How was this made?
The making of an illuminated medieval manuscript is a dense process including parchment making, writing text, illumination, and binding. The parchment-making process begins with the skin of animals; the maker stretches out the lime-soaked skin to loosen the fur on the animal skin. Then the maker will repeat a cycle of stretching, scraping, and carving the taut animal skin; this process takes several days to complete.
Because the Morgan Bible originally did not have text (although textual inscriptions were added later in three languages), the next step for the maker was most likely to illuminate the parchment. The illumination process begins with the maker producing an outline with a lead point or quill and ink. Then the maker painted parts of the surface with a refined red clay or sap to create a sticky surface for the placement of gold leaf. The gold leaf is laid and rubbed to create a shiny, illuminated appearance. Lastly, the maker paints the parchment with a variety of colors; produced with a mixture of nature color agents and egg white. In the last stage of the manuscript production, the binding is sewn.
At the time of King Louis IX’s reign, manuscript production could have been carried out in a decentralized workshop. In the Morgan Bible, there are several distinct painting styles that suggest multiple artisans worked on this production. The different production processes involved -- parchment making, writing, illumination, and binding -- would have been completed amongst different artisans. The later-added inscriptions occurred under subsequent owners.