red cinnabar

Ingredients

red cinnabar, sour pomegranate seeds, water, white gum arabic

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Take red cinnabar and grind it finely. Rinse it with the water of sour pomegranate seeds, then pour water over it and rinse well. Purify the mixture by letting it sit for one hour until it settles. Grind it again on an impermeable or polished permeable stone slab, adding water gradually until it reaches the consistency of harira soup. Finally, add dissolved gum arabic and pound vigorously until absorbed. For use as a paint, apply with a hair brush (p. 166).

Evidence

"Take some red cinnabar, grind it finely, then rinse it with the water of sour pomegranate seeds, pour water over it and rinse well, and purify it after leaving it for one hour, until [the suspension] has settled."

Remarks

Al-Irāqī (13th century) provides this recipe in Chapter 23, dealing with metallic inks and paints. The purification process involves rinsing with acidic pomegranate seed water. The recipe also specifies the preparation of 'chips of white gum arabic' by crushing, soaking in pure water in a glass vessel, and hanging in the sun for a full day (p. 164).