ultramarine blue

Ingredients

lapis lazuli

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Ultramarine was used as a writing medium on folio 69. For pictorial use, it was frequently mixed with white lead to create lighter blue tonalities, as seen on folios 17, 116, and 148 (p. 158-159).

Evidence

"Ultramarine has been used to paint various motifs... and even in one case (on folio 69) to write manuscript text (Fig. 5-62)."

Remarks

In many instances in Or 420, the ultramarine has fallen off or changed color to become grey, which the author suggests indicates low-quality pigment (p. 164). Calcium identified in the XRF spectrum is attributed to by-products or impurities of low-quality ultramarine (p. 158).