http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2014/06/the-burden-of-writing-scribes-in-medieval-manuscripts.html
scribes held a knife primarily to sharpen their quills Juliet Graham Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2017 13:48:48 -0400 From: Scott Devine <scottwdev...@gmail.com<mailto:scottwdev...@gmail.com>> To: consdistlist@cool.conservation-us.org<mailto:consdistlist@cool.conservation-us.org> Subject: [Consdistlist] Medieval Manuscript Tools (Sidney Berger) Message-ID: <655b9610-d0ff-4d01-80f4-fc57b8512...@gmail.com<mailto:655b9610-d0ff-4d01-80f4-fc57b8512...@gmail.com>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii > This is not really a conservation query. I would like to have some advice > from an expert on something I have seen for many years in medieval manuscript > illuminations. > > Many images show a scribe holding two tools, a quill, or something else to > write with, and a second tool in his left hand. I have asked many people > about that second tool, and nobody seems to know what it is. Can anyone tell > me what that second tool is? > > It looks like a pen knife, but there is no reason for a scribe to be holding > such a knife while he is writing. If there is an error in the manuscript, a > knife could be used to scrape off the ink, but at the point of writing, that > knife would not be useful. I have heard suggested that the tool is a place > marker, but again that is not logical. Nor does it seem to have any function > whatsoever. Is it merely a convention to show that tool, even if it has no > function? What is it? > > Many thanks, > Sid Berger Juliet Graham, Art Gallery Registrar, University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4 403.329.2001 juliet.gra...@uleth.ca www.ulag.ca ****** Unsubscribe by sending a message to consdistlist-le...@cool.conservation-us.org Searchable archives: http://cool.conservation-us.org/byform/mailing-lists/cdl/
