Lecture/Demonstration: Al-Qalalusi’s colour palette

with Joumana Medlej ‘Treasures of the Select’ by Abu Bakr Muhammad al-Qalalusi is a thirteenth century compendium of recipes and techniques which the author describes as necessary skills for writers and book artists. He ends his comprehensive treatise with a list of twelve core pigments, their substitutes, and further hues that are mixed from them. In this talk punctuated by demonstrations, we will work through this list to learn about the colour technology of the late medieval Islamic tradition and what ‘Treasures’ reveals of their manufacture and usage, recreating on paper al-Qalalusi’s palette.