An illuminate manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations. In the strictest definition of the term, an illuminated manuscript only refers to manuscripts decorated with gold or silver. However, in both common usage and modern scholarship, the term is now used to refer to any decorated or illustrated manuscript from the Western or Islamic traditions. Comparable Far Eastern works are always described as painted, as often are Islamic and Mesoamerican works.