bilberry tinctoria / Vaccinia nigra

Ingredients

black berries (Vaccinia nigra), fresh spring water, Roche Alum, quick lime, alum

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

On 4 November 1646, Mayerne put into a tin tub on the fire a good amount of black berries (Vaccinia nigra). He added fresh spring water and boiled the mixture until more than half of the water was consumed, resulting in a deeply tainted decoction. After straining through a sieve, the liquid was applied to paper where it produced a violet, not too brilliant colour (p. 230, 233). To a spoonful of this decoction, he added a bit of Roche Alum, which transformed the color into a deep blue (labeled 'B.B.'). Further addition of quick lime ('C.C.') caused the colour to darken like 'Indico' (Indigo) (p. 233). Addition of alum to berry juice pressed after cooking au bain marie yielded a beautiful purple, which could be made more or less dark depending on the quantity of alum dissolved (p. 230, 235).

Evidence

"Mayerne decided to devote his time and attention to colour making and to experiment with a tinctoria recipe for a plant-based colour for writing and limning. He ‘put into a tin tub on the fire a good amount of black berries on the outside [the colour] of Columbines...’"

Remarks

The ink trials are documented on folios 23v, 24r, 25v, and 26v of MS 2052. Mayerne used these folios as a material archive to test for lightfastness and compare samples over time (p. 231). The decoction was used as a writing ink for the text on the folios themselves (p. 232).