Cleveland Museum of Art

Historiated Initial (E) Excised from a Gradual: Adoration of the Magi

Date: c. 1200–1240
Medium: ink, tempera, and gold on parchment
Culture: Italy, Siena
Department: Medieval Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 129854

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

All the essential narrative elements—Mary, the infant Jesus, and the three Magi—are tucked into the lower body of the initial E . Although the initial is now separated from its original context in a gradual, or choir book, it would have marked the beginning of a new chant. In this case it is for the feast of Epiphany (January 6), which celebrates the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem to see the newborn Christ. The Introit for that Mass begins: Ecce advenit dominator Dominus. . . . (Behold the lord the ruler is come. . . .). X-ray fluorescence analysis is a nondestructive technique used to determine the elemental composition of materials. On this leaf it revealed that the dark blue pigment contains azurite.

View at Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Cleveland Museum of Art

Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Provenance: ?–1952: (Vladimir G. Simkhovitch [1874–1959], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 1952–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH