighty seven leaves of vellum written by a German scribe in the tenth or eleventh-century. The text is written in bold semi-uncial characters, with initials and headings in red. The manuscript contains those sections of the Gospel which were read at mass on the chief festivals of the year. On the last page is the beginning of a decree by Pope Adrian promulgated in the reign of Charlemagne. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"Gold","id":"AAT11021"},{"text":"Sheepskin","id":"AAT193374"},{"text":"beech","id":"AAT11948"}],"techniques":[{"text":"enamelled","id":"x30139"},{"text":"niello","id":"AAT54022"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Beech overlaid with plaques of gold and precious stones, enamelled and with sheepskin undercover","categories":[{"text":"Christianity","id":"THES48978"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2009BX3032","2010EC9266","2010EC9247","2010EB6864","2010EB6862","2010EB6861","2010EB6842","2010EB6841","2010EB6833","2010EB6773","2010EB6772","2010EB6771","2010EB6685","2010EB6684","2010EB6683","2010EB6682","2010EB6651","2006BD3618","2017JT2684","2017JU1357","2017KA5722","2019MA7704"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"8 (VA)","id":"THES49714"},"free":"","case":"CA5","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Gospel","id":"AAT26466"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Germany","id":"x28873"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Trier ?"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1140-1150","earliest":"1135-01-01","latest":"1150-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"25","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"23.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"7.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"2.56","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"[MATHEVS ET MARCVS] LVCAS SCSQ IOHANE [I X H]ORV VATVOR REBOAT TE XPE REDEMPTOR","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"The parts of the inscription in brackets have been restored."}],"objectHistory":"Text-block perhaps written in what is now Switzerland (perhaps the diocese of Sion), in the second quarter of the 11th century; the binding made up in the later 12th century or ca. 1200 using enamel and goldwork plaques of an earlier date; a 14th-century hand mentions that the book was owned by the church of Sion, as does a 17th-century inscription 'Est Ecclesiae Valletianae'; bought from the Chapter of the church of Sion, Valais, by Alexandre Kuhn in 1851, according to a notarial document issued on 28 July 1851, the manuscript had been given by Charlemagne to St Maruice d'Agaune. This document bears the imprint of the seal of the abbot of St Maurice, and the same seal authenticates an inscription on the inside of the front cover, stating that the manuscript was the Evangeliary given by Charlemagne to St Maruice and taken from the abbey during civil wars of the 14th century; from at least 1866, collection of Charles Alexandre, Marquis de gAnay (1803-1881; collection sold on 14 May 1881 (Lugt, no. 41101); collection of Frédéric Spitzer (1815-1890), sold in 1893; bought by the South Kensington (now the V&amp;A) at the Spitzer sale in 1893. \n\nText: (1) ff.2r-135r Temporale for Sundays and major feasts from the Vigil of Christmas to the Sunday before Christmas. The week after Quinquagesima includes readings for Wednesday and Friday and, from Lent, there are readings for every day of the week up to the end of the week after Easter Sunday; from the Vigil for Pentecost (Whitsunday) to the Octave, there are readings for every day of the week, thereafter the readings are for Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with Ember Saturdays after the 4th and 7th Sundays after Pentecost, and for the 3rd week of Advent. (2) ff.135r-147r. Art. 2 runs on without a break to readings for Wednesdays and Fridays not included in art. 1, beginning with the Wednesday after Christmas and ending at Friday after the 5th Sunday after Easter (4th weeks appears to be missing, f.147r). [ff.148r-149r. Ruled but blank]. (3) ff.149v-181v. Sanctorale, headed in Roman capitals (f.149v) 'INCIPIUNT EVAN/GELIA IN NATALI/CIIS SANCTORU[M] / LEGENDA', from Stephen (31 Dec.) to Andrew (30 Nov). Saints noted by Ker as not in Roman calendar lists are Nabor and FElix (f.168r-168v), Cyricus (f.168v), Paulinus (f.174v), Maruice and companions (f.177r), Germanus and Remigius (1 Oct., f178r), Denis, Risticus and Eleutherius (f.178v), Brictius (f.179v). Includes Translation of St Benedict (f.168r) and Exultation of the Holy Cross (f.176r). (4) ff.181v-183r. Common of Saints. (5) ff.183r-185r. Readings for Trinity Sunday and following week, of which Thursday is '<i>de caritate</i>', Friday '<i>de sancta cruce</i>', and Saturday '<i>de sancta Maria</i>'.  (6) ff.185r-188v. Readings for special occasions: <i>In dedicatione aecclesiae</i>; <i>in tempore belli</i>; <i>In tempore tribulationis</i>; <i>Pro rege coram ipso</i>; <i>De mortalitate hominum</i>; <i>Pro iter agentibus</i>; <i>In nat[alicio] sacerdotis sive episcopi</i>; <i>In nat[alicio] pontificis</i>; <i>Quando senodus collegitur</i>; <i>Quando sacerdos pro se cantare debet</i>; <i>Pro devotis</i>; <i>In remissione peccatorum</i>; <i>Pro salute vivorum</i>. (7) f.188v. Historical notes or a chronicle concerning the Lombard kings of Italy and their defeat by the Franks; text on the leaf excised, now known only from a stub, may have referred to the tradition whereby the manuscript was given by Charlemagne to St Maurice d'Agaune. The text refers to the Lombard kings, Desiderius, Liuprandus and Aistulfus, and to Adelehis, son of Desiderius, their despoiling of papal possessions, and the appeal of Pope Adrian I to Charlemagne, in 772-774. \n\nAn attempt has been made to identify this book with the Gospels of Charlemagne, a volume recorded as having belonged the abbey of St Maurice d' Agaune, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland. There is however very good reason to suppose that it was originally made for the ancient church of Notre Dame de Valère, in the same canton, to which, according to an inscription, it belonged in the seventeenth-century. It afterwards became the property of the Cathedral of Sion in the valley below. In 1851 it was sold by the chapter to a dealer of Geneva, by whom it was sold to the Marquis de Ganay. Towards the end of the nineteenth-century, it passed into the Spitzer Collection, where various restorations were made and it was subsequently sold in Paris in 1893 when it was bought for the South Kensington Museum.\r\n\r\nThe enamels and the outer border are probably contemporary with the manuscript , but the seated figure of Christ and the surrounding strips can hardly be earlier than the twelfth century.Few of the larger stones can be original as they differ considerably from the those described in a fourteenth-century note on the first page of the book. The enamels were considerably restored in the nineteenth century.","historicalContext":"Precious bindings such as this were reserved for the liturgical manuscripts used in services. Their decoration usually included the figure of Christ or the Crucifixion and the Evangelists, the whole often lavishly encrusted with gems.","briefDescription":"Evangelistary in Latin  known as the 'Sion Gospels', parchment, Switzerland, ca. 1025-1050, with binding, Switzerland, ca. 1200 (or just before) using elements of an earlier date ","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Cundall, J. On Bookbindings Ancient and Modern. London: G. Bell and sons, 1881.","id":"AUTH411888"},"details":"Plate II","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lasko, P. <font -u>Ars Sacra</font> (London, 1994)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Buckton, D. <font -u>Vorlaufige Ergebrisse einer optischen untersuchung des Emails der krone </font> Studien zur machtsymbolik des mittelalterlischen Ungarn, Insignia Regni Hungariae, I, (Budapest 1983) pls 9,12,13 pp.129-143"},{"reference":{"text":"Williamson, Paul (ed.), <u>The Medieval Treasury: the art of the Middle Ages in the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1986","id":"AUTH334016"},"details":"p.78","free":""}],"production":"Enamel plaques about 980-1000, Manuscript about 1025-1050, Binding about 1180-1200. The inscription above Christ was added before 1893 when the book cover was in the possession of Fredrick Spitzer.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Christ","id":"N1515"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"GOSPELS AND COVER\r\nWood overlaid with sheets of embossed gold, gems and plaques of cloisonné enamel\r\nGerman; the enamels, 10th century (with restorations); the manuscript, 11th century; the rest, 12th century (with restorations).\r\nAround the figure of Christ is the inscription (restored): mathevs et Marcus lucas s[an]c[tu]s q[ue] iohane[s] vox horv[m] quatvor reboat te xpe redemptor (Saint Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; their voice calls back your name, O Redeemer Christ).\r\nThe cover was probably made from the manuscript in the 12th century, perhaps re-using materials from dilapidated book-covers. According to a 15th-century inscription inside, the book then belonged to the Cathedral Church of Sion in Switzerland.","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["567-1893"],"accessionNumberNum":"567","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1893,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017KD0508","2017KD0509","2019LV3501","2019LW1443","2019LW0383"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-07","recordCreationDate":"2007-01-23","availableToBook":false}}