1
10
23
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/298bb3652b6679302544c1a4d0624cd2.jpg
32496004427d2bd65fbf9795d3cd165e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Ambergris
Subject
The topic of the resource
Ambergris is a wax-like odoriferous secretion formed in the stomach and intestines of the sperm whale (<i>Physeter macrocephalus</i>). This extremely rare and valuable substance is found inside dead whales but is more often discovered floating on beaches. The word “ambergris,” which was thought to be related to amber (the fossilized yellow resin), originates from the old French <i>ambre gris</i> or grey amber.
Description
An account of the resource
<p>The origin of ambergris is still shrouded in mystery. Although it has appeared from time to time over many centuries on European shores, such as Portugal, Spain, France, and England, ambergris is not a commonly-found local substance in Europe. As an exotic animal material and a valuable commodity in high demand, ambergris was imported to Europe from distant lands, such as Asia, Africa, and the Americas via trade routes.</p>
<p>Ambergris was so valuable that it served as a prestigious gift among European royals and was also sometimes mentioned in inventories of wills, along with gold and silver, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. </p>
<p>Ambergris was used as a scent fixer (as in the recipe of Ms. Fr. 640) in addition to uses in remedies, whose medicinal value was learned by Europeans from the Arabs.</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
In Ms. Fr. 640:
<blockquote>Fol. 163r – “Perfumer”<br />
They readily put half of amber & half of musk & very little civet, because amber always overtakes the principal scent of musk.<br />
To spare the amber, they readily put a little musk in the white layers, which gives a more forceful scent. But to remove or hide the blackness of the musk, they put in a bit of wheat starch from England, which is perfectly white.<br />
To perfume with white amber in the Portuguese fashion, take a huchau of amber, well broken up. And having put in a small silver bowl a spoonful of flower oil, or lacking that, ben oil, that is to say, a silver spoon that one uses at the table, put in your ambergris & place all on a low fire, and it will melt quickly if your amber is good, & it will remain there without lumps. Once all melted, put in the size of a pine nut of civet, & make it melt, & mix it well together. Next, take your gloves, well-cleaned & well-dried, & dipping the tip of your finger very lightly on the edge of the oil, spread it on the glove, little by little & with patience, & rub the glove between your hands, & trace the fingers & the stitches, one after the other. And leave it to dry. Next, trace again as before until the amber is all laid down.</blockquote>
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An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Alan Davidson, "Ambergris," in The Oxford Companion to Food, ed. Tom Jaine (Oxford University Press, 2014), <a href="https://www-oxfordreference-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780199677337.001.0001/acref-9780199677337-e-0050">https://www-oxfordreference-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780199677337.001.0001/acref-9780199677337-e-0050</a>.</p>
<p>Cristina Brito, Vera L. Jordão, and Graham J. Pierce, “Ambergris as an Overlooked Historical Marine Resource: Its Biology and Role as a Global Economic Commodity,” <i>Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom</i> 96, no. 3 (2016): 585–96.</p>
<p>Emily Osterloff, “What is ambergris?” Natural History Museum. <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-ambergris.html">https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-ambergris.html</a>.</p>
<p>Karl H. Dannenfeldt, “Ambergris: The Search for Its Origin,” Isis 73, no. 3 (1982): 382–97.</p>
<p>Matthew Wills, "What is Ambergris and Where Does It Come From?" J Stor Daily (Dec. 9, 2015).
<a href="https://daily.jstor.org/what-is-ambergris-and-where-does-it-come-from/">https://daily.jstor.org/what-is-ambergris-and-where-does-it-come-from/</a>. </p>
<p>Image: Miniature illustration of a sperm whale complementing a text discussing ambergris in medieval manuscript. Salerno, Italy.</p>
<p><i>Helena Seo, Columbia University</i></p>
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/ae8b5739bc8e1bbca53057a6083d3abb.jpg
d212a0b2d3412ad861a2e4a101d8ab02
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Armenian Bole
Subject
The topic of the resource
Armenian bole, also known as bolus armeni, is a reddish clay containing iron oxide. It was used in antiquity as medicine, and later as a paint pigment, ground layer for gliding, polishing compound, and food color. Its elasticity and intense red color makes it sought after by painters and goldsmiths.
