The script
The script is by the calligrapher, Pietro Antonio Sallando . It consists in a humanistic miniscule known as littera antiqua tonda .
With its gold lettering, the codex is a rare work of chrysography (from the Greek crysographia , “writing executed in gold letters”). Chrysography, as a technique, consists in the use of gold powder mixed with the white of the egg or gum. Once the script has been applied, it is dried and then burnished. Splendid examples of codices with gold lettering are the Codex Aureus Epternacensis in Nürnberg, the Codex Aureus Escorialensis in Madrid , and the Codex Aureus in Stockholm . Sallando, a native of Reggio Emilia, was a renowned calligraphy master and also a grammarian at the University of Bologna . He was the proprietor of a flourishing workshop specialised in the production of manuscripts, many of which have been conserved and are still intact.