The Oriental Book.
I. The Shaping of the Page, the Scribe and the Illuminator at Work
II. The Making of Oriental Bookbindings and their Conservation
COMSt Team 1 - 3rd international workshop &
COMSt Team 5 - 4th international workshop
Arles, Centre de Conservation du Livre, 9-13 October 2012
The workshop The Oriental Book. The Shaping of the Page, the Scribe and the Illuminator at Work - The Making of Oriental Bookbindings and their Conservation, jointly organized by COMSt Team 1 and Team 5, took place in Arles, Centre de Conservation du Livre, on 9th-13th October 2012, under the scientific coordination of; Stéphane Ipert (CCL; leader of Team 5) and Marilena Maniaci (University of Cassino; leader of Team 1), in cooperation with Françoise Briquel Chatonnet (CNRS - UMR 8167) and Laura Parodi (independent scholar).
The workshop addressed the last steps of the making of the Oriental book: the shaping of the page; the work done by scribes and illuminators in order to fill it with words and images; the manufacture of Oriental bookbindings; the issues raised by their conservation. Team 1 and Team 5 were respectively responsible for the first two and the last two days, while the session on October 11th was devoted to the history of bookbinding materials and techniques, with contributions from members of both teams and invited speakers.
General objectives of the workshop were:
- to evaluate the (still very uneven) knowledge about book layout, bookbinding, and the various professionals involved in writing and decorating the handwritten book;
- to individuate, by comparison, similarities and differences in the various book cultures, in relation to geographical areas, ages, book typologies, cultural contexts;
- to survey the gaps and to identify the most promising research paths, both for each individual culture and in a comparative perspective.
The workshop was conceived in the form of a roundtable, to encourage the exchange of data and ideas and to facilitate comparison among the various manuscript cultures on the addressed issues. Members of both teams and invited speakers provided general overviews for their specific area of expertise and shared their own research experience on particular topics. As already done for the previous workshops, selected bibliographies and outlines of the contributions were circulated via e-mail to all the participants in the weeks preceding the event.
Click here to download the detailed workshop report (PDF).
Workshop Programme
Tuesday, 9 October
The Shaping of the Page, the Scribe and the Illuminator at Work (3rd Team 1 workshop)
After the first two workshops organized by COMSt Team 1, devoted to "Book Materials in Oriental Cultures" and "The Making of the Oriental Book", the third meeting (9-11 October, 2012) addressed page layout and the status of the Oriental scribe. A special session (11 October), organized jointly with Team 5, was devoted to issues of common interest concerning the history, archaeology and conservation of Oriental bookbindings.
14.15-14.30 Opening address
14.30-16.15 Session I, part 1: Page layout and spatial organization
- Size and proportion; the page and the written area; layout canons and recipes
- Layout formats and text types: sacred texts (Qu'ran, Bibles and Gospels, liturgical books)
Speakers: S. Ancel (Ethiopic, PDF), P. Andrist (Greek), M. Beit-Arié (Hebrew), P. G. Borbone (Syriac), F. Briquel-Chatonnet (Syriac), R. Cleminson (Slavonic), A. Desreumaux (Palestinian Aramaic), D. Kouymjian (Armenian), M. Maniaci (Greek), V. Sagaria Rossi (Arabic)
Coffee break
16.45-18.30 Session I, part 2: Page layout and spatial organization
- other text types
- 'special' layouts (texts+commentaries; other instances)
Speakers: M. Beit-Arié (Hebrew), P. G. Borbone, F. Briquel-Chatonnet (Syriac), D. Kouymjian (Armenian), M. Maniaci (Greek), D. Nosnitsin (Ethiopic, PDF).
