vitriol
Egypt
Source: Rabin, I. (2021). Material Studies of Historic Inks: Transition from Carbon to Iron-Gall Inks. In Ink and Manuscript Culture. Brill.
Recipe Details
Ingredients
iron sulfate, copper sulfate, zinc sulfate, gall nuts
Preparation Steps
The ink is an iron-gall variety where metallic ratios serve as a fingerprint. Specifically, intensities of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) are normalized to iron (Fe) to establish characteristic ratios (p. 76, Fig 4.2). The ink of the vowel in fragment T-S 12.755 displays a different fingerprint, suggesting it was not written together with the consonantal text (p. 75-76).
Original Recipe Text
The ink is an iron-gall variety where metallic ratios serve as a fingerprint. Specifically, intensities of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) are normalized to iron (Fe) to establish characteristic ratios (p. 76, Fig 4.2). The ink of the vowel in fragment T-S 12.755 displays a different fingerprint, suggesting it was not written together with the consonantal text (p. 75-76).
Evidence
"The analysis shows that the fingerprint of the ink, the ratio of copper / iron and zinc / iron is indeed constant in all three fragments, supporting the hypothesis of a single manuscript (p. 75)."
Remarks
Iron-gall inks appear highly inhomogeneous under microscopy, with traces of dark crystals (p. 73). They become transparent in the near-infrared region and invisible under 1400 nm light (p. 73). The 'fingerprint model' uses quantitative and semi-quantitative determination of inorganic ingredients normalized to iron (p. 73).
Scientific Analysis
Analytical Techniques
XRF
X-ray fluorescence spectrometry
fingerprinting
Certainty Level
Probable
Instrumentally Verified
Verified
Metadata
Material Type
ink
Paper Typemanuscript fragments
ColorBlack
RegionEgypt
Source Information
AuthorRabin, I.
CollectionCambridge University Library fragments T-S F17.4, T-S 12.755 and T-S 12.756
Language
N/A
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