A Study about Colourants in the Arabic Manuscript Collection of the Sacromonte Abbey, Granada, Spain. A New Methodology for Chemical Analysis

The inks used in Arabic manuscripts written between the 11th and 17th centuries and belonging to the archive of the Sacromonte Abbey in Granada, Spain, were studied. The constituent materials were determined with DRX, SEM/EDX, FTIR, HPLC and EC analytical methods. The results obtained coincide with the components described in a considerable number of Islamic recipes and treatises from the period. In all cases gum arabic was identified as the binding agent. Iron gall inks and carbon blacks were used for black inks. Vermillion and minium were the most used for red inks; verdigris, malachite and lead and tin yellows for green inks; natural ultramarine blue (lapis lazuli), azurite and smalte in blue inks; and, finally, gold and some silver for gold inks. Chlorine was detected in a large number of the samples for reasons that cannot be fully explained. Calcium and magnesium were present, presumably as in their carbonate form, as an additive in the pulp.