18.30-19.30 Presentation of F. Déroche - V. Sagaria Rossi, I manoscritti in caratteri arabi, Roma, Viella, 2012
Presenters: M. Palma, M. Beit-Arié, F. Briquel-Chatonnet, M. Maniaci, L. Parodi
Wednesday, 10 October
The Shaping of the Page, the Scribe and the Illuminator at Work (3rd Team 1 workshop), Day 2
9.00-10.45 Session II.1: The structuring of contents
- Initial letters, titles and rubrics
- Indexes and tables of contents
- Other elements
Speakers: P. G. Borbone, F. Briquel-Chatonnet (Syriac), P. Buzi (Coptic), P. Canart (Greek), R. Cleminson (Slavonic), A. Desreumaux (Aramaic), D. Kouymjian (Armenian), D. Nosnitsin (Ethiopic, PDF), J. Gippert (Georgian)
Coffee break
11.15-13.00 Session II.2: The structuring of contents
- Decoration and Illumination
Speakers: P. G. Borbone (Syriac), C. Bosc-Tiessé (Ethiopic), M. Beit-Arié (Hebrew), P. Canart (Greek), A. Desreumaux (Aramaic), D. Kouymjian (Armenian), A. Vernay-Nouri (Arabic), E. Balicka Witakowska (Ethiopic)
Lunch
15.00-16.15 Session III.1: The scribe and the illuminator at work
- Agencies
- Places
- Methods of work
Speakers: M. Beit-Arié (Hebrew), P. G. Borbone (Syriac), C. Bosc-Tiessé (Ethiopic), F. Briquel-Chatonnet (Syriac), D. Kouymjian (Armenian), A. Vernay-Nouri (Arabic), V. Sagaria Rossi (Arabic), M. Krzyzanowska (Ethiopic, PDF), J. Gippert (Georgian)
Coffee break
16.45-18.30 Session III.2: Colophons in Oriental Manuscripts
Speakers: M. Beit-Arié (Hebrew), P. G. Borbone (Syriac), F. Briquel-Chatonnet (Syriac), P. Buzi (Coptic), R. Cleminson (Slavonic), D. Kouymjian (Armenian), P. Canart (Greek), M. Maniaci (Greek), A. Bausi (Ethiopic), V. Sagaria Rossi (Arabic)
Thursday, 11 October
The History & Archaeology of Oriental Bookbindings (COMSt Teams 1 and 5 common day)
9.00-9.15 Opening address by the President of the Region, the Mayor of Arles and the president of the board of CCL.
Session I: Methodology and cross-cooperation between Team 1 and Team 5
9.15-9.30 Common steps of bookbinding in all areas covered by COMSt and different objectives to study and describe bookbinding
Speaker: S.Ipert
9.30-9.45 Pourquoi décrire des reliures ?
Speaker: P. Canart
9.45-10.00 Terminology - Survey of existing manual and multilingual dictionaries
Speaker: P. Hepworth
Session II: The archaeology of Oriental bookbinding in a comparative perspective
10.00-10.45 Session II.1: Boards (materials and construction) - Sewing (with or without boards) - Headbands
Speakers: R. Cleminson (Slavonic), J. Gippert (Georgian), D. Nosnitsin (Ethiopic, PDF), K. Scheper, F. Vinourd
Coffee break
11.15-13.00 Session II.1: Boards - Sewing - Headbands (continuation)
Speakers: R. Cleminson, J. Gippert, D. Nosnitsin, K. Scheper, F. Vinourd
Lunch
14.30-16.15 Session II.2: Cover (materials and manufacture); decoration
Speakers: K. Houlis, D. Kouymjian, L. Parodi, V. Sagaria Rossi, K. Scheper, E.Balicka-Witakowska
Coffee break
16.45-17.30 Summary of the results and further perspectives of cooperation between Team 1 and Team 5
Speakers: S. Ipert, M. Maniaci
17.30-18.30 Database presentations
S. Ipert: E-corpus data base
E. Villey: E-ktobe data base for Syriac manuscripts
Friday, 12 October
The Conservation of Oriental Bookbindings (4th workshop of Team 5)
The 4th workshop of Team 5 focused on the treatments for the conservation of bookbindings and writing supports. On the last day (13 October) Team 5 members worked together on the chapter devoted to conservation aspects of Oriental books for the COMSt "Introduction to Oriental Manuscript Studies". This day was co-organized in cooperation with the European project STUDITE, which deals with Byzantine bindings and other Oriental artifacts.
