muspeccoll:#ManuscriptMonday When I first looked at this fragment, I didn’t see anything out of the
muspeccoll:#ManuscriptMonday When I first looked at this fragment, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary - but as usual, all it takes is some close looking to find details that tell a story. In this case, we can reconstruct a story about this leaf’s early production and its life as a fragment.On the recto, the blue penwork around the initials is very faded, but the blue paint used inside the body of the initial is not. That tells us that this work was done at two different times, using two different types of inks. And, in fact, we know from other evidence and written accounts that the decorative work in a manuscript was usually done in stages, after the writing of the main text.This detail also tells us that something happened at some point in this fragment’s life to damage one side of the fragment, but not the other.. As you can see, the verso penwork is still bright blue, and the ink is a stronger black than on the recto. I think what we’re seeing here is light damage. Could this fragment have been framed at some point and exposed to light? Or maybe the book it came from was left open for a long period of time?Conservators, what do you think?- KelliFragment of a lectionary in Latin, England, c. 1300. Columbia, University of Missouri, Ellis Library, Special Collections, Fragmenta Manuscripta 217 -- source link
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