Flap of Bookbinding

Unknown

14th century · Leather, silk, and gold; cut, tooled · Islamic Art

A corollary of luxury book production was the development of the art of bookbinding. The envelope flap is a distinctive feature of Islamic bindings, attached to the edge of the back cover and designed to wrap around the pages and tuck under the front cover, in order to protect the manuscript.

Artist

Unknown

Date

14th century

Medium

Leather, silk, and gold; cut, tooled

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Gift of Dr. Maurice S. Dimand, in honor of Dr. Richard Ettinghausen, 1970