9.00-9.15 Welcome and presentation of the day: Condition, description survey and conservation
9.15-9.45 Example of condition surveys for conservation treatment decision making
Speaker: S. Ipert
9.45-10.30 Reliures de techniques byzantines à la Bibliothèque Nationale de Vienne. Problèmes et perspectives de recherche
Speaker: E. Gamillscheg
10.30-11.00 Greek manuscripts dated to the 15th and 16th cent. kept in Athens and their bindings
Speakers: M.L. Agati, K. Houlis
Coffee break
11.30-12.00 Le fond des manuscrits persans et leurs reliures dans la collection de la Bibliothèque de l'Académie Roumaine
Speaker: G. Dumitrescu
12.00-12.30 Experiences with conservation and digitization in Charfet monastery
Speaker: Y. Dergham
Lunch
14.00-14.30 The case of Qatar Islamic museum
Speaker: A. Couvrat Desvergnes
14.30-15.00 Les feuillets de manuscrits coraniques anciens sur parchemin de la Bibliothèque nationale de France: des témoins exceptionnels pas si simples à conserver
Speaker: PJ. Riamond
15.00-15.30 Example of conservation treatments on text support
Speaker: P. Hepworth
15.30-16.00 Example of binding conservation from Aga Khan Collection
Speaker: S. Ipert
16.00-16.30 Khartasia: a data base for oriental paper
Speaker: C. Laroque
Coffee break
17.00-17.30 Photography of watermarks in near-infrared. Demonstration
Speaker: M. Mayer
Saturday 13 October
Conservation of Oriental Bookbindings - Session organized in cooperation with the STUDITE project
New projects and perspectives in the study of Byzantine bindings
8.30-9.00 Reliure byzantine des manuscrits slaves de Moldavie dans la collection de la Bibliothèque de l'Académie Roumaine
Speaker: L. Kovari
9.00-9.30 Héritage de Byzance : relieurs serbe en Hongrie
Speaker: F. Lili Eszter
9.30-10.00 Reconstructing Byzantine Bookbinding through Images and Texts
Speaker: N. Tsironis
10.00-10.30 20 years of Byzantine binding studies and perspective
Speaker: K. Houlis
Coffee break
Digitalization and databases
11.30-12.00 La base de donnée Studite sur les reliures byzantines
Speaker: F. Vinourd
12.00-12.30 Le catalogage des manuscrits à la bibliothèque de Kaslik
Speaker: J.Moukarzel
12.30-13.00 Conclusion on the perspectives in Byzantine binding studies
Speaker: P. Canart
Participants
Prof. Maria Luisa Agati, Rome (IT)
Dr. Stéphane Ancel, Hamburg (DE)
Dr. habil. Patrick Andrist, Fribourg (SZ)
Prof. Alessandro Bausi, Hamburg (DE)
Prof. Ewa Balicka-Witakowska, Uppsala (SE)
Prof. Malachi Beit-Arié, Jerusalem (IL)
Prof. Pier Giorgio Borbone, Pisa (IT)
Dr. Claire Bosc-Tiessé, Paris (FR)
Dr Françoise Briquel-Chatonnet, Paris (FR)
Dr. Paola Buzi, Rome (IT)
Dr. Paul Canart, Vatican City (VT)
Prof. Ralph Cleminson, Budapest (HU)
Mgr. Youssef Dergham, Charfet (LB)
Dr. Alain Desreumaux, Paris (FR)
Dr. Gabriela Dumitrescu, Bucharest (RO)
Dr. Ernst Gamillscheg, Vienna (AT)
Prof. Jost Gippert, Frankfurt (DE)
Mr Paul Hepworth, Istanbul (TR)
Dr. Konstantinos Houlis, Athens (GR)
Stéphane Ipert, Arles (FR)
Prof. Dickran Kouymjian, Paris (FR)
Magdalena Krzyzanowska, Hamburg (DE)
Prof. Marilena Maniaci, Cassino (IT)
Dr. Manfred Mayer, Graz (AT)
Dr. Joseph Moukarzel, Kaslik (LB)
Dr. Denis Nosnitsin, Hamburg (DE)
Marco Palma, Cassino (IT)
Dr. Laura Parodi, Genoa (IT)
Dr. Pierre-Jean Riamond, Paris (FR)
Dr. Valentina Sagaria Rossi, Rome (IT)
Karin Scheper, Leiden (NL)
Niki Tsironis, Athens (GR)
Dr. Annie Vernay-Noury, Paris (FR)
François Vinourd, Arles (FR)