5,000 years of illumination
Egypt (c.1550 BC–): Books of the Dead on papyrus with vignettes. Late Antiquity: the Vergilius Vaticanus and purple codices. Insular (700–900): Lindisfarne Gospels, Book of Kells. Byzantine & Armenian: gold-ground Gospel books, Toros Roslin. Islamic (8th c.–): Qur’anic sura headings in gold; Seljuk and Ilkhanid geometric frontispieces; Timurid Herat refines lapis and gold. Ottoman tezhip: rumi and hatayi scrolls, Kara Memi’s naturalism, the baroque Türk rokokosu, and the 20th-century revival by Ali Rıza Bey and Süheyl Ünver. Gothic Europe: Books of Hours, Limbourg Brothers, Jean Fouquet.
