minium (siliqūn)

Ingredients

minium, borax, gum arabic, solution of gall-nut

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The recipe (MM II.18) follows a specific sequence: 1. Take one ūqiyya of minium and crush it on a slab of stone (p. 117). 2. Add the weight of a dirham of an unspecified material [implied in chart] and two dirhams of borax (p. 118). 3. Add gum arabic and knead until the mixture becomes fine while it is soaked (p. 118). 4. Finally, incorporate a solution of gall-nut (māʾ al-ʿafṣ) before writing with it (p. 118).

Evidence

"the most common scheme is scanty and characterized by a set of textual elements referring to the definition of the product... as shown by the example in the following chart: ... Description of a pink ink (p. 117)."

Remarks

This recipe is extracted from the treatise Al-muḫtaraʿ fī funūn min al-ṣunaʿ by the Rasulid sultan al-Malik al-Muẓaffar Yūsuf al-Ġassānī (m. 1294). It is used as a case study for the syntactical structure of Arabic ink recipes (p. 117).