Ink

   

    "For many cultures, the practicalities of ink - legibility, permanency and consistency - have gone hand-in-glove with rather more diffuse, emotional, even reverential considerations. The ancient Chinese used inks perfumed with cloves, honey and musk. The scents, it is true, helped cover the odour of the binders used - yak skin and fish intestines were common - but these inks sometimes also contained powdered rhinoceros horn, pearls or jasper. In medieval Christian monasteries, the act of copying and illuminating manuscripts, of putting wisdom and prayer to paper, was seen as a spiritual process in itself.

    Black ink also had a devotional relationship with Islam: the Arabic word for ink, midãd, is closely related to that for divine substance or matter. An early seventeenth-century recipe in a treatise on painters and calligraphers contained 14 ingredients; some, like soot and gallnuts, are obvious enough, but others - saffron, Tibetan musk and hemp oil - are far less so. The author, Qadi Ahmad, was under little doubt of ink's numinous power. 'The ink of the scholar,' he wrote, 'is more holy than the blood of the martyr.' "

    From the chapter 'Ink' in The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St. Clair.

Comments

[Fran H-B]

This looks just the book I would love...I had noticed it in your sidebar, definitely on the wanted list now. I always have a tinge of sadness when I read of such a book, it would have been the perfect Christmas gift for my late father. I am thankful I have been given his love of art and colour, although not his talent for calligraphy.

[Cornflower]

I've only just started reading it, but dipping in here and there I'm finding it fascinating.
Calligraphy is an often overlooked talent: beautiful script is wonderfully expressive and adds another dimension to whatever it is the means of conveying.

[Toffeeapple]

I used to do a lot of calligraphy, it was so enjoyable, forming the letters smoothly. I can't sit long enough at a table to do it any longer, more is the pity.

[Cornflower]

That is a pity.

[Liz]

I recently invested in a good fountain pen earlier in the year, and have been really enjoying using it. In fact, so much so that I bought another pen with a finer nib, so now I'm covered for whichever mood I get in. I've also discovered the various colo(u)red inks now available. We only had dark blue in ink wells at our desks as a school girl, so again, lots of choices.

People at work are always so amazed when I actually use the ink pen. I think that some of them put it into the same category as a quill. :-)

Thanks for the details about the ink. Interesting that people will add scent to the ink, but makes sense when you consider the animal flesh that they were writing upon.

Liz