Gum Arabic Binder Base
Iraq
13th Century
Source: Lucia Raggetti, "Ordinary Inks and Incredible Tricks in al-ʿIrāqī’s ʿUyūn al-ḥaqāʾiq," in Alchemy in the Making: From Ancient Babylonia via Graeco-Roman Egypt into the Byzantine, Syriac, and Arabic Traditions, 2021.
Recipe Details
Ingredients
chips of white gum arabic, pure water
Preparation Steps
Take the preferred quantity of white gum arabic chips, crush it finely, and soak it in pure water in a glass vessel. Add three parts of water for each part of gum. Close the vessel and hang it in the sun for a whole day (p. 164). Shake it until the components blend and agitate until it has settled. This is used as the required quantity to fix metallic inks, dyes, and paints (p. 165).
Original Recipe Text
Take the preferred quantity of white gum arabic chips, crush it finely, and soak it in pure water in a glass vessel. Add three parts of water for each part of gum. Close the vessel and hang it in the sun for a whole day (p. 164). Shake it until the components blend and agitate until it has settled. This is used as the required quantity to fix metallic inks, dyes, and paints (p. 165).
Evidence
"The Wise said: for the one who wishes to prepare [metallic] inks and paints, it is necessary to begin first with the preparation of chips of white gum arabic."
Remarks
The text emphasizes that this preparation is the necessary starting point for all other inks in the chapter (p. 164).
Scientific Analysis
Analytical Techniques
Philological analysis
Certainty Level
Inferred
Instrumentally Verified
Not Verified
Metadata
Material Type
ink
RegionIraq
Approx. Year1250
Source Information
AuthorLucia Raggetti, "Ordinary Inks and Incredible Tricks in al-ʿIrāqī’s ʿUyūn al-ḥaqāʾiq," in Alchemy in the Making: From Ancient Babylonia via Graeco-Roman Egypt into the Byzantine, Syriac, and Arabic Traditions, 2021.
CollectionUnknown
Language
N/A
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