In the late 1990s, Hussein conscripted a calligrapher to copy the Quran in his blood. In what he reportedly described at the time as a gesture of “gratitude” to God, Hussein donated seven gallons (27 liters) of blood over the course of two years to be used as ink in the macabre volume, according to an article in The Guardian on Sunday (Dec. 19).
The Quran is now kept behind locked doors in a mosque in Baghdad, and officials are uncertain how to handle an object that is simultaneously sacred and profane.
“Blood is a common medium used in paint,” Bruno Pouliot, an objects conservator at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware and a professor of art conservation at the University of Delaware, told LiveScience. “Ox blood is one of the oldest forms, and a very stable form, actually, of paint.”…”You have to process it a little bit to get it to have the exact properties that you need, but it’s a relatively easy process that anybody who could search online or would have access to the historical recipe for oxblood paint could do,” Pouliot said, minutes before pulling up an oxblood paint recipe online involving linseed oil and lime.
“What’s different about things that involve human remains is that they are always controversial,” University of Delaware professor of art conservation Vicki Cassman told LiveScience. In the case of the Quran, Cassman said, “there is that symbolism – that is, who it represents and if this person’s spirit lives on in the object.”
Should the Iraqis choose to preserve the Quran, they likely won’t have to take many extra precautions in terms of preservation, Pouliot said. Regular book preservation should do.
“Climate control is the first step,” said Jim Hinz, the director of book conservation at the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) in Philadelphia. Humidity and temperature are key, he said, with cooler temperatures being better. Books should also be kept out of direct light, he said.
Hinz said he had not worked with any artwork made with blood, but he did have a tip for anyone who bleeds on something important: Spit.
“The enzymes [in saliva] break down and essentially bleach out the blood,” he told LiveScience.
The big questions that come up with the preservation of biological art aren’t technical, Pouliot said. Instead, they’re ethical. Conserving art sometimes involves applying stabilizing resins.
For blood, “there could be many reasons why it would not be desirable to change the composition of that material, in case it is useful for future studies,” Pouliot said. “Often the cultural aspects of that object become important.”
The above text is excerpted from an article in LiveScience. Read the complete article in LiveScience.