Pigment and Cloth

Ground azurite, malachite, cinnabar and orpiment, bound in animal glue — the colours are stones before they are paint.

A painted figure is set out on a ruled proportional grid before any colour is laid, so the drawing is a measurement rather than a sketch.

Backstrap and frame looms produce narrow cloth that is joined in strips, which is why the patterning runs the way it does.

Text was printed from carved blocks onto long loose leaves, one block to a page, and the blocks were kept.