Oyster shell palette with red pigment inside. Illuminators and scribes ground pigments or bought ingredients ready-prepared from a stationer or apothecary. Additives modified colour, texture and opacity, and prepared mixtures were kept in oyster shells. Several palettes, retaining traces of lapis lazuli and iron, lead and copper minerals, have been recovered from monastic sites. This example was found on the site of Merton Priory.
