Binding

This binding belongs to a group of sixty of so Coptic manuscripts discovered in the ruins of the library of the Monastery of Saint Michael in Hamouli (Fayyum) in 1910. The monastic communities, which were particularly numerous in this region, often had a scriptorium. This was probably the case of the Monastery of Saint Michael. All the manuscripts discovered in 1910 were acquired by the collector Pierpont Morgan in 1911. They have been kept in his New York library ever since.

This item served as a binding for an evangeliarium written in Coptic on parchment. The manuscript, which now has a new binding, is practically intact: only fourteen pages of the Gospel according to Saint Luke are missing; the other three Gospels are complete.

Thanks to the optimal conservation conditions due to the Egyptian climate, this item is particularly well preserved and is one of the oldest surviving examples of binding. It comprises two recycled papyrus casings covered in goatskin. The covers were held together vertically by five fasteners; the book was kept closed by leather straps. These materials and technical principles were also used during the same period to produce bindings in an Islamic context. It is interesting to note that the production of Coptic and Islamic bindings evolved in parallel over the centuries: from the eleventh century, the widespread use of a type of binding with side flaps, used simultaneously in the two cultural and religious spheres[1], may be observed.

The exterior decoration of the two covers is stamped on perforated red leather allowing an underlying layer of gilt parchment to be seen. The composition of the decoration is highlighted by fine bands in which the perforations form a motif of alternating red and gilt areas.

Two crosses fitted into each other in interlacing lines forming varied circle and semi-circle motifs. The large central motif is surrounded by four spandrels, each containing a fleuron. Two horizontal bands occupy the top and bottom of the covers, containing respectively a motif of circular scrolls and a juxtaposition of flower, broken geometric line and cross pattée motifs inscribed in small square cartouches.

The cross, the Christian motif par excellence, has been used since the early Christian period, particularly in funerary sculpture[2]. Its use naturally endured in Coptic iconography of the following eras.

As for the decoration, studying it leads to same observation as that concerning the binding techniques: certain common styles and motifs appear in both cultural entities. The composition with a central circular motif and spandrels is reminiscent of Islamic books that, from East to West, widely adopted this schema whose success was such that it influenced Italian Renaissance bindings[3] and seventeenth-century French bookbinding[4]. The motifs and geometric interlacing as well as the plant motifs (flowers and fleurons) were also an integral part of the Islamic art repertory, in the book arts and other decorative arts.

[2] Sarcophagus decorated with peacocks and Christograms, sculpted marble, Ravenna or Constantinople, fifth century, basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna, inv SN. RMN Moyen Age, p. 25 no. 7.

[3] See the entry concerning the cover of the binding of Virgil’s Opera (Venice, Italy, 1460), a striking example of the influence of Islamic binding on Europe.

[4] Binding of Le Gascon, France, 1630, red morocco leather, gilt fan decoration, Musée Condé, Chantilly.