Description
An account of the resource
<p>At the end of the fourteenth century and start of the fifteenth century, Armenian bole as a recommended base for water gilding was mentioned for the first time by Johannes Archerius and Cennino Cennini. The red color of the gilding base in many fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italian manuscripts is likely Armenian bole or a similar red earth. The usage of Armenian bole reached its peak between the end of the fourteenth century and the eighteenth century, both in the western tradition as well as the east.</p>
<p>As its name suggests, Armenian bole comes from Armenia and surrounding areas of the Mediterranean. It was imported into Europe particularly for its use in gilding but also for its medicinal use. Increased importation of Armenian bole in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries has been attributed to a number of reasons. One is the spread of water gilding techniques and their practice throughout Europe. Another explanation is increased demand for its believed healing effects against the plague during the epidemics of the time.</p>
<p>As the mining of similar clays spread throughout regions of Europe in the sixteenth century, the import of Mediterranean boles gradually decreased in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Emanuel Mendes da Costa mentioned that it was “dug in Armenia, but is seldom or never to be found genuine in our shops” in 1757. The term “bole” was confused or interchanged with terms like “red earth” or “red ochre,” and other red clays were sold as or substituted for Armenian bole. As such, the exact composition of Armenian bole used by painters was (and to some degree still is) unclear.</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
In Ms. Fr. 640:
<blockquote>Fol. 6r - “For laying down and seating burnished gold and giving red or green or blue”<br />
…Next take fine boli armeni* & sanguine, as much of one as of the other, also lamb tallow the size of a bean or a pea depending on the quantity of bole, and a little willow charcoal, or as much as the tallow, & half a walnut shell full of half-burned saffron. Some put in a little candy sugar. Grind all together with water, & apply it without gum or glue, & let it dry, & rub the place that you want to gild with a piece of white cloth to better smooth it, & when the rubbed place is a little shiny, it is a sign that the gold will be carried well…</blockquote>
<blockquote>Fol. 7v - “Against gonorrhea”<br />
Aquæ fabrorum antiquæ lb i., boli Armeniæ in tel tenuissimum pollinem redactæ ℥.i., mellis communis ʒ.iii. coquantur ad mellis despumationem. Tum refrigerata colentur cum forti expressione & de colatura utatur per injectionem. <br />
[Translation: Old smiths' water, i lb, Armenian bole reduced to the finest powder, i ℥, common honey, iii ʒ, shall be boiled to clarify the honey. Once cooled, it shall be strained with great pressure & the filtrate shall be used by injection.]</blockquote>
<blockquote>Fol. 12v - “Molding stucco promptly”<br />
Grind & pulverize finely brick or Armenian bole or sanguine & incorporate it with melted wax, & thus melted, cast like the others on a relief medal, & thus you will have a hollow form where you will be able to cast with plaster, pestled paper, or terre chimolée.</blockquote>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Cennino Cennini, <i>The Craftsman's Handbook: The Italian "Il Libro Dell' Arte,"</i> trans. Daniel V. Thompson (New York, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1960).</p>
<p>David A. Bender, “Armenian bole” in <i>A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition</i> (4 ed) (Oxford University Press, 2014). <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191752391.001.0001/acref-9780191752391-e-363?rskey=o6NulN&result=1">https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191752391.001.0001/acref-9780191752391-e-363?rskey=o6NulN&result=1</a>.</p>
<p>David Hradil et al., “Late Gothic/Early Renaissance Gilding Technology and the Traditional Poliment Material ‘Armenian Bole’: Truly Red Clay, or Rather Bauxite?” <i>Applied Clay Science</i> 135 (2017): pp. 271-281, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2016.10.004">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clay.2016.10.004</a>.</p>
<p>M. Da Costa, <i>Natural History of Fossils</i> (Royal Society of London, 1757).</p>
<p>Nicholas Eastaugh, Valentine Walsh, and Tracey Chaplin, <i>The Pigment Compendium: A Dictionary of Historical Pigments</i> (Elsevier-Butterworth Heinemen, British Library, 2004).</p>
<p>Image: Anonymous, “Armenian Bole Being Dug from a Clay Pit,” woodcut for chapter 26 of <i>The Tract on Stones in the Hortus Sanitatis</i>, 1491; Artstor, <a href="https://library-artstor-org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/#/asset/BARTSCH_3950036">https://library-artstor-org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/#/asset/BARTSCH_3950036</a>. From Artstor: The Illustrated Bartsch. Vol. 90, commentary, German Book Illustration through 1500: Herbals through 1500; retrospective conversion of The Illustrated Bartsch (Abaris Books).</p>
<p><i>Elia Zhang, Columbia University</i></p>
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/c03abbac239dc3a58b6bb6addbc01e51.png
96771fc7da69212d912bb04e33409838
