Part 3

• Hands of different scribes?

Illuminated peacock illustrating a device known as a turn in the path. Folio309r

As with many other aspects of the production of the Book of Kells, there is debate about the number of scribes and artists that had a hand in production of the manuscript. Bernard Meehan (1994) summarizes the scholarly opinion nicely in his section scribes and artists. Minor variations in letter formation have lead experts to identify three or four principal scribes, who have unimaginatively been dubbed scribes A, B, C, and D. It is believed that the scribes worked out of the same scriptorium due to their use of similar techniques, notably the continuation of text on the line above as opposed to the line below. This technique, known as ”turn-in-the-path” or “head-under-wing”, was done both for aesthetics and to reduce wasted space on the vellum. It can be clearly seen on lines three and four of folio 309 (R), where a peacock is used as an indicator in the text.

Correction of a spelling error. Folio 253v.

Along with the primary scribes and the illuminators, an unknown number of minor, or correcting, scribes are thought to have been present. Evidence for their work is found folio 253v where a spelling error has a noted correction in the margin between the lines.

The attribution of work to specific illuminators seems to be more heavily debated than the scribal work.

There are three experts who have attempted to portion out the illuminations present in the manuscript. They are Francoise Henry (1928-1982), William O’Sullivan (1921-2000), and Jonathan J. G. Alexander (1935- ). For ease in viewing, I will show the attribution of works in list form.

Henry sees the presence of three illuminators in the works. She has named them the “Goldsmith,” the “Illustrator,” and the “Portrait Painter.”	O’Sullivan agreed with the Henry’s attribution of the “Goldsmith” however, believed that the “illustrator” and the “portrait painter” were the same person.	Like O’Sullivan, Alexander saw the work of two artists in the manuscript, but attributed work to them differently.
Goldsmith: 33r the eight-circle cross 34r Chi Rho 5r (top of page) 29r (Liber) 130r (initium 292r (In Principio) Illustrator: 202v: the temptation page 114r the arrest of Christ 7v the Virgin 290v Evangelist symbols Portrait Painter: 32v Christ 28v St Matthew 291v St John 27v symbols for St Matthews gospel (Possible)	Illuminator 1: 33r “the eight-circle cross” page 34r “the Chi Rho” page 5r (top of page) 29r (Liber) 130r (initium 292r (In Principio) Illuminator 2: 202v: the temptation page 114r the arrest of Christ 7v the Virgin 290v Evangelist symbols 32v Christ 28v St Matthew 291v St John 27v symbols for St Matthews gospel (Possible)	Illuminator 1 32v Christ 33r the eight-circle cross 34r Chi Rho 130r (possible) 202v (possible) 290v (possible) Illuminator 2: 7v-8r 28v 29r 114r 291v-292r 27v (possible) 129v (possible) 188r (possible)

It is important to note that even the experts show some uncertainty when attributing work to a specific illuminator. It is highly possible that illuminators collaborated on and drew inspiration from each other’s pages.

• Ink/pigment

The majority of the manuscript was produced using brownish iron Gaul ink. This was made using crushed oak apples and sulfide of iron suspended in a medium of gum and water. A few pages at the beginning of the book were written in black carbon ink, made using ask or lamp black, again suspended in a medium of gum and water. There is additional text dispersed throughout the work that was written in red, purple or yellow ink.

The pigments, through their number, quality, and sources speak to the wealth of the monastery that produced the manuscript.  Recent research has led to a reduction in the traditional list of materials used to develop the color pallet of the manuscript. The two lists below illustrate both the traditional selection of materials as well as the updated list.

The list below was derived from the Inks and pigments section of Book of Kells DVD-ROM released by Trinity College in 2010.

Color	Material	Source
Orange	Red Lead	Made by heating cooling and palavering and washing white lead.
Yellow	Orpiment	Mineral, likely imported from Italy, Hungary, Macedonia, Asia Minor or Central Asia.
Green	Verdigris	Made by heating copper in a bath of acetic acid
Blue	Indigo	Indigo: Came from “Oriental” sources.
Blue	Woad	Woad: made from a plant native to northern Europe.
Red	Kermes	Kermes: made from the body and eggs of a female insect found in the Mediterranean region.
Red	Vermillion	Vermillion: is a mineral most likely imported from Spain.
Purple	Folium	Made from the roots of a Mediterranean marsh plant
White	White Lead	Made by roasting lead over vinegar
Cobalt Blue	Lapis Lazuli	Only known mine producing the material in medieval times was in Afghanistan.

The list below was derived from the Trinity College Library website under Preservation & Conservation – Research

Color	Material	Source
Blue	Indigo	See above
Red-Orange	Red Lead	See above
Yellow	Orpiment	See above
Green	Indigo and Orpiment	See above
Green	Verdigris	See above
Black	Carbon and Iron Gall Ink	See above
White	Gypsum	Mineral found commonly throughout the British Isles.

               This new list has been developed thought the use of micro-Raman spectroscopy. Research was conduction only on the major decorated pages of the manuscript; as such, it is not possible to determine all of the pigment sources. However, it is no longer believed that lapis lazuli was used.

                Another material that should be noted as absent from the manuscript is gold. Although many other insular manuscripts had little or no gold in them Françoise Henry (1974, p. 160) goes so far as to argue that the wide use of the yellow produced by orpiment was an attempt on the part of that the illuminators to compensate for the lack of availability of the precious metal.