Digital Lunch Seminar Series: Milk, Brain, Blood

Digital Lunch Seminar Series

Milk, Brain, Blood: Proteinaceous Substances of Animal Origin Used in Tibetan Manuscript Production. A Case Study of Khams Brygyd Volumes from the Oslo University Library Collection

Agnieszka Helman-Ważny and Małgorzata Grzelec

The process of religious manuscripts production in Tibet concerns various raw materials of local origin used in their production, primarily fibers from plants, such as Daphne and/or Stellera spp., alongside unique sizing and binding agents like animal glue, milk and wheat starch, or various tupes of ink based on carbon, gold, or even blood, reflecting regional availability and cultural practices for creating distinctive, high-quality deluxe manuscripts. Animal parts have been enumerated as one such important source of materials. This talk will present an overview of various animal-derived substances and recipes used in manuscript production; among others the use of animal glue as a binder, addition of bovine brain tissue to writing layers, instances of paper sizing with milk casein or alleged addition of animal blood to writing ink. The recent investigation of material composition of Khams Brygyd volumes from the Oslo University Library collection, will serve as a case study, and the various analytical methods essential to identify this type of challenging materials will be discussed.