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Brazilwood (<i>bresil</i>)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Brazilwood is any of a number of tropical trees of the <i>Senna</i> genus <i>Caesalpinia</i>, such as <i>C. brasiliensis</i> (from Brazil), <i>C. crista (from Pernambuco), <i>C. echinata</i> (peachwood from Nicaragua), or <i>C. sappan</i> (sappanwood native to Southeast Asia, including India, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.) The colorant Brasilin in the wood yields a deep red to brownish color. Brazilwood dye has been used for inks, varnish tints, paints, textile and leather dyes, and wood stains.</i>
Description
An account of the resource
In medieval Europe, sappanwood from Sumbawa in the Indonesian archipelago, was widely used for dyeing textiles. In the sixteenth century, the introduction of other redwoods, including Brazilwood, from the New World that were found to be more powerful coloring agents eventually led to the replacement of woods from Asia.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
In Ms. Fr. 640:
<blockquote>Fol. 6r – “For laying down and seating burnished gold and giving red or green or blue”<br />
... And if you want to lay in rouge clair & glaze with it, grind Venice laque platte on marble with walnut or linseed oil. Once ground, mix turpentine or spike lavender varnish & apply on the gold with the paintbrush. Brazilwood & laque ronde die...<blockquote>
<p>Fol. 33v recommends using Brazilwood to imitate blood</p>
<blockquote>Fol. 33v – "For making blood or wine issue from someone’s forehead or from a wall"<br />
Take a funnel or funnel of fer blanc which is double-walled in the body but not in the spout. Make a small hole at the top edge & another, slightly bigger, on the inner wall that will be a little above the spout, just as you can see in the adjacent example. Then when you want to use it, put in wine or liquid rosette of Brazilwood or black cherry juice, and blocking the hole of the spout with your little finger, make sure that the funnel is well filled in order that the wine can enter there between the double walls through the hole at the side, & if it does not enter well, making it seem as if you are tasting the wine, suck & draw in a little air, drinking where the little hole is…</blockquote>
<p>This recipe on fol. 43v contains no wine, but transmutes red “wine” into white</p>
<blockquote>Fol. 43v – “Varied and transmuted wine”<br />
Grate brazilwood very finely, put it to soak one or two hours in clear water, then take this tinted water & add to it some clear water & you will make wine as claret colored as you like. If you please, put a drop of lemon or orange juice in it & it will immediately turn white. It can be drunk without danger.</blockquote>
</blockquote></blockquote>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>“Brazilwood,” The Conservation and Art Materials Encyclopedia (CAMEO), ed. Michele Derrick. <a href="http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Brazilwood">http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Brazilwood</a>.</p>
<p>George Bryan Souza, “The VOC’s price current records in the long eighteenth century: Commodities and prices in global, intra-Asian, and regional Asian maritime economic history,” in <i>Intra-Asian Trade and Industrialization: Essays in Memory of Yasukichi Yasuba</i>, ed. A.J.H. Latham and Heita Kawakatsu (London; New York: Routledge, 2009), 37-51.</p>
<p>Jo Kirby, “Lake,” Grove Art Online. 2003; Accessed 17 Dec. 2021. <a href="https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000048810">https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000048810</a>.</p>
<p>Rw Dapson and CI Bain, “Brazilwood, sappanwood, brazilin and the red dye brazilein: from textile dyeing and folk medicine to biological staining and musical instruments,” <i>Biotechnic & Histochemistry<i> 90, no. 6 (2015): 401-423.</p>
<p>Image: “How the People Cut and Bring the Bresil to the Ships,” from <i>La Cosmographic universelle d’André Thevet cosmographe du roy</i> by André Thevet (Paris: Chez Pierre L’Huillier, 1575). Woodcut. John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.</p>
<p><i>Helena Seo, Columbia University</i></p>
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/5465b5b7cef836d2a04e4b23b39be235.jpg
6d6263e4084b55b0ef6ba4e086611f06
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Candy Sugar
Subject
The topic of the resource
<p>In the fourteenth century, the word “candy” was an alternative form of the word “candi,” which referred to crystallized sugar. The use of the meaning "candy" in French (<i>la canne</i>) did not appear until the twentieth century, when Gaston-Martin wrote <i>Histoire de l'esclavage dans les colonies françaises</i> in 1948.</p>
<p>Studies of sixteenth-century painted miniatures show that dissolved sugar candy was added to the binding medium (usually, <a href="https://catapanoth.com/omandka/exhibits/show/global-ingredients--the-divers/item/8">gum arabic</a>) to influence how the paint dried and how some colors looked in the final painting. This application of sugar candy is described in Nicholas Hilliard’s <i>A Treatise Concerning the Arte of Limning</i> (ca. 1600) as well as in Ms. Fr. 640.</p>
Description
An account of the resource
