![]() Consequently, it has long been assumed that monks, rather than nuns, were the primary producers of books throughout the Middle Ages ( 5). Even among books in women’s monastery libraries, fewer than 15% bear female names or titles, and before the 12th century, fewer than 1% of books can be attributed to women ( 11). Before the 15th century, however, scribes seldom signed their works, raising questions as to the identity of early scribes and illuminators ( 5, 10). Within the context of medieval art, the application of highly pure ultramarine in illuminated works was restricted to luxury books of high value and importance, and only scribes and painters of exceptional skill would have been entrusted with its use ( 5). Mined from a single region in Afghanistan ( 7), lapis lazuli was a quintessential luxury trade good in the Eurasian pre–Modern period, and its waxing and waning availability in artistic centers throughout Eurasia reflects both its enormous expense and the circuitous supply lines along which it was traded over thousands of miles ( 8, 9). Unlike other blues, such as azurite and vivianite, ultramarine is both brilliant and highly stable, even at high temperatures, and when made from high-quality lapis lazuli and well purified using oil flotation, a deep blue hue can be achieved ( 4, 6). ![]() Among these blues, ultramarine, made by grinding and purifying lazurite crystals from the ornamental stone lapis lazuli ( 1 - 4), was, by far, the most expensive, reserved along with gold and silver for the most luxurious manuscripts ( 2, 5). Throughout the European medieval period (5th to 15th centuries AD), only a small number of natural and synthetic blue pigments were known, including ultramarine, azurite, Egyptian blue, smalt, and vivianite (table S1). ![]() In nature, blue pigments are relatively rare, occurring in mineral seams that must be mined.
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