folium

Ingredients

Chrozophora tinctoria

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The laboratory preparation involved taking external cuticles of C. tinctoria fruits and subjecting them to extraction in cold water for 1 h upon stirring. After filtration on paper, the resulting extract was used to paint on parchment (p. 21). Historical European sources often describe more complex processes involving multiple steps for extraction, modification, and application, utilizing additives like vinegar, urine, and salts (p. 27). In contrast, Persian sources describe simpler extraction by squeezing the plant's fruits and adding sal-ammoniac (noshādar) to shift the color from purple to blue (p. 27-28).

Evidence

"Our identification of this dye in the palette of ms. Copte-Arabe 1 at the Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP), underscores the significance of our findings (Figure 15)."

Remarks

The manuscript Copte-Arabe 1 is a Four Gospels book written in Bohairic Coptic with a parallel Arabic translation (Baumstark 1915). It is composed of paper, ink, and pigments (255 x 175 x 60 mm). It dates back to 1249/50 and was likely written in Cairo. The scribe is identified as Gabriel, possibly the future patriarch Gabriel III of Alexandria. It is considered a witness of the highest state of painting in Egypt and the allied territory of Syria during the late Ayyubid period (p. 25).