Gold pigment for writing
Poland
18th Century
Source: Paluch, 'Between Active Matter and Letters', Early Science and Medicine 29 (2024) 271–303
Recipe Details
Ingredients
fresh egg, egg yolk, egg white, mercury, lime
Preparation Steps
Take one fresh egg and make a hole at both opposite points. Blow [the insides] out, take the yolk and white with a quarter of mercury and mix well together, close the egg with lime and egg-white and place [it] under the hen that is waiting for eggs to hatch. Let it sit there for three weeks, then break it open and write with it. (p. 296-297)
Original Recipe Text
Take one fresh egg and make a hole at both opposite points. Blow [the insides] out, take the yolk and white with a quarter of mercury and mix well together, close the egg with lime and egg-white and place [it] under the hen that is waiting for eggs to hatch. Let it sit there for three weeks, then break it open and write with it. (p. 296-297)
Evidence
"Gold pigment for writing: take one fresh egg and make a hole at both opposite points. Blow [the insides] out, take the yolk and white with a quarter of mercury and mix well together, close the egg with lime and egg-white and place [it] under the hen that is waiting for eggs to hatch."
Remarks
This recipe is well-represented in German 'Kunstbüchlein' and 'Probierbüchlein' and was recopied into Jewish compilations of secrets into the eighteenth century (p. 297, 299). It utilizes the entire egg contents mixed with mercury as a pigment base.
Scientific Analysis
Chemical CompositionHg
Analytical Techniques
historical textual analysis
Certainty Level
Inferred
Instrumentally Verified
Not Verified
Metadata
Material Type
pigment
BinderTempera (Egg Yolk)
ColorGold
RegionPoland
Approx. Year1750
Source Information
AuthorPaluch, 'Between Active Matter and Letters', Early Science and Medicine 29
CollectionAshkenazi handwritten compilations
Language
N/A
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