The Heavenly Ladder: illustration from a Klimax manuscript

Object Details

• Previous custodian or owner

  Monastery of St. John the Baptist

  Ali Arabi (ca. 1840-1932) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Provenance

  The Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Constantinople (Istanbul) [1]

  To 1909

  Ali Arabi, Giza, Egypt, to 1909 [2]

  From 1909 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Ali Arabi, in Giza, in 1909 [3]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [4]

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Remark 2 in the object record: "For a full discussion of the Freer 'Klimax' miniatures, see Charles R. Morey, 'East Christian Paintings in the Freer Collection,' New York, 1914, p. 17 ff; reproduced in color on pl. II; the same also on a single sheet stored with the original. For colophon, signature and dating, see especially pp. 26-29. Date and provenance are here given as 'about 1130, and their place of origin identified as the monastery of St. John the Baptist in Constantinople.'"

  [2] See Original Miscellaneous List, Biblical Mss. section, S.I. 1486-B, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [3] See note 2.

  [4] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1100s

• Name

  Monastery of St. John the Baptist, Freer, Charles Lang, Arabi, Ali

• Topic

  Art, Ancient Near Eastern Art, Byzantine Period (395 - 640)

• Culture

  Christians, Middle Easterners

• Object Type

  Paintings