mercury, sulphur, silver and zinc
Persia
18th Century
Source: Colini, C. (2021). Ink Making by the Book: Learning a Craft in the Arabic World. In A. Bausi, C. Brockmann, M. Friedrich, & S. Kienitz (Eds.), Learning a Craft in the Arabic World (pp. 107–120). De Gruyter.
Recipe Details
Ingredients
mercury, sulphur, silver, zinc
Preparation Steps
The manuscript contains two recipes describing how to obtain a silver-like ink by using mercury and how to dissolve silver in order to write with it (p. 109). The analyzed flakes represent traces of the production of these metallic inks or residues of an alchemical test (p. 109).
Original Recipe Text
The manuscript contains two recipes describing how to obtain a silver-like ink by using mercury and how to dissolve silver in order to write with it (p. 109). The analyzed flakes represent traces of the production of these metallic inks or residues of an alchemical test (p. 109).
Evidence
"Greyish flakes can be found over the entire page of fol. 27v and have been identified as an amalgam of mercury, sulphur, silver and zinc by scientific analysis."
Remarks
The manuscript stands out because of its compact size and ample traces of use; pages were worn and torn, necessitating repair and rewriting (p. 109). The greyish flakes on fol. 27v are residues from the practical application of metallic ink recipes (p. 109).
Scientific Analysis
Chemical Compositionamalgam of mercury, sulphur, silver and zinc
Analytical Techniques
Raman
XRF
Visible Spectroscopy
Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS)
Certainty Level
Confirmed
Instrumentally Verified
Verified
Metadata
Material Type
ink
ColorGrey
RegionPersia
Approx. Year1750
Source Information
AuthorColini, C.
CollectionBerlin, Staatsbibliothek, Spr 1918
Language
N/A
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