Bound Manuscript: The Miracles of Mary (Te'amire Maryam)

Arts of Africa

Late 17th century

Gondar, Ethiopia
Eastern and Southern Africa

Created under King Yohannes (1667–1682) or King Iyyasu I (1682–1706), this manuscript in the First Gonderine style—with bold outlines and a rich palette—includes 32 painted scenes narrating the miracles performed by the Virgin Mary, a series intended to guide weekly devotion. These codified ‘Miracles of Mary’ became one of the most popular themes for religious books after the intensification of Marian worship in the mid-15th century.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Africa

Title: Bound Manuscript: The Miracles of Mary (Te'amire Maryam)
Place: Ethiopia (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1667–1706
Medium: Parchment, ink, tempera, wood, leather, cotton, and string
Dimensions: 36.8 × 31.8 × 9.5 cm (14 1/2 × 12 1/2 × 3 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Ada Turnbull Hertle and Marian and Samuel Klasstorner endowments
Reference Number: 2002.4
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/158772/manifest.json

Jacques Mercier. Art That Heals: The Image as Medicine in Ethiopia, exh. cat. (The Museum for African Art, 1997), pp. 78-79, fig. 78 (ill.).
Sam Fogg and David Hosking, Ethiopian Art (Sam Fogg Rare Books and Manuscripts, cat. no. 24, 2001), no. 19, pp. 52-57.
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, The Miracles of Mary: A Seventeenth-Century Ethiopian Manuscript (Art Institute of Chicago, 2002).
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “The Miracles of Mary (Te’amire Maryam),” Notable Acquisitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, 29, 2 (2003), pp. 12-13, 94 (ill.).
Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “Original Branna, Precous 17th Century Illuminated Manuscripts Tell of Saints and Miracles,” Branna, vol. 1, issue 2 (Winter 2002), pp. 78-79 (ill.).
Mary Gerhart and Fabian E. Udoh, eds. The Christianity Reader (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007), cover (ill.).
Constantine Petridis et al., Speaking of Objects: African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2020), cat. no. 74, pp. 184-185 (ill.).

London, Sam Fogg Rare Books and Manuscripts, Ethiopian Art, Sept. 12–Oct. 9, 2001, no. 19.
New York, N.Y., The Museum for African Art, Art That Heals: The Image as Medicine in Ethiopia, Feb. 7–Aug. 31, 1997, fig. 78 (ill.).

Ginette Giordana (died 2013), Nimes, France, by mid-1980s [personal communication from Sam Fogg dated Nov. 1, 2001 in curatorial file]; sold to Sam Fogg, Sam Fogg Rare Books and Manuscripts, London, by 1998 [research report in curatorial file; Fogg and Hosking, 2001, no. 19]; sold to the Art Institute, 2002.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Bound Manuscript: The Miracles of Mary (Te'amire Maryam)

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.