Illuminating Metalwork: Metal, Object, and Image in Medieval Manuscripts

Book

Illuminating Metalwork

Metal, Object, and Image in Medieval Manuscripts

Edited by: Joseph Salvatore Ackley and Shannon L. Wearing

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2022

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This book is in the series

Volume 4 | Sense, Matter, and Medium

About this book

The presence of gold, silver, and other metals is a hallmark of decorated manuscripts, the very characteristic that makes them “illuminated.” Medieval artists often used metal pigment and leaf to depict metal objects both real and imagined, such as chalices, crosses, tableware, and even idols; the luminosity of these representations contrasted pointedly with the surrounding paints, enriching the page and dazzling the viewer. To elucidate this key artistic tradition, this volume represents the first in-depth scholarly assessment of the depiction of precious-metal objects in manuscripts and the media used to conjure them. From Paris to the Abbasid caliphate, and from Ethiopia to Bruges, the case studies gathered here forge novel approaches to the materiality and pictoriality of illumination. In exploring the semiotic, material, iconographic, and technical dimensions of these manuscripts, the authors reveal the canny ways in which painters generated metallic presence on the page. Illuminating Metalwork is a landmark contribution to the study of the medieval book and its visual and embodied reception, and is poised to be a staple of research in art history and manuscript studies, accessible to undergraduates and specialists alike.

Author / Editor information

Joseph Salvatore Ackley, Wesleyan Univ., Middletown, USA; Shannon L. Wearing, Pontifical Inst. of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, Canada.

Reviews

"Illuminating Metalwork　lives up to its title, casting light on the use of metal in a variety of medieval manuscript traditions, enhancing the essays with multiple indices and a generous number of color figures, and bookending the whole with essential background gained from the daily experience of a conservator and a curator. […]　Illuminating Metalwork: Metal, Object, and Image in Medieval Manuscripts’s depth and breadth, incorporating new approaches to understanding the ways artisans experimented with materials and techniques and the ways medieval readers took in the world through their books, demonstrate how fruitful that collaboration can be." Elizabeth J. Moodey in: caareviews.org, 21 November 2024

"With its innovative questions about the materiality of codices and manuscript illumination,
recent research has substantially broadened our understanding of medieval book culture.
This volume makes an exceptionally rich contribution to the field by focusing on the wideranging
formal, methodological, and cultural facets of the material gold." Kathrin Müller in: Speculum July 2024

M. Alison Stones, Rivista di storia della miniatura 27 (2023): 175-176

Elizabeth Rice Mattison, The Medieval Review, 8 April 2023

Topics

Publicly Available

Frontmatter
I

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Acknowledgments
V

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Contents
VII

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Contributors
XI

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Abbreviations
XV

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I Introduction
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Preciousness on Parchment: Materiality, Pictoriality, and the Decorated Book
1
Joseph Salvatore Ackley and Shannon L. Wearing
II Technique
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Surface Effect and Substance: Precious Metals in Illuminated Manuscripts
51
Nancy K. Turner
III Representation
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Metal Labor, Material Conversions: Goldsmiths in the Life of St. Denis and in Parisian Life, ca. 1300
113
Brigitte Buettner
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Copying, Imitation, and Intermediality in Illuminated Ethiopic Manuscripts from the Early Solomonic Period
139
Jacopo Gnisci
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The Colors of Metalworks: The Painted Materials of Machinery in Byzantium
167
Roland Betancourt
IV Material Translations
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Metal, Materiality, and Maṣāḥif: Ornamentation in Abbasid Qur’ans
199
Beatrice Leal
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Manuscript as Metalwork: Haptic Vision in Early Carolingian Gospel Books
223
Beth Fischer
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A “Multimedia” Manuscript: Metalwork and the Siegburg Lectionary
247
Heidi C. Gearhart
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Illuminating Luxury: The Gray-Gold Flemish Grisailles
275
Sophia Ronan Rochmes
V Treasuries in Books, Books as Treasuries
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The Golden Spaces of the Uta Codex
303
Eliza Garrison
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The Matter of Memory: Illuminated Metalwork in the Vita of St. Albinus of Angers
333
Sasha Gorjeltchan
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Packaging the Sainte-Chapelle Relic Treasury, Paris ca. 1500
361
Julia Oswald
VI Phenomenology and Piety
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Pilgrimage across Borders: Painted Pilgrim’s Badges in Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts
393
Megan H. Foster-Campbell
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Peripheral Primacy: Metallic Illumination and Material Illusion in the Aussem Hours
421
Susan Barahal and Elizabeth Pugliano
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A Curator’s Note: The Tarnished Reception of Remarkable Manuscripts
443
Lynley Anne Herbert
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Bibliography
463
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Index of Manuscripts
505
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Index of Names
511
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Index of Places
515
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Subject Index
519

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

December 20, 2021

eBook ISBN:

9783110637526

Hardcover published on:

December 31, 2021

Hardcover ISBN:

9783110620153

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

13

Main content:

510

Coloured Illustrations:

184

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110637526

eBook ISBN: 9783110637526

Hardcover ISBN: 9783110620153

Keywords for this book

Medieval art history; manuscript studies; metalwork; manuscripts conservation

Audience(s) for this book

Art historians, historians, medievalists, curators, art conservators, manuscript scholars

Safety & product resources

Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com

Illuminating Metalwork

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Frontmatter

Acknowledgments

Contents

Contributors

Abbreviations

Preciousness on Parchment: Materiality, Pictoriality, and the Decorated Book

Surface Effect and Substance: Precious Metals in Illuminated Manuscripts

Metal Labor, Material Conversions: Goldsmiths in the Life of St. Denis and in Parisian Life, ca. 1300

Copying, Imitation, and Intermediality in Illuminated Ethiopic Manuscripts from the Early Solomonic Period

The Colors of Metalworks: The Painted Materials of Machinery in Byzantium

Metal, Materiality, and Maṣāḥif: Ornamentation in Abbasid Qur’ans

Manuscript as Metalwork: Haptic Vision in Early Carolingian Gospel Books

A “Multimedia” Manuscript: Metalwork and the Siegburg Lectionary

Illuminating Luxury: The Gray-Gold Flemish Grisailles

The Golden Spaces of the Uta Codex

The Matter of Memory: Illuminated Metalwork in the Vita of St. Albinus of Angers

Packaging the Sainte-Chapelle Relic Treasury, Paris ca. 1500

Pilgrimage across Borders: Painted Pilgrim’s Badges in Flemish Illuminated Manuscripts

Peripheral Primacy: Metallic Illumination and Material Illusion in the Aussem Hours

A Curator’s Note: The Tarnished Reception of Remarkable Manuscripts

Bibliography

Index of Manuscripts

Index of Names

Index of Places

Subject Index

Bibliographic data