golden and silver-coloured inks

Ingredients

noble metals

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The recipes in P.Leid. § 56 and § 68 describe a technique for chrysography (decorative writing with gold or silver inks). The process requires that after writing with the metallic ink, it must be allowed to dry (p. 5). Once dry, the scribe or artisan is instructed to 'odontize' (odontizō / ὀδόντιζε), which specifically means to polish the letters with a tooth (p. 5, 6). This mechanical action was necessary to give the gold and silver texts their characteristic metallic lustre or shine (p. 6).

Evidence

"The Leiden papyrus gathers also recipes for the making of some golden and silver inks, with or without the use of noble metals."

Remarks

The verb odontizō stems from the Greek 'odous' (tooth) and, in this context, refers to burnishing metallic inks to achieve a shine (p. 5). The paper argues that this technical meaning is exclusive to these types of recipes and is mirrored in later Latin texts such as the Mappae Clavicula, which suggest using a porcine tooth, pig tusk, or wild boar tusk for the same polishing purpose (p. 6).