Book of Hours

Blue pigments

Artists' Materials

Azurite was used in the majority of blue areas on every folio analysed, although the presence or absence of trace amounts of barium, zinc and arsenic suggest the use of different sources or batches of the same pigment. High amounts of barium impurities, in particular, characterise the images attributed to the Painter of Additional 15677. Ultramarine and smalt were identified on one folio each (fols. 15r and 14r respectively). Indigo was also detected in a minority of areas on several folios.

St Philip is shown with a cross-staff and St James with a staff and a book. The Master of James IV of Scotland painted the saints’ images, using his characteristic palette of lead-tin yellow, azurite, clay-rich ochre mixed with a copper pigment, a copper carbonate or sulphate mixed with lead-tin yellow in green areas, and indigo used to obtain grey hues.

The Painter of Additional 15677 supplied the architectural border, where he used the purple dye which characterises his palette as well as mosaic gold, which was only identified in two other pages within this manuscript.