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Book and Cover

1760-1780 (made)
Place of origin

In all Christian denominations gospels have been adorned with precious, beautifully designed and crafted covers. The Orthodox Church is no exception: silver-gilt covers can be found from medieval times since gold symbolises the glory of heaven. Gospel books play a crucial role in the orthodox liturgy. They are carried in procession to the Royal Gate at the centre of icon wall and shown to the congregation by the priest before entering the sanctuary behind it.

This precious cover protects a copy of the gospel in Old Church Slavonic with a Cyrillic dedication to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. The pages of the volume show traces of continued use, subsequent neglect and conservation in fairly recent years. The silver-gilt cover in contrast appears to have been in need of restoration already in the Nineteenth century. In addition to the 1777 assay mark and mark of goldsmith Fyedor Petrov, a mark currently attributed to Nineteenth-century goldsmith Alexei Kvasnikov can be found on nearly all parts of the cover.


Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
Silver-gilt, niello, chased and embossed, sewn textblock with endbands, printed on handmade paper in ink
Brief description
Gospel book with silver-gilt and niello cover, Russia, second half 18th century
Physical description
Silver-gilt cover, with a gospel book manuscript inside, chased and embossed with rococo motifs and set with five niello plaques.
Dimensions
  • Depth: 100mm
  • Length: 48.5cm
  • Width: 34.5cm
Measured by Issy Warnham 20/12/23
Marks and inscriptions
  • Moscow town mark (on front and back reliefs and straps)
  • 1777 Moscow assay mark A A (on front and back reliefs and straps)
Credit line
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Object history
Provenance: private collection, Netherlands; Henri Dullaert of Demandt & Dullaert, Amsterdam, Dec. 1995.

As so often with religious artefacts originating from pre-Revolution Russia, most of the history and provenance of this object are currently unknown. It is likely that it is one of the many objects that were sold by the USSR government in the 1920s and 1930s and subsequently found their way into Western collections. This volume was bought by Sir Arthur Gilbert for the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection in 1995. His interest in Orthodox religious art predates this acquisition by nearly two decades when he acquired two sets of splendid silver Sacred Gates from around 1784 (Loan:Gilbert.94 & 97-2008).
Subjects depicted
Literary references
  • Old Testament
  • New Testament
Summary
In all Christian denominations gospels have been adorned with precious, beautifully designed and crafted covers. The Orthodox Church is no exception: silver-gilt covers can be found from medieval times since gold symbolises the glory of heaven. Gospel books play a crucial role in the orthodox liturgy. They are carried in procession to the Royal Gate at the centre of icon wall and shown to the congregation by the priest before entering the sanctuary behind it.

This precious cover protects a copy of the gospel in Old Church Slavonic with a Cyrillic dedication to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia. The pages of the volume show traces of continued use, subsequent neglect and conservation in fairly recent years. The silver-gilt cover in contrast appears to have been in need of restoration already in the Nineteenth century. In addition to the 1777 assay mark and mark of goldsmith Fyedor Petrov, a mark currently attributed to Nineteenth-century goldsmith Alexei Kvasnikov can be found on nearly all parts of the cover.


Sir Arthur Gilbert and his wife Rosalinde formed one of the world's great decorative art collections, including silver, mosaics, enamelled portrait miniatures and gold boxes. Arthur Gilbert donated his extraordinary collection to Britain in 1996.
Other numbers
  • SG 317 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1999.14 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
  • SG 322 - Arthur Gilbert Number
  • 1999.25 - The Gilbert Collection, Somerset House
Collection
Accession number
LOAN:GILBERT.96-2008

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Record createdJune 19, 2008
Record URL
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