white, calcium-containing, raised ground layer; gold leaf; textured dark red/brown (iron- and lead-containing) mordant; gold (with trace copper)

Ingredients

gold, copper, iron, lead, calcium

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Multi-layered gilding: 1. White calcium-containing raised ground on parchment. 2. Burnished gold leaf. 3. Dark red/brown iron- and lead-containing mordant. 4. Differently sourced gold leaf containing copper trace, left unburnished (p. 97).

Evidence

"First, a white, calcium-containing, raised ground layer was applied to the bare parchment, onto which gold leaf was adhered and burnished to a high sheen. Next, a textured dark red/brown (iron- and lead-containing) mordant was painted on top of the burnished gold leaf layer... Onto these designs, a differently sourced gold (with trace copper present) was adhered"

Remarks

Analysis of the Marquette Bible (83.MA.57.3). XRF mapping uniquely identified copper in the second gold layer, allowing differentiation from the first burnished gold layer (p. 96-97). This technique creates a shifting figure-ground relationship between dark and light, and dull and reflective surfaces (p. 97).