May 2, 2011 — The following information on black ink is from Islamic Calligraphy, by Sheila S. Blair. (Edinburgh University Press, 2006.)
“Two kinds of dark ink were traditionally used in the Islamic lands: carbon-based inks and metal tannate inks. In early Islamic times two different words were used for the two types. Midad, from madda, to stretch out (i.e., the ink), was used for a paint type of ink whose most important ingredient is soot or carbon mixed with oil or plant gums. Hibr, from habbara, to write, referred to an ink that reacts chemically with the support. It was typically made from gallnuts (’afs) and ferrous compounds that produced a dark-brown color.
“In later times the terms midad and hibr were used synonymously, but at least through the eleventh century, each seems to have maintained its specific meaning of either carbon or metal tannate ink. We can deduce this from the treatise on making books, ’Umdat al-kuttab, in which the author Ibn Badis, himself a calligrapher, gives many recipes for preparing ink. His second chapter is devoted to soot inks (midad), generally designated by geographical names (Chinese, Indian, kufic, Persian, etc.). Chapter three, by contrast, describes tannate inks (hibr), generally designated by their appearance (shining, dry, sunny, etc.) or components (acacia gallnut, myrobalam, myrtle, etc.).
“Black ink based on carbon mixed with plant gums had been known since Biblical times and was used by both the Egyptians and the Romans. This type of carbon ink does not penetrate the support. It is water-soluble and erasable with water, partly because of the impenetrable surface of the papyrus on which it was traditionally used. This type of ink was often associated with water. The Koran (18:109) mentions that if the sea were ink (midad) with which to write God’s words, then the sea would dry up faster than the ink would be exhausted. Because of its water solubility, Persian poets evoked the metaphor that on Judgment Day the tears of repentance would wash off the black writing in the Book of Deeds.
“This type of carbon-based ink that adheres only weakly to the surface can be contrasted to the second type of ink based on metal tannates, in which mixtures of metal salts and tannins produce small amounts of acid that penetrate the support surface. The earliest recipes for this type of ink mix metal salts (usually alum or copper sulfates) with carbon-based preparations, probably to improve the adherent qualities. Eventually, extracts of gall were mixed with iron salt to produce the type known as iron-gall ink.
“Like carbon-based ink, iron tannate ink has been known since antiquity. It was used in early Islamic times, particularly on parchment, where it penetrates the surface like dye. Examination of several folios from early parchment copies of the Koran in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris show traces of iron. This type of tannate ink often erodes the surface, and its color is not stable. When used on paper, it produces acids that eventually corrode the surface, as on some of the Geniza documents.
“Eventually the two types of carbon and tannate ink were combined, with one or more elements from one type added to the other. Typically, lampblack was added to iron-gall ink, probably to help stabilize the black color. A sixteenth-century source credits the renowned tenth-century calligrapher Ibn Muqla with this innovation, as with so many others. The terminology also became confused, with midad and hibr used interchangeably. Most recipes were also mixtures. The Safavid chronicler Qadi Ahmad, for example, describes making ink of soot (duda), gum (samgh), vitriol (zak), and gallnut (maz). The Ottomans used soot inks. The most developed formula involves soot, dissolved gum arabic, and distilled water, mixed and ground together. Ottoman calligraphers were also said to have collected the lampblack produced by the oil lamps in the Süleymaniye mosque. This ink was thus considered not only high quality but also efficacious in imparting the mosque’s spiritual blessing (baraka).”
[From: Islamic Calligraphy, by Sheila S. Blair. Published by Edinburgh University Press, 2006. Passage quoted above appears on pages 61-62.]
