Talismans on palm leaves

[Medicine and Talismans - Sinhalese]. [Medical and talismanic manuscript].

€ 4,000.00

A manuscript in Sinhalese script from Sri Lanka, with 74 full pages of designs and illustrations, most talismanic. Similar manuscripts to this one are medical in content, with medical charms appearing alongside hands-on advice. A comparable manuscript, also illustrated, is held at the Royal Danish Library, in their extensive Sinhalese manuscript collection.

The manuscript itself, along with each of its illustrations, is painstakingly inscribed by hand into dried and treated palm leaves. After inscription, ink is rubbed into the grooves left by the scribe's stylus. One leaf of this manuscript remains unpigmented, illustrating the steps of the process.

Palm leaf manuscripts are hardier than paper or vellum in humid, tropic environments, and resist rotting and insect damage. For this reason, they were developed over two millennia ago in Southeast Asia, and have continued as a traditional and practical manuscript tradition ever since.