Editing Illuminated manuscript (section)

=== Greek Europe and the Islamic world ===
[[File:Ruler in Turkic dress (long braids, fur hat, boots, fitting coat), in the Maqamat of al-Hariri, 1237 CE, probably Baghdad.jpg|thumb|Frontispiece of the ''[[Maqamat al-Hariri]]'' (1237 CE) depicting a ruler in Turkic dress (long braids, ''[[Sharbush]]'' fur hat, boots, fitting coat), possibly [[Baghdad]].<ref name="FB232">{{cite journal |last1=Flood |first1=Finbarr Barry |title=A Turk in the Dukhang? Comparative Perspectives on Elite Dress in Medieval Ladakh and the Caucasus |journal=Interaction in the Himalayas and Central Asia |year=2017 |publisher=Austrian Academy of Science Press |page=232 |url=https://www.academia.edu/35061254}}</ref>{{sfn|Hillenbrand|2010|p=126 and note 40}}<ref name="AC">{{harvnb|Contadini|2012|pp=126–127}}: "Official" Turkish figures wear a standard combination of a sharbūsh, a three-quarters length robe, and boots. Arab figures, in contrast, have different headgear (usually a turban), a robe that is either full-length or, if three-quarters length, has baggy trousers below, and they usually wear flat shoes or (...) go barefoot (...) P.127: Reference has already been made to the combination of boots and ''[[sharbūsh]]'' as markers of official status (...) the combination is standard, even being reflected in thirteenth-century Coptic paintings, and serves to distinguish, in Grabar's formulation, the world of the Turkish ruler and that of the Arab. (...) The type worn by the official figures in the 1237 Maqāmāt, depicted, for example, on fol. 59r,67 consists of a gold cap surmounted by a little round top and with fur trimming creating a triangular area at the front which either shows the gold cap or is a separate plaque. A particular imposing example in this manuscript is the massive ''sharbūsh'' with much more fur than usual that is worn by the princely official on the right frontispiece on fol. 1v."</ref>]]

The [[Byzantine]] world produced manuscripts in its own style, versions of which spread to other Orthodox and Eastern Christian areas. This distinct Byzantine style of illumination had a characteristic color palette along with different ways of preparing pigments and ink and a unique finish to the vellum writing surface which was not as conducive to long term preservation as the more texture Western style.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=A. P. Laurie |first=M. A. |url=https://archive.org/details/pigmentsmediumso0000apla/page/64/mode/2up |title=The Pigments and Mediums of the Old Masters |date=1914-01-01 |publisher=Macmillan, London |others=Internet Archive}}</ref> With their [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain|traditions of literacy]] uninterrupted by the Middle Ages, the [[Islamic Golden Age|Muslim world]], especially on the Iberian Peninsula, was instrumental in delivering ancient classic works to the growing intellectual circles and [[universities]] of Western Europe throughout the 12th century. Books were produced there in large numbers and on [[History of paper|paper]] for the first time in Europe, and with them full treatises on the sciences, especially astrology and medicine where illumination was required to have profuse and accurate representations with the text.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

The origins of the pictorial tradition of Arabic illustrated manuscripts are uncertain. The first known decorated manuscripts are some [[Qur'an]]s from the 9th century.{{sfn|Snelders|2010|p=3, note 14}} They were not illustrated, but were "illuminated" with decorations of the frontispieces or headings.{{sfn|Snelders|2010|p=3, note 14}} The tradition of illustrated manuscripts started with the [[Graeco-Arabic translation movement]] and the creation of scientific and technical treatises often based on Greek scientific knowledge, such as the Arabic versions of ''[[The Book of Fixed Stars]]'' (965 CE), ''[[De materia medica]]'' or ''[[Book of the Ten Treatises of the Eye]]''.{{sfn|Snelders|2010|p=3}} The translators were most often Arab [[Syriac Christians]], such as [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]] or [[Yahya ibn Adi]], and their work is known to have been sponsored by local rulers, such as the [[Artuqids]].{{sfn|Snelders|2010|p=Chapter4, 4th page}}

An explosion of artistic production in Arabic manuscripts occurred in the 12th and especially the 13th century.{{sfn|Snelders|2010|p=3}} Thus various Syriac manuscripts of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, such as [[Syriac Gospels, Vatican Library, Syr. 559]] or [[Syriac Gospels, British Library, Add. 7170]], were derived from the Byzantine tradition, yet stylistically have a lot in common with Islamic illustrated manuscripts such as the ''[[Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīrī]]'', pointing to a common pictorial tradition that existed since circa 1180 in [[Syria]] and [[Iraq]] which was highly influenced by [[Byzantine art]].<ref name="MET">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Caqa12aj55wC&pg=PA384 |title=The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261 |date=1997 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-87099-777-8 |pages=384–385 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="MET3">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Caqa12aj55wC&pg=PA384 |title=The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843-1261 |date=1997 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-87099-777-8 |pages=384–385 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Snelders|2010|pp=1-2}} Some of the illustrations of these manuscript have been characterized as "illustration byzantine traitée à la manière arabe" ("Byzantine illustration treated in the Arab style").<ref name="MET3" />{{sfn|Snelders|2010}}

The [[Persian miniature]] tradition mostly began in whole books, rather than single pages for [[muraqqa]]s or albums, as later became more common. The [[Great Mongol Shahnameh]], probably from the 1330s, is a very early manuscript of one of the most common works for grand illustrated books in Persian courts.