silver

Ingredients

powdered silver, glue, gum-arabic

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Silver was powdered and mixed with a binder for use as paint in features like rivers and armor (p. 31). Historical treatises recommend glue or gum-arabic as the binder (p. 31). In the Great Ilkhanid Shāhnāma (Table 1, #7), it was used extensively for cavalry figures (p. 31).

Evidence

"Silver was frequently used for arms and armor, water features, such as rivers and fountains... The silver was powdered, mixed with binder and used as a paint. The silver is now darkened due to reaction with atmospheric gases resulting in black silver chloride and/or silver sulfide"

Remarks

Silver is often infrared opaque, allowing it to be identified even when darkened (p. 21). It was sometimes used in combination with gold to create color variations in armor (p. 31).