Ultramarine (Lapis lazuli)
Iraq
9th Century
Source: Marotta, G., Fedeli, A., Sathiyamani, S., & Colini, C. (2025). Archaeometric philology for the study of deteriorated and overlapping layers of ink: the colour code of an early Qur’anic fragment. Eur. Phys. J. Plus, 140, 446.
Recipe Details
Ingredients
ultramarine, lapis lazuli
Preparation Steps
Preparation methods for blue inks from lapis lazuli are reported in Arabic medieval treatises (Section 5, p. 9).
Original Recipe Text
Preparation methods for blue inks from lapis lazuli are reported in Arabic medieval treatises (Section 5, p. 9).
Evidence
"The Raman spectra of the blue pigment present a sharp peak at 546 cm−1, characteristic of ultramarine blue pigment extracted from Lapis Lazuli (Fig. 5)."
Remarks
Used to mark third-level variants or non-canonical readings (p. 13). Unlike other pigments in the manuscript, the blue dots do not contain mercury impurities, suggesting they were added with a different tool or during a separate production phase (p. 9).
Scientific Analysis
Chemical CompositionNa8[Al6Si6O24]Sn
Analytical Techniques
Raman
Vis–NIR spectrophotometry
Certainty Level
Confirmed
Instrumentally Verified
Verified
Metadata
Material Type
pigment
ColorBlue
RegionIraq
Approx. Year850
Source Information
AuthorMarotta, G., Fedeli, A., Sathiyamani, S., & Colini, C.
Collectionf. 3r, f. 7v
Language
N/A
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