iron-gall ink (IGI), carbon ink (CI), mixed ink (MI), vitriolic iron-gall ink, non-vitriolic iron-gall ink, plant ink

Ingredients

vitriol, carbon, plant ink

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The study identifies several distinct ink formulations within the Cairo Genizah corpus. Vitriolic iron-gall ink is characterized by the presence of metallic components from vitriol, specifically iron (Fe) along with copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) (p. 99). A second category, non-vitriolic iron-gall ink, was identified reflectographically but presumably lacked the iron contributions associated with vitriol (p. 97). Mixed inks are defined as mixtures of carbon and iron-gall inks (p. 99). Plant ink is proposed as a category that reflectographically resembles iron-gall ink but does not contain iron contributions beyond what is present in the support (p. 97).

Evidence

"Only 238 of a total of 571 observations display the use of a vitriolic iron-gall ink. The rest of the inks are split between non-vitriolic iron-gall ink (see section 4.3.3.1), carbon ink, mixed ink (see section 4.3.3.2) and probable plant ink (see section 4.3.3.3)."

Remarks

The distribution of ink types varies significantly by scribe and community. For example, the Palestinian scribe Ephraim b. Shemarya showed an individual preference for carbon ink in main texts (p. 92), while others like Yefet b. David, Solomon b. Judah, and Sahlān b. Abraham preferred iron-gall ink (p. 91). Fingerprinting analysis via XRF shows that vitriolic inks can be clustered by their Cu/Fe and Mn/Fe ratios; Yefet b. David used three distinct kinds of ink: one with low Cu and Mn, one with less than 5% Cu and 2-4% Mn, and one with 15% Cu and no Mn (p. 102). The study notes that mixed inks might be underestimated as they are identified by comparing reflectography with XRF to see if carbon inks contain metallic elements (p. 92, 97).