dark red anemone

Ingredients

dark red anemone, shaqa'iq al-nu'man, humid dung, sirqīn, sirfīn, gum arabic, burned papyrus, gall nuts, albumen, chard

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

1. Take the desired amount of dark red anemone (shaqa'iq al-nu'man) (p. 128). 2. Place the anemones in a thin Syrian or Maghribi bottle (p. 128). 3. Bury the bottle in humid or liquid dung, referred to as sirqīn or sirfīn, which is also described metaphorically as the 'bowels of the horse' or 'unstable fire' (p. 128). 4. The dung must be substituted with fresh wet manure every three days (p. 128). 5. Monitor the substance until it has completely melted and become liquid like water (p. 129). 6. For increased brightness, add the proper amount of powdered gum arabic to the solution to make it brilliant and shiny (p. 129). 7. In a specific variation (attributed to Ibn Bādīs and al-Malik al-Muẓaffar), burn papyrus and mix the ashes with the solution (p. 130). 8. Add one dirham of gum arabic solution and half a dirham of ground gall nuts (p. 130). 9. Mash the mixture with albumen and form small balls to dry in the shadow (p. 130). 10. When needed, dissolve these balls in an extract of chard to fill the inkwell (p. 130).

Evidence

"An ink that doesn’t fade and whose traces don’t disappear; if you want, write, and it will not fade on the papyrus, or paper, or other material; it is also a dye for the hair."

Remarks

This recipe is found in several major Arabic treatises including those by al-Rāzī (10th c.), Ibn Bādīs (11th c.), al-Malik al-Muẓaffar (13th c.), al-Marrākušī (13th c.), and al-Qalalūsī (14th c.). The ink is noted for its high stability, as it is reported that papyrus written with it will not be cleared even if submerged in water for days (p. 129). It also serves a dual purpose as a hair dye that lasts a long time (p. 127). Al-Marrākušī's version explicitly mentions his location in Baghdad in the year 649 AH while recording these additions (p. 129).