black metallic inks

Ingredients

metallic components, vitriols, charcoal, soot of burned botanicals

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The inks appear to be manufactured using a complex mixture of many different metallic components including copper, lead, and zinc traces (p. 186). A possible manufacturing method involves the preparation of impure vitriols mixed with the charcoal or soot of burned botanicals. Alternatively, the black pigment may have been obtained as a by-product from workshops involved in metalworking or the manipulation of vitreous substances, explaining the metallic presence (p. 186). The author suggests that carbonates might have been used in place of sulphates, as evidenced by the lack of sulfur, or that sulfur-containing compounds may have off-gassed over time (p. 186).

Evidence

"Another finding was that unlike the iron gall ink from the Middle Ages and the pre-Modern era, which shows a substantial amount of Fe and sulphur (S), these ink samples had a marked lack of S. There was also a predominance of Cu in the samples as opposed to Fe, while the relation between the two elements is normally vice versa."

Remarks

Analysis shows a distinct lack of sulfur compared to later medieval iron gall inks. The predominance of copper over iron suggests a manufacturing tradition linked to glassmaking factories or metallurgical by-products rather than the intentional creation of ferrous sulfate mixtures (p. 186). The study suggests these should perhaps be reclassified as 'mixed inks' rather than iron gall inks (p. 186).