In the early modern period, sugar production was mainly focused on cane sugar collected from the stalks of tall grasses in the genus <i>Saccharum</i>. During the late medieval period, large-scale sugar production developed in the Mediterranean, especially in Crete and Cyprus. In the second half of the fifteenth century, production moved to the Atlantic islands, particularly Madeira. In the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century, production shifted again to coastal Brazil. In the late seventeenth century, the French colonies in the Caribbean became the so-called "sugar islands,” and sugar became the most important plantation crop next to tobacco. By the late nineteenth century, sugar production was globalized.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
In Ms. Fr. 640:
<blockquote>Fol. 6r - "For laying down and seating burnished gold and giving red or green or blue"<br />
...Some put in a little candy sugar. Grind all together with water, & apply it without gum or glue, & let it dry, & rub the place that you want to gild with a piece of white cloth to better smooth it, & when the rubbed place is a little shiny, it is a sign that the gold will be carried well...</blockquote>
<blockquote>Fol. 32r - "For layering gold in distemper"<br />
Common painters & scribes make batture, that is joiner’s glue tempered with water on the fire, moderately clear, mixed with very little honey, that is to say a few drops to make it stick. And with it they form letters, or that which they want to gild, with a paintbrush, and immediately after layer the gold, but they never do their work quite neatly, and if there is a lot of honey it dries only with great difficulty. This layer is undone in the rain.<br />
Others do better, they temper candy sugar in water and mix it with sanguine that they call cocon, thoroughly ground, adding in a little soap. This is done neatly, & renders gold beautiful if one uses it as the seat.</blockquote>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>B. W. Higman, “The Sugar Revolution,” <i>The Economic History Review</i> 53, no. 2 (2000): 213–36, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2598696">http://www.jstor.org/stable/2598696</a>.</p>
<p>Christine Slottved Kimbriel and Paola Ricciardi, “A Closer Look at the Cabinet Miniature of Lord Herbert of Cherbury,” National Trust,
<a href="https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/article/a-closer-look-at-the-cabinet-miniature-of-lord-herbert-of-cherbury">https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/article/a-closer-look-at-the-cabinet-miniature-of-lord-herbert-of-cherbury</a>.</p>
<p>Jason W. Moore, “Sugar and the Expansion of the Early Modern World-Economy: Commodity Frontiers, Ecological Transformation, and Industrialization,” Review, Fernand Braudel Center, 2000, <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/40241510">http://www.jstor.org/stable/40241510</a>.</p>
<p>Image: Sir John Bowring, “The beautiful tall reeds of the sugar cane, their pennon-like leaves gleaming in the sunshine,” J.W. Parker and son, London, 1857; Cornell University Library, 1900/1919, Artstor, <a href="https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/CORNELL_ECHOLS_1039405990">https://library.artstor.org/#/asset/CORNELL_ECHOLS_1039405990</a>.</p>
<p><i>Elia Zhang, Columbia University</i></p>
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/40c46d19a6d90f790229b2212832198a.tiff
b5d2a6c87f366f428d80e16ac6ca7eb7
Interactive Resource
A resource requiring interaction from the user to be understood, executed, or experienced. Examples include forms on Web pages, applets, multimedia learning objects, chat services, or virtual reality environments.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Cinnamon
Description
An account of the resource
Cinnamon is believed to have originated from the region of Arabia, more specifically Ceylon, present day Sri Lanka. In 1460, it was recorded by John Russell in his <i>Book of Nurture</i> after the British brought it from the Middle East. In 1505, it was found by the Portuguese in Ceylon who proceeded to occupy the island for this plant. Because it was comparatively inexpensive, it was widely used in dishes during the early modern period. In 1636, the Dutch took over the island and seized the monopoly on cinnamon and continued its cultivation. Later in the nineteenth century, Ceylon was occupied by the British. Another source of cinnamon comes from the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean, where the French introduced it in the eighteenth century. It is also native to present day India and Burma.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
In Ms. Fr. 640
<blockquote>Fol. 1v - "For loosening the belly"<br />
Prunes of Saint Antonin, & if you like you want put among them leaves of mallow & gilliflower, adding in sugar &, if one wants, a little cinnamon for the stomach.<br />
Or else marshmallow root in a chicken broth. The fresh kind is more mollifying.<br />
Beating syrup of sweet jujubes with water & taking it in the morning loosens the belly.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Fol. 47r - "For teeth"<br />
Sal ammoniac i ℥, rock salt 1 ℥, alum half an ℥. Make water with the retort, and as soon as you touch the tooth, the tartar & blackness will go away. It is true that it has a bad odor, but you can mix it with rose honey & a little cinnamon or clove oil.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Fol. 48r - "Excellent mustard"<br />
Dry bread in an oven, then lard it with cloves & cinnamon & thus put it to soak in good wine. Then, pass everything through a tammy cloth, being well pestled, & incorporate it with your mustard seed.</blockquote>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>“Cinnamon.” <i>World Encyclopedia.</i> Philips, 2014. <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-2461?rskey=LJSd9D&result=2">https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-2461?rskey=LJSd9D&result=2</a>.</p>
