page_title: Morgan Bible
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Morgan Bible / Description
context_page_description: The Morgan Bible, also called the Morgan Picture Bible, Crusader Bible, Shah ‘Abbas Bible or Maciejowski Bible, is a unique medieval illuminated manuscript. It is a picture book Bible consisting of 46 surviving folios. The book consists of miniature paintings of events from the Hebrew Bible, set in the scenery and costumes of thirteenth-century France, depicted from a Christian perspective. It is not a complete Bible, focusing mostly on stories involving kings, especially King David. These are now surrounded by text in three scripts and five languages: Latin, Persian, Arabic, Judeo-Persian, and Hebrew. The level of detail used and the remarkable state of preservation make it particularly valuable to scholars.
  Forty-three folios are in the Pierpont Morgan Library, with two folios in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. A single folio is now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Two folios are thought to be missing from the original work.
context_section_description: The Morgan Bible is part of the Pierpont Morgan Library in, New York (Ms M. 638). It is a medieval picture Bible. Although the Morgan Bible originally contained 48 folios, of these, 43 still resided in the Morgan Museum, two are in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris, one is in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles and two are unfortunately, currently lost. The cover that once bound the manuscript has been lost over time. The surviving leaves measure at 32.5 × 29.1 cm (12 13/16 × 11 7/16 in.) In full, the manuscript contained over 380 scenes. It was the work if at least six different artists. The book consists of paintings of events from Hebrew scripture,  but are given a setting in the customs and costumes of thirteenth-century France, and concentrating on stories of kings, especially David.
  
  The Morgan bible is not a complete bible. It includes portions of "Genesis, Exodus, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel" with a particular emphasis on early Israelite heroes and served as  models of kingship to learn from.
  Originally, the bible contained only miniatures, organized in a consistent visual rhythm from page to page.  Within 100 years, the book acquired marginal inscriptions in Latin describing the scenes illustrated.   Cardinal Bernard Maciejowski, Bishop of Kraków, had the book given as a gift to Abbas I (Shah of Persia) in 1608.  Abbas ordered inscriptions in Persian to be added, mostly translating the Latin ones already there. Later, in the eighteenth century, inscriptions were added in Judeo-Persian. The Latin text allowed art historians to identify the subjects of the miniatures.
  The manuscript is of particular interest to scholars because of the quality and preservation of the illuminations. The level of details included, from architecture, to siege engines to haircuts provide historians with valuable clues as to what life was like at the time while the stylistic changes and subtle variations in the story-lines give some insight into one of the most powerful men in Europe.
caption: Siege, Samuel crowns Saul king, and they sacrifice together.
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