lime or chalk

Ingredients

calcium carbonate, lime, chalk

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Applied as a dry or wet surface treatment to the flesh side of parchment. Identified as carbonate/calcite via FTIR (p. 8).

Evidence

"The peak at 869 cm−1 (in absorbance), present only on the flesh side, can be attributed to carbonates, possibly calcite. Other characteristic peaks corresponding to calcite could not be identified, due to both the overlap of bands with the proteins and the peak distortions resulting from the external reflectance mode. The presence of carbonates exclusively on one side of parchment hints towards a surface treatment of lime or chalk for the preparation of the flesh side only, possibly to make its surface more homogenous and similar to the hair side."

Remarks

This pigment was not used for decorative purposes but as a functional surface preparation layer to unify the appearance and texture of the parchment support (p. 8).