<p>Alan Davidson. “Cinnamon.” In <i>The Oxford Companion to Food</i> (2 ed.), edited by Jaine, Tom. Oxford University Press, 2013. <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001/acref-9780192806819-e-0558?rskey=LJSd9D&result=3">https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-2461?rskey=LJSd9D&result=2</a>.</p>
<p>Image: “Cinnamomum verum J.Presl.” fo32xiv-033r, <i>Plantarum Malabaricarum icones</i> BPL 126 D - part 1, Leiden University Libraries, <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:937812">http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:937812</a>.</p>
<p><i>Elia Zhang, Columbia University</i></p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
<p>Cinnamon is a commonly known light brown spice made from the inner bark of a number of species of cinnamon trees, of the genus <i>Cinnamomum</i>. It has a delicate aroma and a sweet flavor. </p>
<p>Cinnamon oil comes in two forms: bark oil and leaf oil. Bark oil is often used for culinary purposes, whereas leaf oil is used as an essential oil because it has a high eugenol content with a clove-like aroma. </p>
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/d57102713a99ca994e4f771036502106.jpg
a97f2561c8cfb98690a1ba9ab16f7171
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Civet (<i>Civette</i>)
Subject
The topic of the resource
The term civet comes from the Arabic word <i>zabad</i> and refers to the fluid secretion obtained from the glands of the civet cat, mostly of the Viverridae species. The aromatic civet has a long history of being used as an ingredient in perfumery, dating back to at least the tenth century BC, and it also has curative properties.
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Despite the Europeans’ awareness of the civet cat in the early fifteenth century, it was not until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that civet would increasingly acquire its fame and come to be imported into Europe with the expansion of European exploration.</p>
<p>In 1470, the Portuguese monopolized Guinea’s civet cats, from which they made considerable profit. Late fifteenth- and sixteenth-century sources indicate Europeans’ “discovery” of civet cats in East Africa, particularly Ethiopia, as well as in India and China. Thus, various species of the civet cat had become available to European merchants by the beginning of the seventeenth century.</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<p>In Ms. Fr. 640, civet is used in combination with other scents of animal origin, such as <a href="https://catapanoth.com/omandka/exhibits/show/global-ingredients--the-divers/item/11">ambergris</a> and <a href="https://catapanoth.com/omandka/exhibits/show/global-ingredients--the-divers/item/13">musk</a>, for making perfume.</p>
<blockquote>Fol. 163r – “Perfumer”<br />
They readily put half of amber & half of musk & very little civet, because amber always overtakes the principal scent of musk.<br />
To spare the amber, they readily put a little musk in the white layers, which gives a more forceful scent. But to remove or hide the blackness of the musk, they put in a bit of wheat starch from England, which is perfectly white.<br />
To perfume with white amber in the Portuguese fashion, take a huchau of amber, well broken up. And having put in a small silver bowl a spoonful of flower oil, or lacking that, ben oil, that is to say, a silver spoon that one uses at the table, put in your ambergris & place all on a low fire, and it will melt quickly if your amber is good, & it will remain there without lumps. Once all melted, put in the size of a pine nut of civet, & make it melt, & mix it well together. Next, take your gloves, well-cleaned & well-dried, & dipping the tip of your finger very lightly on the edge of the oil, spread it on the glove, little by little & with patience, & rub the glove between your hands, & trace the fingers & the stitches, one after the other. And leave it to dry. Next, trace again as before until the amber is all laid down.</blockquote>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Chris Wemmer, "Civets and Genets," in The Encyclopedia of Mammals (Oxford University Press, 2006), <a href="https://www-oxfordreference-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780199206087.001.0001/acref-9780199206087-e-30">https://www-oxfordreference-com.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/view/10.1093/acref/9780199206087.001.0001/acref-9780199206087-e-30</a>.</p>
<p>Karl H. Dannenfeldt, “Europe Discovers Civet Cats and Civet.” <i>Journal of the History of Biology</i> 18, no. 3 (1985): 403–31.</p>
<p>Image: Joris Hoefnagel, Plate 14: A Civet, a Lynx, and a Hyena, from
<i>Animalia Qvadrvpedia et Reptilia (Terra)</i>, watercolor and gouache on vellum, c. 1575/1580.</p>
<p>*The top figure labeled #1 represents civet.</p>
<p><i>Helena Seo, Columbia University</i></p>
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/4eee32e6db0c836013a6aae92f09fcf9.jpg
01ba001fd817e8bdd93e2c85765bcf9e
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Clove
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clove is a spice derived from the dried, unopened flower buds of the evergreen tree <i>Syzygium aromaticum</i>.
