copper green

Ingredients

copper green, saffron

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Copper green was used for specific subjects like armor, helmets, and barding (p. 288). To prevent the known corrosive effects of copper-based pigments on paper, saffron was sometimes added to the mixture to neutralize the acid (p. 288).

Evidence

"Another noteworthy point about green colour tonality is the corrosion or non-corrosion of paper by copper green, which is directly related to the use or non-use of saffron to neutralize the corrosive effect of copper."

Remarks

A comparative analysis between Shiraz manuscripts Or 420 and Ms 22-1948 shows that while both used copper green, Or 420 suffered from paper corrosion while Ms 22-1948 did not. This suggests a higher quality of preparation and mitigation technique in the latter (p. 287).