THE SAINT JOHN'S BIBLE IS "NEARLY COMPLETE" and selections are on display in Phoenix:

Phoenix Art Museum Hosts Monumental Gathering of Old and New Illuminated Manuscripts
Posted : Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:12:11 GMT
Author : Phoenix Art Museum

PHOENIX, AZ -- 10/23/07 -- Phoenix Art Museum will present one of its most divine exhibitions from December 11, 2007 - March 9, 2008, focusing on handmade Bibles and religious manuscripts from throughout history. Bringing together the old and new, three unique exhibitions will collectively span the more than 1300 years of history represented through this ancient art form. Highlighting this exhibition will be one of the most remarkable artistic endeavors undertaken this millennium as the museum plays host to "Illuminating the Word: The Saint John's Bible" -- the only handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned since the advent of the printing press more than 500 years ago.

Concurrent with "The Saint John's Bible," Phoenix Art Museum will host "The Early History of the Bible" from the world-class collection of sacred manuscripts at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and "Selections from the James Melikian Collection" from a private collection in Phoenix representing more than 20 ancient Christian and Jewish texts and manuscripts from these two important collections.

"We are extremely proud to host this rare gathering of artwork celebrating the expansive history of the book as an art form," said James K. Ballinger, director of Phoenix Art Museum. "These three exhibitions provide an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view some of the rarest books and manuscripts from throughout history, and to experience the incomparable 'The Saint John's Bible' masterpiece."

A richly ornamented masterwork, hand-illustrated with gold leaf on oversized vellum, "The Saint John's Bible" (which includes both the Old and New Testaments) is an unprecedented undertaking in contemporary book arts and a major cultural endeavor. Selections from the nearly-complete Bible are traveling the country as part of a national tour sponsored by Target; and for the first time it will be exhibited alongside ancient examples of the book arts.

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For Phoenix Art Museum, "Illuminating the Word: The Saint John's Bible" features 49 two-page openings from the nearly-complete Bible, with selections from Gospels and Acts, Pentateuch (the first five books of Jewish and Christian scripture), and Psalms. Among the pages on view at Phoenix Art Museum are: The Seven Days of Creation, Genesis, The Garden of Eden, Jacob's Ladder, The Ten Commandments, The Parable of the Loaves and Fishes, The Sermon on the Mount, The Parable of the Sower and the Seed, The Birth of Christ, Dinner at the Pharisee's House, The Woman Accused of Adultery, The Raising of Lazarus, The Death of Moses, The Crucifixion.

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The exhibition includes some other interesting items:

Comprised from the extensive, world-class collection of sacred manuscripts and ancient Biblical works of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, "The Early History of the Bible" is a collection of illuminated and handwritten works ranging from an 8th century Biblical manuscript fragment from Egypt to a 16th century Hebrew Esther scroll, and features Bibles from the early age of printing, including a page from the Gutenberg Bible and a first edition of Martin Luther's New Testament.

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One of the foremost private collections of ancient illuminated texts, the James Melikian Collection features several rare objects of note. "The Khabouris Codex" is one of only two Assyrian New Testament manuscripts from the 11th/12th centuries, written in Aramaic, and still in existence in the Western Hemisphere (the other is housed in the Library of Congress).

The Melikian Collection also features a variety of English printed Bibles, ranging from the Bishops' Bible to various editions of the King James translation, all from the 1500s and 1600s (including the tallest printed Bible, printed in 1680). These Bibles showcase the intense activity that first brought the Bible into the English language.

Additionally, the collection features three Armenian "Four Gospels," notable for their beauty and rarity to the Western region, the earliest of which dates back to 1350. Written in Aramaic on rice paper, each manuscript begins with a series of full-page illustrations of the life and ministry of Jesus. One of the "Four Gospels" on display, dated 1651, was made by an ethnic-Armenian team in Istanbul and used through a three-decade career of the priest-monk (vardapet) Minas of Kona. Minas, in turn, commissioned a deluxe silver cover for the volume in 1675, just before donating the book to the parish he served throughout his life. Several other silver Bible covers, many from the 1800s, will also be on display.

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Background here, here, and here.