22 the mastery of the shapes of Coptic letters in their proper positions was enough to attain the status of calligrapher.6 This fragment may have been created by either clergy or lay members as both groups were involved with the copying, production and patronage of manuscripts during this particular period.7 Historians refer to the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries as a time of Coptic religious resurgence that included a sharp increase in manuscript production.8 Within this Agpeya, the individual chapters of the Daily Office are clearly marked by beautiful illuminations of decorative archways similar to designs found in the Islamic tradition. Possessing a decided visual weightiness, these archways were rendered with a great deal of attention toward establishing a balanced overall geometry not just within the design, but throughout the entire manuscript. Each archway is unique in its appearance, though all share heavy interlacing, geometric repetition, dotted borders and a vivid array of coloring within the design. Among these pages, rubrication, or red highlighting, marks the overall transitions within the text as well as the subject headings and content. Like the warrior saint images which accompany these leaves, the color palette of the illuminations are robust, yet limited to the hues of yellow, green, purple, red, black and blue. The manufacture of colored inks for manuscript production was typically in the charge of monks working in monasteries who often added gum arabic to the pigments as a stabilizing agent for watercolor paints. Paint was typically applied with slender wooden reeds, with black ink usually reserved for text and red for the writing of book titles and chapter headings such as it is in this artifact.9 While the Agpeya does possess various physical imperfections which can be credited to its age and intended function, the overall condition of the vellum paper of the manuscript is good. This can be credited to a Coptic tradition of boiling vellum pages with powdered fenugreek and salt in order to stave off the destruction by insects and other pests which may eventually compromise the integrity of the paper.10 This feature is important as it is demonstrative of the perceived importance of the artifact and its intended use and function within a cultural context. The care the calligrapher took in creating both the illuminations and text, as well as how we know the Agpeya was intended to be used by its owner, speaks of its inherent preciousness and power. Bronwyn Dorhofer
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