![]() 105 CE and introduced into the Arab world by Chinese merchants by the 7th century. By the Middle Ages, codices or books had superseded scrolls as the common format. The highest quality of parchment, vellum, was made of calfskin. The vast majority that have survived were created on parchment. Most illuminated manuscripts are from the Middle Ages or the Renaissance and the majority are religious texts, although secular texts increased starting in the 13th century. This is a 12th century initial from a Bible, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The illumination on them made them valuable and thus aided in their preservation. The majority of these texts were created for literate Christians. ![]() The earliest date back to 400 and were created in Italy or the Byzantine Empire by monastic scribes whose work preserved most of the existing literature of Greece and Rome. Illuminated manuscripts with their elaborate initials, borders and miniature illustrations were painstakingly painted by hand, page by page. These manuscripts are mostly Christian documents, but also include Islamic ones that use the same techniques. Along with art and architecture, they have transmitted the culture and knowledge of their times to us today.Īmong them are illuminated manuscripts, which originally meant only manuscripts decorated with gold or silver but has come to refer to any decorated manuscript encompassing the European tradition and techniques of painting. The word manuscript means “hand write.” These manuscripts encompass a wide variety of topics from religion, court life and history to literature, medicine, food and crafts. A subset of it was illustrated manuscripts, which were produced in ancient Egypt, China, Japan, the Mideast and America and later in Europe. For thousands of years before the advent of the printing press in the 15th century, painting filled the role of illustration in cultures worldwide.
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