Armenian Prayer Scroll (Hmayil) [Constantinople, 1711]

scroll, c.6560x106mm, thick paper, made up of ten strips (measuring 630mm each), in small bolorgir script, with ONE VERY LARGE MINIATURE OF CHRIST AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES, 13 LARGE MINIATURES, and FOUR MEDALLIONS; beginning and end missing, some tears to the edges, sections repaired  by tape and reverse of first miniature supported by a piece of brown gauze

This richly illuminated Prayer Scroll is about six and a half meters long. It is dated 1711 and was copied in Constantinople for its owner Gabriel. Each of the prayers ends with the formulae «ի պահպանութեան ծառայիս Աստուծոյ - ամէն» (for the protection of the servant of God - Amen). In each instance the name of the owner Gabriel or the names of one of his sons, Melk’on Manuk, Moushegh are inserted in the space left between the words God and Amen. The scriptural texts is in classical Armenian, the rest of the texts are in contemporary dialect. The later inscriptions 1781, 1798 and 1812 refer to the births of Melk’on and Moushegh, and the final date 1812 is the date for the death of Herek’naz to whom the scroll is dedicated. The scribe of the scroll is probably Zak’aria; the last few lines of the colophon are however missing. The earliest dated Prayer Scroll now in the Matenadaran (MS 3248) is dated 1476. With the rise of the Armenian merchant class, the genre of the Hmayil became very popular at the beginning of the 15th century, and they were still produced at the end of the 18th century.

The miniatures are: (1) The Holy Cross; (2) God the Father blessing; (3) Adam and Eve; (4) Annunciation; (5) Adoration of the Three Magi; (6 Presentation to the Temple; (7) Portrait of St Nerses Catholicos of All Armenians (IV Klayetsi, called Shnorhali, 1166-73), author of the prayer ‘In Faith I Confess’; (8) Archangel Gabriel; (9) Christ and the twelve Apostles;(10) Crucifixion; (11) Portrait of the Virgin Mary and Child; (12) Portrait of St Stephen; (13) Portrait of St John the Baptist; (14) Portrait of St Gregory; (15) Abraham and the Sacrifice of Isaac; (16) Chryptogram with a multi-coloured flower pattern inset with the secret prayers; (17) St George on horseback; (18) St Sargis on horseback; (19) Jesus confronting the demon named Thepgha [Դպղի] holding the  intestine of a child stolen from the womb of the mother Ali.