gold, silver, red

Ingredients

gold leaf, silver

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The gold leaf is directly applied onto the surface (noted as 'paper' in context of Porter's analysis, p. 9) without the Western tradition of spreading it on a layer of alternative material (p. 9). The gold is then burnished to reflect light and 'illuminate' the manuscript (p. 9). The Qur'anic verses are divided into groups of five, marked by the final letter hā, and the tenth verse is signalled by a small silver medallion (p. 2). Marginal numbers and markers were also recorded as being done in silver in the 1293-94 Kairouan inventory (p. 3).

Evidence

"The text is penned in Kufic style, rendered in gold, and outlined in silver and red."

Remarks

The lavish use of gold is discussed as being linked to the concept of light in the Qur'an and regarded as an act of piety (p. 5-6). Bloom refined the Fatimid attribution by matching the manuscript to a 13th-century Kairouan library inventory (p. 3).