Meditation on the Crucifixion (Darsana Mahyawi), Ethiopia, 19th century, On parchment with textile cover and skin carrying case (mahadar) On loan from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, MSS 03004

Meditation on the Crucifixion (Darsana Mahyawi), Ethiopia, 19th century, On parchment with textile cover and skin carrying case (mahadar) On loan from the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, MSS 03004

A vivid Asian-inspired European textile forms the cover, bookmark, and carrying strap of this East African volume, handwritten in the Ge'ez language used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. The manuscript, a private devotional text read during Lent, is worn on the body, inside the animal skin case (mahadar, from the Amharic word hdar, 'to sleep'). The book's sacred container is kept closed when not in use--symbolically evoking the womb of Jesus's mother, Mary--and may be hung on a wall for safekeeping.

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

19th century

Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library

Dimensions: 17.1 x 13.2 x 6.3cm for the book (+69.5cm for the strip of cloth extending from the base of the spine); 21.0 x 18.0 x 7.5cm for the case (closed, + a bit extra for the various straps etc.)

Materials: On parchment with textile cover and skin carrying case (mahadar)

Ge'ez

Fisher MSS 03004

Ethiopia