At the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (SBB)
In May, Theresa travelled to Berlin to assist Dr Sebastian Bosch from the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) in Hamburg and master’s student Valentina Yanez with the analysis of several manuscripts. These analyses were already partially conducted before the pandemic, with Ilse as the partner and consultant regarding the manuscript selection. Specifically, one of the specimens was the important Mughal-era Jahangir Album or Gulshan Album, some folios of which are kept in the Berlin State Library.
Bringing the tools to the prepared space, checking the folios, then analysing them with the Chrono
After setting up the various devices, the folios of this album were first examined, and certain passages were singled out to be analysed. The “Chrono” was then used to record the selected surface areas, as these pages were not allowed to be touched during the analyses. It turned out, for example, that arsenic was used underneath the gilding – in harmless quantities, of course!
Gold-sprinkled paper, funny birds in the outer frames, and more stencils
Theresa was then permitted to view further restored folios from this album in consultation with Christoph Rauch, the head of the Oriental Department. Exciting details were revealed here, such as gold-speckled calligraphy or small naturalistic birds in the outer frames, perched perkily on the vegetative ornamentation. In the reading room, Theresa was also able to see a manuscript from the same studio, by ‘Abd al-Rahim, as the one in the Chester Beatty Library.
We would like to the thank the team of the Berlin State Library for their cooperation with our analyses. After the successful visit, a short stop was made at home before continuing straight away to the next destination…