silver-like ink

Ingredients

mercury, sulphur, silver, zinc

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The Kitāb al-Iṣāba includes two specific recipes describing how to obtain a silver-like ink. These recipes involve using mercury and instructions on how to 'dissolve silver' in order to write with it (p. 109). The presence of metallic flakes on fol. 27v corresponds to the residue of this alchemical or technical process described in the handbook (p. 109).

Evidence

"Greyish flakes can be found over the entire page of fol. 27v and have been identified as an amalgam of mercury, sulphur, silver and zinc by scientific analysis."

Remarks

The manuscript Spr 1918 is a single-text manuscript attributed to Šams al-Dīn Abū ’l-Ḫayr Muḥammad b. Muḥammad b. al-Ǧazarī (751 AH / 1350 CE–833 AH / 1429 CE). The analysis of the greyish flakes confirms the practical application of alchemical or technical ink recipes found within the same volume. The compact size of the manuscript (155 x 107 mm) and the presence of these residues suggest it was a handbook used in a workshop or laboratory environment rather than a luxury library volume (p. 109).