Azurite and ultramarine blue are used side by side and cleverly combined in overlapping layers to create multiple shades of blue throughout the manuscript.
Azurite is used in the diamond-patterned backgrounds of some miniatures, as well as for all the small blue initials and line-fillers and for blue areas of the decoration extending into the borders, including blue leaves.
Ultramarine is reserved for the blue robes and for other small details such as the blue decoration of the white tent on fol. 1r. It is also mixed, in very small amounts, with lead white in the criss-crossing lines which decorate the pink backgrounds of some miniatures.
The two pigments are combined in the miniatures’ blue frames, where a light blue base layer of azurite is overlapped by darker details painted in ultramarine and ornamental motifs added in lead white.
Finally, indigo provides a cool, blue-grey ground for the raised gold leaf in the initials’ inner backgrounds and the miniatures’ frames.
