Support 1

Locus: ff. 1r–211v

Layout 1

Hand 1

(ff. 1r–66r)The main hand writes a fluid and regular minuscule of small module, upright, a little bit squashed to the line, with small, angular breathings and short, neat accents, but rather large wavy compendia for standard abbreviations. The ink colour is black in the first part, which makes me incline towards considering this hand a thirteenth-century imitation of an earlier hand; the small zeta goes below the line and is often set at an angle; also a feature is the ligature delta-iota. This hand only employs distinctive double-lines initials filled in red ink, such as (f. 7r) (o), (f. 15v) (k), (f. 19r) (h), (ff. 20v–21r) (k), (f. 36v) (p), (f. 37r) (t), (f. 37v) (many), (f. 43r) (p, o), (f. 56v) (large epsilon with bird and whole title) // (Mark) (f. 63r) (epsilon filled in red, but not with double lines), (f. 65r) (a, ornate with flourish and knot). Only hand 1 writes the harmony in the lower margin.

Hand 2

(ff. 66v–91v)The ink colour of the main text changes at (f. 66v) to light brown; the ductus is also altered, perhaps in part because of how the pen is cut, into a rather more nebulous, ill-defined result (esp. on flesh-side pages); although still small and regular, the writing appears slightly more slanting to the right; the breathings are "a chiodo" and the compendia are kept short; majuscule kappas are elongated and hooked ((f. 68v)); some letter nuclei are filled in red ink (though this may be a later addition; but cf. (f. 96v) where it seems original); beta is often majuscule in two separate loops; from (f. 75v) the writing becomes at once neater and more fluid, almost as if the first scribe is the one now writing in a dark brown ink; the neatness of the pages is in regular alternation until (f. 90v). The pinax at (ff. 91r–91v) is in classical dark red ink and neat script.

Hand 3

(ff. 92r–155r)This hand is also tiny and consciously written as pendant from the line; it adds minute boules or hooks to the very short traits of letters such as chi, lambda, phi. It is a little more irregular. (f. 95r) is written with the lines slanting downwards to the right, without very visible horizontal ruling; NB the genealogy list on (f. 99v) is written in three columns. Around (f. 111r) the hand style becomes rounder and more manneristic, perhaps with another change in hand which is difficult to pinpoint; (f. 112r), for example, exhibits a thinner ductus giving it a more staccato effect. These small variations, that may or may not be of the same hand, make me think this is a later imitative script rather than a genuine 11th-century minuscule. Rare flourishes in the lower margin at (ff. 136v–137r). Note that the pinax at (f. 155r) is not written in red ink, but only rubricated in red.

Hand 4

(ff. 156r–199v)Note the wider form of theta and the slightly enlarged epsilons found in this part, though not substantially dissimilar from hand 3. (f. 156r) also has a staccato effect as of purposefully researched neatness; majuscule betas in one stroke.

Hand 5

(ff. 200r–200v)Modern hand (17th cent.?) completes the Gospel of John at (ff. 200r–200v). This same hand is the same of that of some later notes in the ms.

Canon tables with zoomorphic and Orientalizing architectural decoration, in black and red ink, the columns filled with a beige wash (yellow spalmature?). Evangelist portraits, full-page on gold backgrounds: Matthew at (f. VIIIv); size of page: 149 x 110 mm; size of illustration: 109 x 83 mm. NB the bottom margin of the illumination is slanting to the right. There are traces of a border in red ink around the gold background, which seems painted rather than executed in gold leaf. Mark at (f. 58r): size of page: 148 x 113 mm; size of illustration: 105 x 83 mm. The red frame is fully preserved. The name is written in the top margin, in minuscule, in dark red ink: μάρκος. The words, ἀρχὴ τοῦ ἑυαγγελί, are written on the white page on the lectern. The writing instruments are more precisely outlined, with the same use of white ink/wash. Luke  - missing leaf. John at (f. 155v): size of page: 148 x 113 mm; size of illustration 103 x 82 mm. The red outer frame is only preserved in the top and right sides, and fragments of it in the other two sides. The deep ruled lines of the page appear to have caused substantial pigment loss to the lower left portion of the image, mainly the throne on which John is sitting. The words of Jn 1:1 are written on the lectern in brown ink against a white background: ἐν ἀρχὴ ἦν ὁ λόγος καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν. The lineaments of face and hair are very detailed and beautifully preserved and John’s pose is very solemn and at the same time silently relaxed. Headpiece pyle "in negativo" in red ink, with four small palmettes at the corners, at (f. 1r). Another interlaced pyle "in negativo" at (f. 58v), outlined in bright red with touches of black ink; above it is a self-standing interlaced knot. At (f. 92r), simple pyle in dark red ink with vegetable scroll in negativo, side palmettes and central “knot” as a rounded four-lobed cross with star rays in the background. Note that in this case the red ink is the same as the pinax ink, and there is no use of black. At (f. 156r), pyle in brick red in negativo with geometrical motifs and elongated palmettes at the top corners; short scrolling volutes at the lower corners; and two free-standing interlaced knots in the upper margin. An evident cross precedes the writing of the title. The ink of this pyle is the same as that of the rubrication for this page, but different from that of the pinax (it is darker, almost brown). Zoomorphic initial epsilon outlined and ornamented at (f. 56v), where a small bird is perched on the vegetable volutes that sprout in the lower part of the initial. Double-traced alpha with volute and knotted ornament at (f. 65r).