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Clove is native to the Maluku Islands in eastern Indonesia. It was in use in China as early as the third century BCE, and has been used in India since ancient times. Between the second and eighth centuries CE, it was spread from Egypt throughout the Mediterranean region.</p>
<p>In 1514, the Portuguese gained control of the Maluku Islands and maintained a monopoly over the clove trade until the Dutch wrestled the islands from them about a century later. The Dutch restricted the cultivation of cloves to the single island of Amboina and the penalty for taking them elsewhere was death. The French sought to break the monopoly in the seventeenth century by securing plants in Mauritius and began to succeed towards the end of the eighteenth century. This practice led to clove plantations in Madagascar and Zanzibar (archipelago of present day Tanzania). Today, the main regions of clove cultivation remain Indonesia, Madagascar, and Tanzania.</p>
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In Ms. Fr. 640:
<blockquote>Fol. 46r - "For the teeth, oil of sulfur"<br />
Some people whiten them with confections of aquafortis; however, one says that this corrupts them afterward & causes a blackness on them. One says that oil of sulfur is excellent, but one needs to mix it in this way: take as much clove oil as can be held in a walnut shell, and as much rose honey, & seven or eight drops of oil of sulfur, & mix it well all together. And after having cleaned the teeth with a small burin, touch them lightly with a little cotton dipped in the aforesaid oils and leave it there for a little while, then spit or rinse your mouth with tepid water, and reiterate two or three times. Oil of sulfur penetrates & is corrosive, but the clove oil & the rose honey correct it. Therefore use it with discretion.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Fol. 47r - "For teeth"<br />
Sal ammoniac i ℥, rock salt 1 ℥, alum half an ℥. Make water with the retort, and as soon as you touch the tooth, the tartar & blackness will go away. It is true that it has a bad odor, but you can mix it with rose honey & a little* cinnamon or clove oil.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Fol. 48r - "Excellent mustard"<br />
Dry bread in an oven, then lard it with cloves & cinnamon & thus put it to soak in good wine. Then, pass everything through a tammy cloth, being well pestled, & incorporate it with your mustard seed.</blockquote>
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<p>Alan Davison and Tom Jaine, eds., “Clove,” <i>The Oxford Companion to Food</i> (2 ed.), 2013, <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001/acref-9780192806819-e-0575?rskey=IG7C8D&result=4">https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001/acref-9780192806819-e-0575?rskey=IG7C8D&result=4</a>.</p>
<p>“Clove,” <i>World Encyclopedia</i> (Philip's, 2014), <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-2545?rskey=IG7C8D&result=6">https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199546091.001.0001/acref-9780199546091-e-2545?rskey=IG7C8D&result=6</a>.</p>
<p>Image: Forem, “Clove Tree; The Philippine Islands; a Political, Geographical, Ethnographical, Social and Commercial History of the Philippine Archipelago, Embracing the Whole Period of Spanish Rule, with an Account of the Succeeding American Insular Government,” Artstor (Cornell University Library, 1700/1709), <a href="https://library.artstor.org/asset/CORNELL_ECHOLS_1039407373">https://library.artstor.org/asset/CORNELL_ECHOLS_1039407373</a>.</p>
<p><i>Elia Zhang, Columbia University</i></p>
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/c1f682efae232cd849e181918798f23f.jpg
610cdee20ebc63bfe903ea9ae40ced92
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Cochineal
Subject
The topic of the resource
Cochineal is a natural red dyestuff obtained from the body of the female scale insect, <i>Dactylopius coccus Costa</i>
(formerly <i>Coccus cacti</i>) native to the nopal cactus (<i>Cactus oputia</i> or <i>C. coccinilifera</i>) in Mexico, the Canary Islands, and in Central and South America. The dye is extracted using water or alcohol from sun- or oven-dried insects that are collected from the cacti.
Description
An account of the resource
While known and cultivated in Mexico and the Peruvian Andes, cochineal first entered Europe when Spain brought it in 1523. It spread quickly, a colorant more potent than any of the other Old World red dyes.
Source
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In Ms. Fr. 640:
<blockquote>Fol. 38v – “Scarlets”<br />
Because one aulne costs seven or eight lb to dye, they use cloths worth seven or eight francs an aulne. But whoever wants something beautiful should buy white cloth worth fifteen francs an aulne & have it dyed with pure scarlet pastel woad & a little cochineal. Black cloth is thin so that the dyeing is inexpensive.</blockquote>
Contributor
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<p>“Cochineal” The Conservation and Art Materials Encyclopedia (CAMEO), ed. Michele Derrick. <a href="http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Cochineal">http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Cochineal</a>.</p>
<p>Elena Phipps, <i>Cochineal Red: The Art History of a Color</i> (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010). </p>
<p>Jo Kirby, “Lake,” Grove Art Online. 2003; Accessed 17 Dec. 2021. <a href="https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000048810">https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000048810</a>.</p>
<p>Image: Illustrations of cochineal collection in José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez, <i>Memoria sobre la naturaleza, cultivo, y beneficio de la grana…</i>, (Essay on the Nature, Cultivation, and Benefits of the Cochineal Insect), 1777. Colored pigment on vellum. Newberry Library, Edward E. Ayer Manuscript Collection, VAULT Ayer MS 1031. </p>
<p><i>Helena Seo, Columbia University</i></p>
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/05d464812372599028f0386c85db2519.png
dc7ff805d9a3704fe93fab6b1a628f88
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Dragon's blood
Subject
The topic of the resource
Dragon’s blood is the reddish dried resin derived from different species of a number of the plant genera generally known as the “Dragon Tree.”
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Dragon’s blood, obtained from the species <i>Dracaena draco</i>, <i>Dracaena cinnabari</i>, and likely <i>Daemonorops draco</i> from the island of Sokotra, was available in Europe since at least the first century CE. Later, with the expansion of European voyages, the resin was also obtained from <i>Dracaena draco</i> from the Canary Islands in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.</p>
<p>Although not as popular as brazilwood, cochineal, and vermilion, dragon’s blood was used as a colorant to create a red pigment throughout the medieval and early modern periods.</p>
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<p>Dragon’s blood is used in a wide variety of applications in seven recipes in Ms. Fr. 640. It is used as a remedy as well as an ingredient in colored varnishes.</p>
<p>When soaked in spirits, it can be used as a glue, and, as the title of the recipe implies, this glue would be used to connect two halves of an imitation gem to make a “doublet.”</p>
<blockquote>Fol. 7r - "Doublets"<br />
Good dragon’s blood soaked in eau-de-vie carries its mastic or glue in itself, as do sap green & saffron.</blockquote>
<p>The material is fully introduced in this recipe, which explains how to prepare dragon’s blood for use—as in the “doublet” recipe, many applications require that it be soaked in alcohol—and how to select good quality samples for purchase.</p>
<blockquote>Fol. 29v - "Dragon's blood"<br />
The darker dragon’s blood is the best & has more of a tint; it is the tear that is found in gr pieces like peas and large hazelnuts which look like [illustration].<br />
Take a well chosen tear of it which shows off its transparent red. And in a glass bottle put the best eau-de-vie you can find, in sufficient quantity. For it And stop it well and so diligently that it does not vent, otherwise it would be worth nothing. And leave it thus for a long time, because the longer it stays there, the more beautiful & better it will be & it will dissolve if it is good, otherwise it will become like wine lees. When you want to use it, make a small hole in the stopper of the bottle & pour a little & stop it again each time, then apply it on gold.<br />
The good kind of dragon’s blood can be found in large pieces like pieces of cake this one has no value and is adulterated, & once broken it shows on its edges scales, transparent as ro rouge clair enamel, it is also lumpy in some parts like small rubies. The eau-de-vie needs to be very ardent & passed* several times.</blockquote>
<p>Instructions to stop a bleeding nose by applying a powder of dragon’s blood (medical use).</p>
<blockquote>Fol. 38v - "Against nosebleed and for dyeing"<br />
Pestle some sorrel or lapathum acutum* of the sort that is red-veined, which is called dragon’s blood, and apply it to the forehead of the one who bleeds. This herb is a strong dye & makes beautiful violet.</blockquote>
<p>The recipe gives detailed instructions for producing a shiny, enamel-like material from a dragon’s blood solution, and applying it to silver sheets, presumably in order to make the eponymous cross.</p>
<blockquote>Fol. 40v - "Cross of the commanders of Malta"<br />
This beautiful rouge clair which makes the field of the white enamel cross is of fine tear of dragon’s blood tempered with eau-de-vie or else Indian laque platte, which in my opinion is made in Flanders, tempered with clear turpentine & tear of mastic & laid down on a silver leaf, not the kind which the painters use, but a thicker kind, which is burnished by those who make gemstone foils or by goldsmiths, & that gives it this beautiful brilliance.</blockquote>
