IsisCB Explore

Article ID: CBB457217131

Transmuting tinctures. Water of sulphur, quicklime, and ‘washes’ in Graeco-Egyptian alchemy (2022)

Technai, An International Journal for Ancient Science and Technology
Volume: 13
Pages: 115-142
Publication date: 2022
Language: English

Outside Links

WorldCat

Google Scholar

JSTOR

Technology Gold Dyes Alchemy Color Ancient Egypt

This paper explores the technology of what Graeco-Egyptian alchemists called ‘water of sulphur’ or ‘divine water,’ one of the key colouring agents at the basis of their attempts to turn metals into gold or silver. Early conceptions of metallic transmutation arose from the lived experiences of the practitioners who tested the properties of this liquid compound in their workshops and interpreted, at the same time, its written formulas. In order to better understand the alchemy of dyeing waters, the textual analysis of Greek, Syriac, and Arabic sources is combined with experimental replications of the procedures described in these writings.

...More

Citation URI

data.isiscb.org/p/isis/citation/CBB457217131

This citation is part of the Isis database.

Citations Indexes

Similar Citations

Article Cristina Viano; (2022)
Noir alchimique: questions d’étymologie et de transmutation (/p/isis/citation/CBB536332692/)

Article Vinzenz Brinkmann; Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann; (2023)
Tracking blue. Some remarks on blue colour materials in the polychromy of ancient Greek sculpture (/p/isis/citation/CBB448859850/)

Article Maria Michela Sassi; (2023)
A few remarks on the relationship between materials, technology and colour experience in ancient Greece (/p/isis/citation/CBB711801492/)

Article Gil Gambash; Beatrice Pestarino; David E. Friesem; (2022)
From murex to fabric: The Mediterranean purple (/p/isis/citation/CBB873514888/)

Article Matteo Martelli; (2023)
Medicine in early Graeco-Egyptian alchemical texts (1st-3rd century AD) (/p/isis/citation/CBB568951185/)

Article Fuchs, Robert; (2018)
Die Erfindung der Farbherstellung in der Antike: Farbpigmente im Alten Ägypten bis zu den Griechen und Römern (The invention of color production in antiquity: color pigments in ancient Egypt to the Greeks and Romans) (/p/isis/citation/CBB038739187/)

Article Francesco Lopez; (2020)
Il "pigmento verde" nel trattamento delle ferite: Un confronto tra i papiri medici egizi ed il Corpus hippocraticum sull'impiego in medicina del verderame (/p/isis/citation/CBB715657749/)

Article Eduardo A. Escobar; (2022)
Colour and cultural maintenance in ancient Babylonia: Contextualizing wool dye recipe BM 62788 + BM 82978 (/p/isis/citation/CBB960034885/)

Article Gabriella Bevilacqua; (2020)
Oro, argento e pietre di colore: Alcuni esempi di amuleti medici (/p/isis/citation/CBB914369554/)

Article Berke, Heinz; Wiedemann, Hans G.; (2000)
The Chemistry and Fabrication of the Anthropogenic Pigments Chinese Blue and Purple in Ancient China (/p/isis/citation/CBB000330640/)

Article Shortland, A. J.; (2002)
The Use and Origin of Antimonate Colorants in Early Egyptian Glass (/p/isis/citation/CBB000300853/)

Article Alessandro Pacini; (2019)
Apprentices and masters - the transmission of ancient goldsmith techniques (/p/isis/citation/CBB907846400/)

Article Effie Photos-Jones; (2023)
Pigments giving more than colour: The case of Lemnian earth or miltos (/p/isis/citation/CBB811754311/)

Article Vinzenz Brinkmann; Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann; (2022)
Preliminary considerations on the aesthetics and narration of ancient Greek and Roman bronze sculpture. Three case studies and two experiments (/p/isis/citation/CBB955002173/)

Article Giovanni Verri; Hariclia Brecoulaki; (2023)
«From the face and the expression of the eyes»: Multidisciplinary studies of pigments in ancient Greek and Roman painted surfaces (/p/isis/citation/CBB468963823/)

Book Beretta, Marco; (2009)
The Alchemy of Glass: Counterfeit, Imitation and Transmutation in Ancient Glassmaking (/p/isis/citation/CBB000952756/)

Chapter Fabienne Meiers; (2017)
Historical Outline and Chromatic Properties of Purpura Rubra Tarentina and Its Potential Identification with Purple Dye Extracted from Bolinus Brandaris (/p/isis/citation/CBB627751532/)

Article Garrigós i Oltra, Lluís; (2009)
Identificación del color reflejado mediante patrones generados por superposición de filtros a principios del siglo XX: el analizador de Kallab (/p/isis/citation/CBB001021931/)

Article Janot, Francis; (2000)
Les pastilles dorées de Rê: une étape vers l'immortalité (/p/isis/citation/CBB000932387/)

Article Vincenzo Carlotta; Matteo Martelli; (2023)
Metals as Living Bodies. Founts of Mercury, Amalgams, and Chrysocolla (/p/isis/citation/CBB926056627/)