Morgan Dioscurides

The Morgan Dioscurides (Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M. 652) is a 10th-century Byzantine illuminated copy of the De Materia Medica by the Greek physician Dioscurides, which covers the medical use of herbs and other natural resources. It is a fourth- to tenth (there is some disagreement over dates)-century incarnation of Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica, written in AD 65 and widely regarded as the most comprehensive collection of naturally occurring resources (plants, animals etc.) and their medical uses. Today, it is regarded as an early, fairly accurate, form of pharmacological text, in herbal form.

History and Context in Byzantium

The Morgan Dioscurides was written in Greek and illustrated in Constantinople around the tenth century AD. Byzantium, often called the “New Rome”, was heavily inspired by Greco-Roman art and architecture. In the Early Byzantine Period, that in which the Morgan Dioscurides (as well as the Illiad, for reference) was penned, the visual culture there was shaped by iconography. This adherence to classical Greco-Roman law and religion made for a peaceable, organized political structure. The elite utilized Roman law to establish and maintain power dynamics. The most powerful were those in charge of urban centers of heightened economic activity. As an essential port of trade between east and west, the nation also had the capability to borrow from multiple cultures and utilized this access to create gilded, masterful, artistic pieces. This period was followed by a shift from prevalence of sculpture in the round to low relief sculpture and two-dimensional art. During this time, Byzantium’s standing as a wealthy trading nation factored into their art production as imported mosaics were crafted into mosaic artworks.

Appearance and Contents

Bound in lozenge-patterned dark brown leather over heavy boards around the 14th century, the manuscript includes about 769 illustrations on 385 leaves (or pages). It contains an alphabetical, five book version of De Materia Medica, with sections on “Roots and Herbs”, “Animals, Parts of Animals and Products from Living Creatures”, “Trees”, “Wines and Minerals, etc.” “On the Power of Strong Drugs to Help or Harm”, “On Poisons and their Effect” “On the Cure of Efficacious Poisons”, “A Mithridatic Antidote”, “Anonymous Poem on the Powers of Herbs”, Eutecnius’ “Paraphrase of the Theriaca or Nicander, and an incomplete paraphrase of the Haliutica of Oppianos. Its owners have added their own content to its pages - most notably by an Arabic-speaking individual who, in the 15th century, who added inscriptions in Arabic and genitalia to some animals. Its pages are gouache on vellum, it is written in one column with about 30 lines per page, and it is 15 1/2 x 11 13/16 inches in height and width (395 x 300 mm).

Ownership

The Morgan Dioscurides has changed hands many times over the course of its long existence. After its stint in the 15th century with an Arabic-speaking owner who made marginal comments, the work was in Constantinople in the 16th century, owned by Manuel Eugenicos, then with Domenico Sestini in Italy c.1820. It was in the collection of Marchese C. Rinucchi of Forence collection from 1820-1849 after which it most probably circulated around England with the booksellers John Thomas Payne and Henry Floss from 1849-1857. On April 30, 1857, it was sold at the Payne Sale to Charles Phillips for Sir Thomas Phillips. In 1920, it was purchase by J.P. Morgan Jr. from the Phillips’ estate.

References

• Calkins, Robert G. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1983.

Further reading

• Evans, Helen C. & Wixom, William D., The glory of Byzantium: art and culture of the Middle Byzantine era, A.D. 843-1261, no. 161, 1997, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ISBN 9780810965072; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries
• Weitzmann, Kurt, ed., Age of spirituality: late antique and early Christian art, third to seventh century, no. 181, 1979, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, ISBN 9780870991790; full text available online from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries