One Inscription Between Stone and Manuscript

This paper will explore the connection between the Verses of supplication to the Despoina Virgin and Mother of God of the Chora as if spoken in person by the very pious empress lady Maria Komnene Palaiologina, as written in MS Dujčev Gr 177, and the epitaph of the Tomb D of Michael Tornikes and his wife in the funeral chapel of the Chora church in Constantinople. Both texts were created by Manuel Philes in the 14th century, and the first of them was probably an autograph of the same court poet. This case study will show how primarily one text appears on parchment and after that it is carved on stone to become a monumental inscription, saving some of the characteristics of the manuscript script in the interior of a Byzantine church, and simultaneously becoming a part of its decoration. In general, this contribution will comment on the model-object relation that appears later in the painter’s manuals as well.