Sign, Script, and Visual Discourse: The Potential of “Aniconic” Miniatures through their Presentation in Paris’ Manuscript Coptic 13
- Matthias Egger
- 12 minutes ago
- 9 min read
Well known for its “mysterious” history (Emmel 2004), the Paris tetraevangelium Coptic 13 (Damietta, 1178-1180; Paris, BnF, Coptic 13 and Washington, FGA, F1955.11) is also one of the most extensively illuminated Coptic manuscripts from the medieval period with four historiated representational frontispieces, 74 in-text miniatures depicting the Life and Passion of Christ as well as more than 200 ornamental paintings throughout the whole book. Despite this substantial last number, little attention has been given in historiography to these certainly marginal but no less meaningful paintings, ignored compared to the importance of Coptic 13 in the study of the bohairic Gospels’ text (Horner 1898), the Egyptian society at the end of the 12th century through book commissioning (Hunt 1998, Badamo 2024) and the Christological painting (Millet 1916; Shenouda 1956; Cramer 1964, 93–124; Leroy 1974, 113–148). However, this type of illustration was recognized as early as the late 19th century as "signs" helping paleography (Hyvernat 1888). Despite this, the potential of these images has not gained much further interest in this field, even though research in Coptic paleography has continued to develop and remains dynamic today, raising issues (Boud’hors 2020) for which considering these iconographic features could be beneficial. In the field of art history, these have often been singled out as typical of Coptic illumination but only processed in the form of a catalogue (Jansma 1973; Leroy 1974, 53–85) and have yet to be re-evaluated in a more analytical way, with Coptic illumination in general. The aim of this article is to look at an apparently well-known manuscript from an alternative perspective, that of the kind of decoration usually subjected to figures and scenes. Moreover, it calls to present the semantic richness of underestimated paintings often called “ornament”. Moving away from issues of terminology, classification, and attribution issues, it looks at the potential of these images in the reception of the object without any hierarchical consideration, thus seeking to include their study in the dynamics of current research in Byzantine art (Eastmond 2010, 321).
The text of each Gospel is divided into “capitulations” (Muzerelle 1985) that mark every chapter of the Gospel. These subdivisions are usually found in the margins of the text – but sometimes in between paragraphs – and contain the number of the script division written in Coptic letters, the usual quantification system in Coptic bohairic dialect. More than mere numbers, geometric but also vegetal and animal motifs, sometimes all three at once (figure 1), broaden these signs.
The majority of the capitulations are adorned with vegetal motifs (figure 2). This design is obviously reminiscent of both Islamic and Byzantine artistic traditions: if the question of whether Byzantium and Islam influenced or inspired each other is frequently asked in historiography, it seems clear that this type of motif is a feature shared by several Mediterranean cultures since Antiquity. It is also worth noting that the edge of the manuscript's last binding, although produced in a different context – the Parisian 17th century – features an ornamental motif that subtly resonates with the Coptic illumination (figure 3), a sign that it is worth focusing on the visual effects of this pattern and not just its cultural influences.
These vegetal motifs are particularly detailed and colourful, with contrasting shades of blue, gold, and red that seem to take full part in the animation of the pages beyond underlining the material richness of the manuscript. Some of these pigments and dyes have been analysed, making it possible to compare them with rich contemporary works (BnF copte 13 - fva-fmv.inha.fr).
The non-historiated illumination of the manuscript also includes animal representations (figure 4). It has often been written that zoomorphic motifs in Coptic art conveyed a moralizing idea, opposing for instance the hunter and the prey (figure 5), perhaps finding their symbolism in the ancient Egyptian imagination or in Greek and Arabic fables (Del Francia 1985; Bolman 2007; Contadini 2012). Here, the association of species doesn’t seem to deliver such a discourse or reflect the Egyptian wildlife. Sometimes combined with floral motifs, the animal figures rather seem to create a rich and symbolic decoration, almost exegetical. In this, they resemble the Canons Tables from Byzantine and even more so Armenian manuscripts (figure 6), where flora and fauna could be reminiscent of Paradise and what has been called a “nilautic” pattern (Janashian 1966, 16–23), comparable to contemporary Armenian exegetical literature which describes these images as inviting mystical and open contemplation (Mathews and Sanjian 1991, 171).
Beyond these capitulations, crosses in different shapes also punctuate the script. The cross is obviously one of the most common themes in Christian art, with many variations both in form and in the associated meanings. The motif carries especially powerful associations in Egypt, particularly the ankh hieroglyphic sign of life (figure 7), that may explain its strong presence in Egyptian art and imagination. Marking the beginning of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and John (figure 8) – surprisingly, there is no such introduction to Luke's Gospel and no leaf seems to be missing there –, full-page “Latin” crosses appear to embody an apotropaic dimension (Leroy 1974, 57). But the presence of small “Greek” crosses in the top margin at the beginning and at the end of each quire (figure 9) may introduce a dialectic of liminality, adding a symbolic dimension to the material structure of the manuscript like what can be observed on the scale of the church space (U. Maréva 2023). The brief and generic prayers commemorating unknown craftsmen, found exclusively around these crosses, could enhance their perception as the quintessential symbol of Christian faith in a visible space.
