copper green

Ingredients

copper green, saffron

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

In many Persian painting traditions, saffron was intentionally combined with copper-containing pigments (like copper green) to act as an anti-corrosion agent (p. 229).

Evidence

"In almost all places where copper green has been used, the paper has been damaged and, in many places, the green colour has been fallen (Fig. 5-124), which may be due to the lack of the use of saffron as an anti-corrosion agent by Inju style painter. It was usual to combine saffron with copper-containing pigments by many Persian painters to prevent paper corrosion."

Remarks

The author notes that in Inju style paintings (e.g., MS Persian 933), the paper is often damaged where copper green was applied, suggesting this painter did not use the saffron-mitigation technique (p. 229).