The first marbling methods were developed in the East when Chinese and Japanese artists began to decorate paper. The form of marbling that was first discovered by Western travelers to the East, is called “Ebru” paper marbling and was developed in Turkey between the 15th and 16th century during the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire. Historically, the Turkish stone pattern is the oldest of Western marbled patterns. Scholars maintain that this pattern had reached Europe as early as the 1400’s, although there are no known dated Ebru works. One of the earliest documented sheets of marbled paper dates from 1447 and comes from Turkey (see Historical Book Arts). A well-known Ebru, dated 1539, is in the collection of the Topkapi Palace Museum, and is presented in Arifi’s “Guy-i Cevgan.”
Not many people are aware of the role that Turkish Ebru marbling played in the everyday lives of Europeans, and later in the Western world. After this form of art was discovered by Europeans in Istanbul (previously Constantinople, the capital of Byzantium) during the 1500’s, the immense contribution that Ebru marbling made to the overall history of the book has often not been fully appreciated, except by individuals who are active in the antiquarian book trade, or involved with research libraries.
Paper historians maintain that European marbling seems to have begun as early as the 16th Century, although Turkish papers were being imported before that time. Because the history of European marbling consists of individual countries and individual masters, it has been said that “attempting to reconstruct European marbling history is very much like working an old jigsaw puzzle, some of whose pieces are lost, some disfigured, some misplaced, and others still not turned right side up.”* The 1604 German Album Amicorum is one of the earliest known examples of European marbling.
In England, marbling was spurred by travel. In A Relation of a Journey Begun in 1610 by George Sandys, the author describes the marbling process that he observes in Turkey. This book first appeared in 1615. In Sylva Sylvarum published in 1627, Sir Francis Bacon also mentions Turkish paper marbling. Sir Thomas Herbert, a diplomat observed the marbling process in Persia and wrote about Ebru in Some years travels into divers parts of Africa, and Asia the Great: Describing more particularly the empires of Persia and Industan, which first appeared in 1634.
In addition, the unique methods of marbling attracted the curiosity of early scientists during the Renaissance. While the earliest published account was written in German by Daniel Schwenter, it was not published in his Delicæ Physico-Mathematicæ until 1671. A brief description of the art, which rapidly spread throughout Europe, was published in Rome in 1646 by Athanasius Kircher, inArs Magna Lucis et Umbræ. A thorough overview of the art with illustrations of marblers at work, and images of the tools of the trade, was published in the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert. The art became a popular handicraft in the 19th century after the Englishman Charles Woolnough published The Art of Marbling in 1853. The author describes how he adapted a method of marbling onto book-cloth, which he exhibited at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851. Further contributions to the art of marbling were made by Josef Halfer, a bookbinder of German origin, who lived in Budakeszi, Hungary. After the publication of his book Die Fortschritte der Marmorierkunst, translations were made into many languages, and his work reached the U.S. It was Halfer who discovered a method for preserving carrageenan, and his methods superseded earlier ones in Europe and the U.S.
The first book to provide a history of marbled paper in Europe is Decorated Book Papers by Rosamond B. Loring, published in 1942. Loring was a paper scholar, a skilled maker of marbled and paste papers, and a collector. Having trained as a bookbinder, Loring experimented with making decorated papers for her own use and received early instruction in the art of marbling from Charles V. Saflund (a distinguished teacher of marbling and paste paper techniques). Loring’s personal collection now resides at the Rosamond B. Loring Collection of Decorated Papers in the Department of Printing and Graphic Arts at Houghton Library, Harvard University.
It should be noted that other forms of paper decoration include paste papers and printed papers. In the former, binders paste is mixed with color and then paper, or the edges of books are brushed or daubed with paste. Designs in the paste are created by drawing with a tool or a finger through the paste, or using a variety of tools pressed into the paste. (Note: printed papers consist of printed images on paper—the one form that produces papers that are identical. All other processes mentioned above are done by hand and are, therefore, unique)
*Source: Lib.washington.edu
Wolfe, Richard J. Marbled Paper: Its History, Techniques, and Patterns: With Special Reference to the Relationship of Marbling to Bookbinding in Europe and the Western World. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1990.
Diderot, Denis, and Jean le Rond D’Alembert, eds. “Marbreur de papier”. L’Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.” University of Chicago: Collaborative Translation Project
The most prominent difference between European and Turkish marbling is the materials that they use. Turkish marblers use natural mineral pigment paints and ox-gall that are chemical free and organic. Secondly, Turkish marblers do not treat the paper with alum prior to marbling. Ox-gall works as an adherent and the paint sticks to the paper without any special preparation. Due to the natural and organic qualities of paints and ox-gall, it becomes very difficult to give exact proportions and formulas for preparing the paints. It takes time to understand the complex interaction between the ingredients. Turkish marblers need to fine tune and adjust their paints each and every time before they use. Therefore, if you are planning to start learning Ebru, you need to be ready to do a lot of experimentation in order to get things right. Ebru seems too easy when you watch at Youtube but one should be aware that it takes time to get there. The preparations and knowledge that it takes to bring paints to that condition so that they float on the surface without any issues is the most difficult part of Ebru. Once you master the alchemy of Ebru , the rest is just a manifestation of your creativity and artistic skills.
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