These crosses are filled by a so-called “woven” motif, similar to strands of different colours intertwined on a black background, which also fill in the headings with the title of each Gospel book (figure 10). Yet, given that this type of geometric pattern is particularly widespread, this “woven” filling has challenged scholars to find a precise origin for it: some consider it to be of Coptic origin, reminiscent of a weaving craft still dear to Coptic communities (Wissa-Wassef 1988 p. 115), while others see an insular origin (Blochet 1914–20, 13), of which the Lindisfarne Gospels could be an eloquent expression (figure 11). From a wider perspective, it seems to reflect a taste for geometry and abstraction shared by Western, Byzantine and Islamic cultures (figure 12).
From a more exegetical and philosophical perspective, these geometric forms appear to be means to conceal the unspeakable and invisible divine world, whose transcription as text and historiated miniatures could be inevitably betrayed by this very process. In other terms, it could be read as the abstraction of the image from representing something nobody can see so as to better represent the essence of the faith of the Christian soul, as it abstracts from the material world (Debiais and Gertsman 2021; Abstractions en période médiévale – inha.fr).
Just as these vegetal, animal and geometric patterns constitute visual paratexts which organize the layout, the writing of the Gospels’ words also influences the way we see the page. Although the major script of the Gospels’ text is a “standard” twelfth-century Coptic script, some initial letters are drawn in a distinctive way. These are often enlarged and thickened (figure 13), sometimes decorated with animal (figure 14) or geometric (figure 15) motifs that create an interconnection with those mentioned below.
Also, a gilded punctuation is distributed throughout the text together with other geometric motifs such as crosses, reversed heart-shapes, or poly-lobes (figure 16). These appear to visually illuminate the text, surely accentuated by the light of the candles in its original setting. Some scholars consider that this marks liturgical pauses or structures the Gospels; its placement sometimes indeed indicates new verses but also other times seems random. Furthermore, this type of gilded punctuation is seen in Islamic art as early as the 9th century and could provide more evidence of cultural permeability (figure 17).
The treatment of the script in the colophons of the Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John closely resembles certain initials (figure 18): it is enlarged and worked, almost justified horizontally and vertically, evoking the Greek stoichedon. A subtle play on downstrokes and upstrokes, particularly on the letter ⲩ, merges with decorative motifs well represented in Coptic illumination (figure 19) and shows an image in the letter, a sign in the script, and vice versa. Thanks to the shape of the letters and punctuation, the text is visually structured from the initials to the explicit. This observation invites us to consider calligraphy beyond Arabic script, echoing O. Grabar’s concept of “calliphore” writing (Grabar 1992). Moreover, this rhythm may not only be a visual experience but also resonates with the auditory cadence of the faithful’s recitation, enhancing the text’s meaning.
This short overview aspires to show that Coptic 13 is not only valuable for its historical miniatures or its history: it is equally valuable for a set of paintings that remain undervalued. Furthermore, it aims to contribute to the methodological study of illustrated manuscripts “as a whole” (Contadini 2010), more specifically the illumination as a whole without the classification often implied by a historian's eye, whereas a more detached gaze doesn't seem to induce any hierarchy (figure 20). With this in mind, a “script” could not only mean the text and the letters but also many “signs” affecting various parts of the codex – vegetal, geometrical, and animal motifs, letter shapes as well the colours of the pigments and inks used. All of these can be read as successive stages of sacredness which connect text and image in a coherent discourse that praises the Incarnation and makes the Christian book a microcosm of the Creation.
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Matthias Egger completed his undergraduate studies in art history at the École du Louvre, before pursuing a master’s degree at the École Pratique des Hautes Études – PSL (EPHE) with a dissertation on manuscript Coptic 13 from the Bibliothèque nationale de France. He is currently a PhD candidate in art history at the EPHE under the supervision of Prof. Ioanna Rapti, with funding from the Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art (INHA). His research focuses on a largely unexplored - and often unknown - corpus of illuminated Coptic biblical manuscripts produced in Lower Egypt between the medieval and modern periods. Through this study, he aims to highlight the coherence of these manuscripts over an extended historical timespan, and to re-evaluate the place of Coptic illumination, within a broader Oriental manuscript tradition.
Alongside his research, Matthias Egger undertook in 2023 a cataloguing mission of Coptic manuscripts held at the Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale (IFAO) in Cairo. In 2024 and 2025, he contributed to the project Les Voyages des Thierry at the INHA and is currently participating in the research program Calligraphies in Arabic Script at the Frontiers of the Islamicate World (CallFront).
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