Bible of Marco Polo
Few medieval figures are as popular in the modern imagination as Marco Polo (1254β1324), who traveled overland with his father from Venice into the East, where he came to the court of the great Kublai Khan (1215β94). His famous travelogue is full of captivating stories and wondrous creatures and represents the first detailed European description of China, India, Japan and other parts of Asia. The so-called Bible of Marco Polo, which the Jesuit monk Philippe Couplet (1623β1693) discovered in a private Chinese collection in the 17th century, is said to have once belonged to the legendary traveler and trader, although historians have not yet been able to confirm this theory. Nevertheless, it is an extremely rare specimen of a European manuscript that came to China as early as the Middle Ages β probably on a Franciscan mission to the imperial court in Beijing.
Bible of Marco Polo
This is a truly fascinating Bible that has travelled as far and as wide as its namesake, Marco Polo (1254β1324), whose travelogue telling of his time at the court of Kublai Khan (1215β94) is the most famous in history. Polo does not seem to be a particularly devout man, no more so than any other member of the medieval laity, whose biblical knowledge is greatly exaggerated in the modern mind. Like most people, he simply saw people as Christian and non-Christian, and did not seem to be particularly interested in or judgmental of pagan beliefs. According to Philippe Couplet (1623β1693), a Jesuit missionary from Flanders who spend many years in China, he found this Bible in the home of a wealthy resident of Cham Xo, in Nanking Province who claimed the tattered codex (which was restored in the early 21st century) had belonged to his family for 400 years, since the Yuan Dynasty (1271β1368). Upon his return to Europe, Couplet presented the Bible to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III deβ Medici (1642β1723), telling him this pocket Bible made its way to China at the end of the 13th century with Marco Polo. This would mean that it was the only surviving manuscript brought to China between the 13th and 14th centuries by a Latin. Although it makes a good story, there is no tangible evidence that the Bible had actually been owned by Marco Polo. Scholarship indicates the work may have actually been given to the Mongol Emperor of China by a Franciscan missionary sometime in the 13th or 14th century. Nonetheless, the story and the connection to Marco Polo have endured, adding to the charm of this incredible codex, a true unicum!
Codicology
- Alternative Titles
- La Bibbia di Marco Polo
Bibel des Marco Polo - Size / Format
- 686 pages / 16.6 Γ 10.8 cm
- Origin
- France
- Date
- Ca. 1230β1240
- Style
- Genre
- Language
- Script
- Gothic Textura Formata
- Illustrations
- Numerous decorated initials
- Content
- Old and New Testaments
- Previous Owners
- Philippe Couplet (1623β1693)
Cosmio III. deβ Medici (1642β1723)
Bible of Marco Polo
Fol. 28r
This leaf of the well-traveled Bible is only about 50% preserved and extremely fragmented - the parchment looks downright pitted. This is not only due to the intensive use of the medieval manuscript, but mainly because of mould infestation. At some point, the manuscript must have been exposed to excessive humidity over a longer period of time, to which parchment, as an animal product, reacts quite sensitively.
Another remarkable characteristic is the minute and incredibly carefully executed script, which was applied to the small pages in two columns. The individual columns measure no more than 3.5 cm in width and 11.5 cm in height. Nevertheless, wonderful, small pen-flourish initials were set into this narrow justification, their ornaments filling even the smallest of spaces.
#1 Bibbia di Marco Polo
Languages: Italian, Chinese
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