iron-gall ink (midād)

Ingredients

white gall nuts (al-ʿafṣ al-abyaḍ), pure water, red vitriol (zāj aḥmar), gum arabic (ṣamgh ʿarabī), red and yellow vitriol

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The recipe exists in two variants on f. 48r of MS London BL Add 7840 (p. 298). Variant 1 (BL1) involves taking white gall nuts (al-ʿafṣ al-abyaḍ), grinding them, and adding three raṭl of pure water. The mixture is boiled gently until half the volume is reduced (p. 300). Readiness is tested by ensuring the decoction does not seep through paper. After filtering and cooling, red vitriol is added until the mixture turns black. Gum arabic (two dirhams per raṭl of water) is mixed in. Variant 2 (BL2) uses relative measures: eight parts water for the amount of gall nuts (p. 300). It is boiled until one fourth remains, then filtered. Red and yellow vitriol are pulverized and added. The mixture is dried in the sun for several days (p. 300).

Evidence

"On the preparation of iron-gall ink (midād): take a number three ounces of white gall nuts (al-ʿafṣ al-abyaḍ), grind it, pour in three raṭl of pure water, leave it in a vessel, then boil it gently until half of the water is gone—the sign of this is that it does not seep through the paper—filter it, and leave it until it cools down, add red vitriol until it becomes black. Mix in two dirhams of gum arabic—ground or liquefied—for each raṭl of water, and then it will become good."

Remarks

The manuscript was copied by Yaḥyā al-Mawṣilī ibn Ḥusayn in 1174 H (1761 AD) (p. 298). The text notes that Variant 2 pays particular attention to the conservation of ink for aesthetic results (p. 298). The variants represent the fluid textual tradition of ink-making recipes where metrological amounts (BL1) contrast with relative parts (BL2) (p. 305).