ArtSci Entry: Herbal Miniatures from L'Abbe d’Ourscamp

Introduction

L'Abbe d’Ourscamp was a Cistern Monastery located in North East France. It was founded by Simon de Vermandois, bishop of Noyon, in 1129. The first church was consecrated in 1134 with a newer church built between 1154 and 1201. Additional construction occurred between 1233 and 1257. A subsequent Abbey at Strata Florida was founded around 1164 and the two would have had similar monastic lives, including herbal medicine (Ourscamp Abbey, 2023).

Inspiration

The herbs betonica (shown left) and cucumber and cannabis (right) are from Pseudo-Dioscorides' "Ex Herbis Femininis" which was produced between 1175-1200 and was loaned to the British Library (Miniatures from a 12th-century Medical and Herbal Collection, 2017).

Period Materials and Methods

Illuminated manuscript designs are often drawn on animal skin (vellum) using lead-point ruling lines and thin ink washes. While vellum was highly polished and white prior to the 10^th century, it gradually became rougher in texture until the Renaissance period when it regained its finer quality (Medieval Spell, 2012). A glue-and-chalk ground called bole is applied to vellum before laying gold or silver leaf (Sinopia, 2023). Paints are mixed using various pigments and binders. European illuminated manuscripts were painted in egg-white tempera on vellum and card, although manuscripts were often written on parchment. Pens were almost exclusively employed in outlining both foliage and figures, while brushes were generally limited to filling up and shadowing the forms defined by the pen (Panayotova, Jackson, & Ricciardi, 2016).

The herbal manuscript is listed as “Numerous miniatures … in colours and gold and silver. 3 large initials in colours with zoomorphic and foliate decoration on gold grounds (ff. 1v, 7v, 8). Large and small initials in blue, green, or red, a few with penwork decoration. Official foliation: ff. 95 (+ 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 4 at the end)…parchment…ink” (Cultural Objects Names Authority Full Record Display #700009310, 2023).

ArtSci Materials and Methods

Due to the actual item being parchment, ink, paint, and gilding, the following process was selected.

Paper

A medium weight watercolor paper was selected for image 1 (betony), while velum was used for images 2 and 3 (cucumber and cannabis). These were burnished with a glass to create a shiny surface. Since the paper was already white, no chalk was needed to lighten it. The selection of using both paper mediums was to see if there was a difference in how the final product was presented.

Ink

Iron Oak Gall ink was used with a fine tip quill to outline the cucumber and cannabis images, while black paint was used to outline the betony painting to show the differences in texture and thickness.

‘To make gode blak yngk as ony ys in Ynglond. Take an vnce [ounce] of gallys, an vnce of gume, and an vnce of grene coperose, brose [crush] all thyse togeder almost to pouder and put hit in a pott … than put therto a pynte of rayne water or of stondyng water that rynneth nott, than stere [stir] hyt euery daye and within.iii. dayis ye schall have gode yng’

‘Coperose’ refers to iron sulphate. The translation being: take an ounce of oak galls, an ounce of gum Arabic, and ounce of iron sulphate and crush them all together until almost a powder. Put this in a pot with a pint of rain water and stir every day for three days (White, 2021). Ink was made using this method.

The iron oak gall ink was made as per the instructions: 1oz iron sulphate ground to a powder, 1oz gum Arabic ground to a powder, 1oz oak galls roughly crushed, mixed and added to a pint of distilled water and allowed to sit for three days, stirred once a day. This was then filtered and used as the ink.

Paints

Multiple paints were selected for this project: commercial premade-watercolors (Gansai Tambi), powdered mineral powders (Gabriel Guild), mica powder (Curate Colours-gold, silver, copper), plant-based pigments powders (Plantes Couleurs), earth clay pigment powders (Rublev Colours). The Cucumber and Cannabis paintings only used pigment powders.

All powdered pigments were mixed with a watercolor medium made from 6 TBS water, 3 TBS Gum Arabic, and 2 TBS honey as per directions from Natural Earth Paint (Natural Earth Paint, 2021). The seashells paint pans were made by using a 1:1 medium:pigment ratio. Gold, silver, and copper mica pigments were used instead of ground gold/silver/copper leaf following the same formula.

Brushes

Were purchased commercially.

Process

The betony drawing was done on medium weight smooth watercolor (or velum for the cucumber and cannabis) paper with a pencil. The pencil lines were redrawn with a very fine black line watercolor paint (betony and cucumber) or iron oak gall ink (cannabis) and allowed to dry completely before painted over with handmade watercolor paints.

 

Discussion

The paper was easier to burnish and paint on. I found the vellum did not hold the watercolor as easily as the paper did, but that it soaked the color in faster, requiring multiple coats to get the same opacity of color. The iron oak gall ink went on lightly and darkened over time. It was more difficult to line in ink after paint had been applied, and the lines, even when using a ruler, were more difficult to control. Likewise, the spread of the nib made some of the lines less straight. Overall, I think the paper or archival parchment is my preferred medium, with ink outlining to finish.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Miniatures from a 12th-century Medical and Herbal Collection. (2017). Retrieved from Pubic Domain Review: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/miniatures-from-a-12th-century-medical-and-herbal-collection/?fbclid=IwAR1xyQzJ_gupeOySEzGSMON92tT5W8eHiDur1VB8---q2F68ILRRMkZUxjg

Secondary Sources

Cultural Objects Names Authority Full Record Display #700009310. (2023). Retrieved from Getty Research: https://www.getty.edu/cona/CONAFullSubject.aspx?subid=700009310

Ourscamp Abbey. (2023). Retrieved from Council of Europe Portal: https://www.coe.int/en/web/cultural-routes/-/ourscamp-abbey

Panayotova, S., Jackson, D. E., & Ricciardi, P. (Eds.). (2016). Colour: the art & science of illuminated manuscripts. Harvey Miller Publishers.

Medieval Spell. (2012). Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts. Retrieved from Medieval Spell: https://www.medieval-spell.com/Illuminated-Manuscripts.html

Melville, C. (2012). JĀMEʿ AL-TAWĀRIḴ. In Encyclopædia Iranica. Columbia University.

Natural Earth Paint. (2021, February 11). Recipe: Professional-Grade Natural Watercolors. Retrieved from Natural Earth Paint: https://naturalearthpaint.com/blogrecipe-professionalgrade-natural-watercolors/

White, T. (2021, January 27). A Medieval Ink Recipe. Retrieved from St Edmund Hall University of Oxford: https://www.seh.ox.ac.uk/blog/a-medieval-ink-recipe

Tertiary Sources

Medieval Spell. (2012). Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts. Retrieved from Medieval Spell: https://www.medieval-spell.com/Illuminated-Manuscripts.html

Sinopia. (2023). Surface Preparation for the Sinopia Clay Bole. Retrieved from Sinopia: https://www.sinopiaclaybole.com/work-with-bole