The Georgian book art and the miniature painting of the 15th-16th centuries are connected with the Atabag (rulers of South Georgia) Court scriptorium and the names of scholar-monks working there. This paper shows the cultural activities of the Atabag family and their role in the establishment of a Court Scriptoria, their interest and support (with luxurious donations) to the main centers of Christianity (Jerusalem, Mount Athos, Mount Sinai and Antioch). Thus, the illustrations of Georgian illuminated manuscripts from the Atabag scriptoria reflect the various artistic tendencies of that motley epoch. I attempt to present the iconographic, artistic and stylistic peculiarities of the miniatures in these manuscripts and analyze the general principles of their illustration within one artistic school.
Nino Kavtaria is the head of the Art History Department at the National Centre of Manuscripts, Tbilisi, Georgia. She completed her PhD in 2004 with a thesis dedicated to the illuminated Georgian manuscripts illustrated at the scriptoria of the Black Mountain (Antioch, historical Syria). Her work focuses on the study of Georgian illuminated manuscripts, their iconographic-stylistic and artistic features, and the interrelation and influence of Byzantine and East Christian Cultures on the Georgian illustrated manuscripts. She also received fellowships for several research projects on the art of the Georgian book at Warburg Institute, CEU, DAAD, Koc University.