ceruse/white lead

Ingredients

lead sheets, animal dung, vinegar, grapes, linen or wood cloth, strong wire

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Take a large earthenware vessel that has a wide mouth and put it in a dark place [casa] surrounded by animal dung, and put some vinegar that is old and good and on top of the vinegar put some good and mature grapes until they fill the bottom half of the vessel. Then take a round fat piece of linen or wood cloth the same size as the mouth of the vessel and put thirty-four holes in it, and put in each of the holes a thick, strong wire and at the ends of the wires attach a sheet of lead the length of two palms and the width of a third of a palm and the thickness of a finger and put the sheets into the vessel three fingers away from the grapes, and after cover the vessel with a top that covers it entirely. Shut the door of the house so that no wind enters and leave it for ten days. Take off the cover and take out the sheets little by little because you will find the white lead on them; repeat until the sheets have been consumed (p. 20).

Evidence

"The way to make albayalde as it is made in Spain is that you take a large earthenware vessel that has a wide mouth and put it in a dark place [casa] surrounded by animal dung (p. 20)"

Remarks

The connection between pharmacy and painting is underscored by shared methods for shared outcomes in recipes for white lead found in pharmaceutical and painting treatises (p. 316). The medicinal virtues of ore pigments were frequently noted in pharmaceutical books (p. 316).