Lecture 5 - Kristine Rose-Beers ACR

Kristine Rose-Beers ACR, Head of Conservation, Chester Beatty, Dublin

Overview

This paper was first delivered at the seminar Care and Conservation of Manuscript 17. It will discuss the development of a conservation treatment plan for an early eighth-century Qur’an manuscript at the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.

The pressing need to conserve manuscript Is. 1404—a 201 folio, vertical format, early Qur’an manuscript on parchment—has served as the catalyst for significant investigation of both early Islamic manuscript materials, and the most suitable contemporary conservation techniques for this manuscript.

Physical examination of the Chester Beatty manuscript has been complemented by parchment analysis undertaken in collaboration with the University of York BioArCh (Biology, Archaeology and Chemistry), and analytical examination of the manuscript’s illuminated decorative bands with MOLAB.The current treatment plan for Chester Beatty manuscript Is. 1404 has been designed using current, best practices in Islamic manuscript preservation and research into the materiality of the early Islamic book. The treatment of this manuscript continues to be informed by studies in multiple disciplines, and will  finally  make this rare object accessible for display, digitisation, and research to scholars.