Plaquette Binding – Yungjin Shin Conservation Portfolio

Research Project at the Morgan Library & Museum

Research on the Earliest Plaquette Binding

Project: Research on the Earliest Plaquette Binding

Object’s Title: Ad Nicolaum Lipomanum patricium Venetum Iacobi Tirobusci Lipomane… [Codex Lippomano]

Creator: Jacopo Tiraboschi

Country of Origin: Padua, Italy

Date: ca.1480

Owner: Morgan Library & Museum, Printed Books and Bindings

Consulted with:

Maria Fredericks, Head of Conservation and Book Conservator

Frank Trujillo, Book Conservator

John McQuillen, Associate Curator of Printed Books & Bindings

Kristine Rose-Beers, Head of Conservation & Heritage for Cambridge University Libraries

Dr. Alison Ohta, Director of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland

Laura Garcia Vedrenne, Assistant Conservator of Costume and Textile Arts at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

About the Research

At the end of 2023, I had the privilege of observing new acquisitions from the Sotheby’s Bibliotheca Brookeriana auction by the Printed Books and Bindings department at the Morgan, including the Codex Lippomano. This fascinating manuscript, the earliest known plaquette binding from the late 15th century, combines Classical antiquity and Islamic styles in its binding decorations. Despite its historical importance, no thorough technical study had been performed on the binding, motivating me to analyze its structure and materials. As a composite object, both culturally and physically, I consulted with several experts and used scientific equipment in the lab, such as the VSC8000/HS for dye identification and 3-D visualization of the plaquette decoration. This research led to a published blog post on the Morgan’s website, along with digital diagrams and a book model to visualize the binding’s complex layers.