silver ink

Ingredients

silver, copper, chlorine, chromium, gold, mercury, sodium chloride

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The silver ink seems to be finely ground and the ink is mostly opaque (p. 126). In the preparation of silver, sodium chloride could have been added as a grinding aid (p. 137). Scribes probably prepared fresh ink which lasted for writing two pages of text (p. 126). Comparison with reference inks suggests an intended addition of copper, likely around 4.55 wt% as copper(I)oxide (p. 131, 133).

Evidence

"the spectrum of the silver ink reveals clearly that silver and copper are the main ingredients of the ink, whereas chromium, gold and mercury are present as trace components. Additionally, an intensive chlorine signal indicates the presence of chlorine, presumably in form of the corrosion product silver chloride (AgCl)."

Remarks

The ink shows a coarse surface with small cracks and was likely burnished to enhance its gleam on the purple background as described in historical texts (p. 127). Two scribes were identified writing in Maiuscula biblica: the first scribe (folios 1-12) had a more advanced 6th-century style, while the second (folios 13-24) was more archaic (p. 121). Christian Gastgeber suggests both could be by one scribe hurrying under economic pressure (p. 121).