Egyptian gold (ذهب مصري)

Ingredients

Egyptian gold leaves, bee honey, water, gum arabic, hematite, onyx

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

Ten leaves of high-quality Egyptian gold are placed in a blue Chinese bowl. Half a dirham of bee honey is added. The mixture is worked until the gold is pulverized ('melts') into the honey. The honey is then washed away with water, and the gold particles are allowed to sink to the bottom. After filtering, a dry measure (ḫarrūba) of gum arabic moistened with water is added to create a writing medium (pp. 174-175). After the writing dries, it is burnished for one hour using hematite or onyx to reveal the color (p. 175).

Evidence

"take ten leaves of the finest quality Egyptian gold into it; pour half a dirham of bee honey onto this, gradually make everything into a single leaf, until it melts; then wash the sweetness of the honey from it with water, leave it to sink to the bottom, filter it from the water, pour a ḫarrūba [dry measure] of gum arabic moistened with water onto it and write with it."

Remarks

The preparation uses honey as a grinding medium to reduce gold leaf to a fine powder, a common historical technique. The use of a 'blue Chinese bowl' suggests specific workshop conditions or status (p. 174).