Tinted (coloured) paper

Ingredients

saffron (zaʿfarān), indigo (nīlah), henna (ḥinnāʾ), brazilwood (baqqam), dates (balaḥ), egg yolk (safār al-bayḍ), gum arabic (samgh ʿarabī), white powder (al-masḥūq al-abyaḍ)

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

According to Muhammad al-Dimashqi (1928: 46–47), tinting was performed by mixing size (ghirāʾ) with saffron (zaʿfarān) for orange (nāranjī), indigo (nīlah) for blue (azraq), and henna (ḥinnāʾ) for red (p. 276). Solutions for dipping paper included brazilwood (baqqam) for red, dates (balaḥ) for green, and indigo for blue (p. 276). Al-Juburi (1962: 134–135) notes a reddish tint obtained using henna (māʾ al-ḥinnāʾ), a yellow tint by mixing egg yolk (safār al-bayḍ) with gum arabic (samgh ʿarabī) and water, and a white tint using white powder (al-masḥūq al-abyaḍ) with gum arabic and water (p. 276-277).

Evidence

"The tinting of paper was done either when preparing size (paste) or by dipping sheets in various coloured solutions."

Remarks

Papers from the eastern Islamic world are generally browner than those from the West. The paper of Jativa (al-waraq al-Shātibī) has a creamy appearance imitating parchment (p. 276). Tinting reached its apogee in Iran and the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century (p. 276). Russian paper produced for the Iranian market in the 19th century was often tinted blue (p. 277). The vasṣālī technique, involving inlaying sheets of different colours, appeared in Herat in the late 15th century and was popular in Persia, India, and Turkey (p. 277).