<p>The recipe gives a similar recipe for a varnish that, colored with dragon’s blood, can be used as a red-tinted coating for wood.</p>
<blockquote>Fol. 98r - "Varnish for lutes"<br />
They take a little turpentine, & oil of turpentine or of spike lavender, & amber pulverized & passed very subtly, & make like that of mastic, & add in a little dragon’s blood to color it and make it reddish, and others some terra merita for yellow.</blockquote>
<p>This is the only explicit use of dragon’s blood as a colorant, but, as in other recipes, it is used particularly for application on a material other than a canvas or panel, and it is used in combination with metal leaf.</p>
<blockquote>Fol. 102v - "Painting on crystal or glass"<br />
They paint in oil without lines, except for the faces where they trace the nose & the mouth with black in small work, then they make strokes & highlights in white, next they coat all with flesh color. And as for the ground, they make it with azur d’Acre for more beauty, or with lake for a quickly-done red, or with dragon’s blood for the most beauty. But one needs to layer it little by little so that it appears even & of one color, & thus for other colors. Next, they put underneath it a foil backing for topaz, or one of gold or silver.</blockquote>
<p>Instructions here are for imitating the visual effect of dragon’s blood on gold or silver by using lake pigment, and do not involve the material itself.</p>
<blockquote> Fol. 165r – “Dragon’s blood”<br />
It can be imitated with lake, which surpasses the dragon's blood in beauty if, tempered in oil, you glaze on gold or silver. Tempered in varnish, it dies.</blockquote>
Contributor
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<p>Robin Reich, “Dragon's Blood,” in <i>Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France. A Digital Critical Edition and English Translation of BnF Ms. Fr. 640</i>, ed. Making and Knowing Project, Pamela H. Smith, Naomi Rosenkranz, Tianna Helena Uchacz, Tillmann Taape, Clément Godbarge, Sophie Pitman, Jenny Boulboullé, Joel Klein, Donna Bilak, Marc Smith, and Terry Catapano (New York: Making and Knowing Project, 2020) <a href="https://edition640.makingandknowing.org/#/essays/ann_037_sp_16">https://edition640.makingandknowing.org/#/essays/ann_037_sp_16</a>. DOI: <a href="https://www.doi.org/10.7916/428x-aq29">https://www.doi.org/10.7916/428x-aq29</a>.</p>
<p>L. Masschelein-Kleiner, “Dragon’s blood,” in <i>Ancient Binding Media, Varnishes and Adhesives</i>, trans by Janet Bridgland, Sue Walston, and A.E. Werner (Rome: ICCROM, 1985), 75.</p>
<p>Image: An engraving depicting <i>Draco arbor</i>. The Dragon Tree, from "Theatrum Botanicum" ("The Theater of Plants: Or, An Herball of a Large Extent…") by John Parkinson (London, 1640). Research Library, The Getty Research Institute (<a href="archive.org">archive.org</a>).</p>
<p><i>Helena Seo, Columbia University</i></p>
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https://catapanoth.com/omandka/files/original/7dc79b9f6fa6b3136c98cf6bd661b6f4.jpg
a81ed95b21c4e19881ddb9efb51c67d4
Interactive Resource
A resource requiring interaction from the user to be understood, executed, or experienced. Examples include forms on Web pages, applets, multimedia learning objects, chat services, or virtual reality environments.
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Fenugreek
Description
An account of the resource
Fenugreek is native to Southern Europe and Asia. In classical times, it was well known in Europe for the medicinal properties of its seeds. Evidence also shows that fenugreek was used for culinary purposes in ancient Egypt.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
In Ms. Fr. 640:
<blockquote>Fol. 52r - "The work done in Algiers"<br />
Take a colt of three or 4 years & feed it on rye barley & straw pig cut in the manner one feeds horses in Spain, and water it with good fountain or river water. I do not know if it would be good to water it occasionally with water of sulfurous baths, & to sometimes give it fenugreek or other hot foods, for the intention of the worker is to it to use the heat of its dung, & the climate here is cooler than that of Algiers…</blockquote>
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
<p>Alan Davidson and Tom Jaine, eds., “Fenugreek,” <i>The Oxford Companion to Food</i> (3 ed) (Oxford University Press, 2014), <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001/acref-9780192806819-e-2129?rskey=j1yQNk&result=2">https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192806819.001.0001/acref-9780192806819-e-2129?rskey=j1yQNk&result=2</a>.</p>
<p>Image: Zakariya ibn Muhammad Qazwini and Muhammad ibn Muhammad Shakir Ruzmah-'i Nathani. Illustration: “Fenugreek, Chickpea, and Melilot, Leaf from Turkish Version of the Wonders of Creation”, Text Title: “Tercüme-yi 'Aca'ib ül-mahlukat,” (1121 AH/AD 1717 [Ottoman]) (The Walters Art Museum, Acquired by Henry Walters, 1931), <a href="https://library-artstor-org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/asset/AWALTERSIG_10313537049">https://library-artstor-org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/asset/AWALTERSIG_10313537049</a>.</p>
<p><i>Elia Zhang, Columbia University</i></p>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Fenugreek, <i>Trigonella foenum-graecum</i>, is a plant in the pea family. Fenugreek seed is yellow and brown in color, and is frequently used in India for making curries.