Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Ethiopian prayer scroll (MS W.46).

Accession number
MS W.46
Object title
Ethiopian prayer scroll (MS W.46).
Display Date
ca. 1955
Created
ca. 1955
Credit line
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
Classification