Gold

Small but sumptuous exhibition at the British Library on the use of gold in books and manuscripts.

It covered 17 languages, 20 countries, many religions and the period from 5th century to 1920s. I like that they left the techniques to the end and didn’t let them dominate.

There were some fabulous items. I was mainly drawn to Western works as I understand what I’m looking at more. My highlight were a letter to Richard II by Philippe de Meziers including a portrait of him receiving the document, a portrait of Robert of Anjou, King of Naples, and a beautiful Virgin from an Annunciation by Jean Bourdichon for Louis XII.

Of the non-Western items I loved a Lives of the Buddha in which he appeared in gold in his different guises so there were gold horses and elephants, treaties embossed on gold from India and some beautiful Qur’ans including one with the earliest known gold-tooled binding.

Closes 2 October 2022


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