orpiment

Ingredients

ochre, water, orpiment, beaten egg white, gold leaf, cotton wool

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Simon Andriessen (1581) prescribes a mixture of ochre, water, orpiment, and beaten egg white for gilding book edges. The edges are first smoothed with a tooth (burnisher), then painted with the mixture. While the mixture is wet (specifically using a thinner second coat), gold leaf is laid on and rubbed with cotton wool (p. 57).

Evidence

"After smoothing the edges with a tooth, he paints them with a mixture of ochre, powdered with water, orpiment and beaten egg white... cuts the gold leaf to the right width and length to cover the edge, and lays it on a piece of paper ready for use, but first the orpiment mixture is stirred and used again, this time a little thinner, and while it is still wet, the gold is gently put on and rubbed with cotton wool."

Remarks

The orpiment mixture acts as both a colorant and a base for the gold. Foot notes that orpiment (yellow arsenic) was also known as King's yellow (p. 59).