oil soot

Ingredients

myrobalan, oil soot

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

A variant introduced by the vizier Yaሓyā b. ኖālid (d. 190/806) involved adding myrobalan and oil soot to a base preparation (originally used by ኖālid ibn Barmak). This is described as a 'mixed ink' (p. 151). The recipe was reportedly used in Baghdad around 1251 CE (p. 151, note 46).

Evidence

"the vizier Yaሓyā b. ኖālid (d. 190/806), who was said to add myrobalan and oil soot to his father’s preparation. This, then, would be the first attestation of such a mixed ink"

Remarks

The paper focuses on the difficulty of identifying mixed inks (carbon + plant/iron gall) using standard protocols. NIR is effective for pure inks but fails for mixtures where carbon is dominant (p. 151). UV reflectography provides complementary data through tannin fluorescence quenching, though surface carbon can mask this (p. 151). Raman spectroscopy is preferred for documenting mixtures of carbon and iron gall but faces detection limit issues and fluorescence interference from organic molecules in the NIR region (p. 151-152). ASAP-MS is cited as a promising but micro-invasive technique (p. 152). Replication of these recipes (case studies I-VI) is used to validate analytical protocols and clarify technical terminology in historical treatises (p. 153).