Armenian manuscript

Armenian material was chosen for this project because a large percentage of Armenian manuscripts are dated and located by inscriptions,... 

Table IV. Comparison of the Palette of the Cilician Manuscripts with Other Armenian Manuscripts...

Sanjian, A. K. A Catalogue of Medieval Armenian Manuscripts in the United... 

Aqua regia, W. H. Wollaston s preparation, 302,304 Armenian manuscripts analysis of medieval pigments, 243-53 description, 244,246 Arsenic in copper sources, 287/ Artifact-source correlation, statistical analyses, 275-85... 

The yellow pigment, orpiment (arsenic(III) sulfide), was used extensively in Armenian manuscripts but was absent from the vast majority of Byzantine manuscripts. 

Merian SL, Mathews TF, Oma MV (1994) The making of an Armenian manuscript. In Mathews TF, Wieck RS (eds) Treasures in heaven Armenian illuminated manuscripts. The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York and the Princeton University Press, pp I24-I42... 

At present, several dozen manuscripts from museums and centers such as the Walters Art Gallery the Freer Gallery of Art the Pierpont Morgan Library the Special Collections of the University of California at Los Angeles the Spencer Collection of the New York City Public Library the Armenian Patriarchate of St. James, Jerusalem and the Monastery of San Lazzaro, Venice, have been sampled and analyzed. Some of the data and results have been published in representative journals. 

On the other hand, the style of painting in Cilicia had a strong normative effect on subsequent Armenian painting. Cilician manuscripts were treasured and frequently copied in later periods. Our examination of manuscripts from the vicinity of Lake Van in the I5th and I6th centuries showed that the palette was also copied here. Although the Lake Van manuscripts indicate less interest in the subtleties of mixed colors... 

The pigments used in these manuscripts were produced from mineral and plant sources and applied to prepared sheets of parchment or vellum using a binder such as egg yolk mixed with other substances such as wax or even urine. There is a body of literature on pigment analysis of Armenian and Byzantine manuscripts [39-42] that indicates that the Armenian palette relied heavily on mineral pigments, whereas the Byzantine palette was found to consist primarily of organic pigments. Other important observations were ... 

One project dealing with medieval manuscripts has had as its objective the application of small-particle-analysis techniques to the study of pigments in medieval Armenian and Byzantine manuscripts. At the University of Chicago, 10 decorated manuscripts were sampled (Table 10). These manuscripts represent a broad chronological span ranging from the tenth century to the post-Byzantine era (sixteenth century or later). 

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