Marks of Provenance: Seals

Marks of Provenance

Part 1: The Seals

page from MS Nn.3.15 showing greek text and fragment of red seal

The Aristophanes Seals 

Aristophanes, MS Nn.3.3

 This Greek manuscript (CUL MS Nn.3.3) contains two comedies by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes, along with the scholia (notes) on it by two Byzantine scholars Thomas Magistros and Demetrius Triclinius. It was written in the 13th-14th century.

A fragment of red wax seal and a short note written vertically in the margin are the keys to its story. 

first page of greek text, red seal at the bottom of the page

CUL MS Nn.3.3

CUL MS Nn.3.3

The margin note reads: "απο του δεονισιου (sic) νουμερο 11", meaning "from the Dionysiou, number 11". From the context, we know this means the manuscript is from the Dionysiou Monastery on Mount Athos.

View of the Monastery from above.

Monastery of Dionysiou, Mount Athos

Image of Monastery of Dionysiou by Garth Fowden. Cambridge University Library.  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

Ms Nn 3.3.9 first page of the greek text of Aristophanes

απο του δεονισιου νουμερο 11

close up of ms.Nn.3.3 showing red seal. Text on the page in Ancient Greek.

Aristophanes MS Nn.3.15

The same red seal can be seen on two other manuscripts in the Cambridge University Library, CUL MS Nn. 3.15 (also an Aristophanes manuscript) and CUL MS Add. 2603 (letters of Lucian and Synesius).

On Nn. 3.15 a note in the same handwriting as in Nn 3.3 reads: απο του δεονισιου νουμερο 8, "from the Dionysiou, number 8". Below it, is the remainder of a red seal.

page 7 of manuscript Nn.3.15 with traces of red wax at the bottom

απο του δεονισιου νουμερο 8

close up of nn.3.15 showing fragment of red seal

Leiden University Libraries
BPG 74 G

This seal has been found on other manuscripts. The complete version of it on a manuscript in Leiden (BPG 74 G) helps us identify it as the mark of Antonios Triphillis, (ΑΝΤΟΝΙΟΥ | ΤΡΙΦΙΛΙ | 1713).  

Triphillis was an educated Greek man living in London in the first part of the 18th century. He seems to have visited Mount Athos and bought books on behalf of British collectors from the monasteries there.

Aristophanes in Cambridge

Comparing the seals, it seems clear that MS Nn.3.3 and MS Nn.3.15 were owned at one point by Antonios Triphillis, and that the notes in the margins are in his handwriting.  

 It is likely that he added his seals, together with a number and the name of a monastery, to indicate provenance and his work before reselling the books.

first page of the Greek text, red seal at the bottom of the page

MS BPG 74 G, Leiden.

MS BPG 74 G, Leiden.

page 6 of Leiden manuscript, red seal visible at the bottom of the page
ms nn.3.3. page with view of the red seal

Explore parts 2 and 3 of the story:

Notes in Books button
Elusive Journeys button

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Images of BAV Pal. gr.31 and BAV Pal. lat.1950: © Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Images courtesy of BAV and Heidelberg University Library. 

All images of Leiden BPG 74 G: © Leiden University Libraries CC BY 4.0.

All images of Corpus Christi College (MS 081): © The Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge CC BY-NC 3.0.

Portrait of Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, NPG 1574, © National Portrait Gallery, London CC BY-NC-ND 3.0.

Image of Fugger Family Crest: Das Ehrenbuch der Fugger, BSB Cgm 9460, © Bayerische Staatsbibliothek/ Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Niketas Lychnos seal: © Dumbarton Oaks, Byzantine Collection, Washington, DC.

Portrait of Don Gaspar de Guzmán (1587–1645), Count-Duke of Olivares, ca. 1636 or later. Attributed to Velázquez (Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, CC0 1.0.

All other images: © Cambridge University Library/Licensed under CC-BY-NC 3.0.