illuminated manuscript

Sirarpie Der Nersessian (1896-1989) was an Armenian art historian. Born in Istanbul, she fled in 1915 to escape the persecutions that had erupted against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. She lived for a time in Switzerland, then moved to Paris in 1919, where she obtained a graduate degree at the Sorbonne. By the mid-20th century, she was living in Washington D.C., working as a scholar at Dumbarton Oaks. In 1963, she published a book on the Freer Gallery of Art’s Armenian Gospel manuscript folios.

This is a brilliant example of an early 17th-century Spanish petition relating to nobility, similar in style to examples from Granada. The rank of Baron is signified by the five helmet bars in the crest on the coat of arms full-page miniature. To the left is another full-page miniature, likely of the Coronation of the Virgin with King Philip III in attendance. The use of bright red, blue, green, and gold demonstrates the wealth and power that stood behind the petition.