Before the five-line staff and round notes, plainchant lived as black square neumes ruled across four red lines on calfskin vellum. This is notation at its origin: a monk's hand in iron-gall ink, gold and lapis initials marking the start of each chant, red rubrics naming the feast.

The system codifies that scriptorium. Saturated tan vellum carries rubric red, brown-black textura, and the matte gilding of illuminated capitals — a working liturgical book, not a museum reproduction.