ANNOTATION PLANS
3.10.2016

1. Names of your group of 2-3
Amy Chang, Olivia Clemens, Yuanxie Shi

2. Describe your annotation plans (2 annotations)
The topics I would like to investigate are enamels and imitation gems--particularly azurite, carnelian, and red transparent enamel; and imitation sapphires and jacinth. To approach this I would like to group these recipes into areas to annotate by color (red and blue) rather than by material end goals (enamel and imitation gems) since it seems a helpful approach to identify whether there are any "unnecessary" inactive ingredients across colors due to alchemical theories (as Dr. Smith has identified is the case for gold in recipes for red lakes). Additionally, it seems useful for understanding the challenges particular to a pigment class since the materials for both end products seem mainly glass based.

Materially, there are 2 main issues here that I think are interesting: 1) What does does the MS mean by "enamel"? 2) How are imitation gems and enamel understood as different or similar based on material commonalities and visual effects? Underneath these questions is a larger one about the distance between visual and tactile experience of a surface on the one hand, and ontological knowledge of material identity on the other. I am specifically interested in looking at these questions through these recipes because enamels are typically meant to cover the surfaces of object which are meant to be handled and imitation gems can be similarly used in settings for jewelry and clothing--this means that both products have to exceed the realm of visual and their recipes must expect tactile interaction.

For instance if it is the case that imitation gems are meant to deceive, then there is another level on which they must assert themselves in deception beyond visual illusionism, which is to say: Does this feel like a gem? Does it have the proper weight? Does it have the proper hardness and texture? What would someone thing of the level of reflection and refraction? Which qualities can be imitated and which cannot? Whether attention is paid to there questions in recipes can help illuminate whether the point of an imitation gem is to deceive, or if it is something like rhinestone in that everyone knows that its not real but it is something that has acquired its own aesthetic following and uses.

Regarding enamel a major question is: Is this meant to be applied to metal, or is something closer to paint? How close is this to ceramic glazes? Is it understood as something like paint, or gems, or colored glass? How close is it to recipes for colored glass and ceramic glazes? Does this tell us something about who was working with enamel and how the knowledge diffused? What about how closely knowledge was shared between different branches of the arts of fire?

Overall at the end of everything I would like to compare whether there is stronger affinity between recipes by color or by material, and how this can be situated within the space between theoretical and empirical knowledge, what points to a new concept of scientific method and what points to an older inherited one.

3. lists the recipes from MS Fr. 640 (and any other source) that you have identified so far (include full recipes if practical)
4. lays out a schematic plan for the historical, object-based, and hands-on research that will shed light on these recipes.
5. list of materials you expect to need, are they in the lab inventory?, where you will source them, and safety considerations.

--What is Venice lake?
“artists and agents from throughout northern and central Italy traveled to Venice to obtain painting materials, and the existence of the color sellers provides a more complete explanation for these trips…
Red and yellow lake pigments were among the most effective colorants for producing transparent and translucent paint in the Renaissance. The lakes were made from dyes such as madder, brazilwood, or fustic, which were rendered insoluble and suitable for painting usually by reaction with alum (aluminum potassium sulfate) or precipitated onto chalk or finely divided white earth. The importing and manufacturing trades in Venice provided many dyes, and Venice became renowned for its high-quality red lakes (Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting, p. 303).”

--How to make turpentine varnish?
"To 1 pt. spirits of turpentine add10 oz. clear resin, pounded; put it in a tin can on a stove and let it boil for half an hour. When the resin is all dissolved, let it cool and it is ready for use (The Scientific American Cyclopedia of Receipts, Notes and Queries, p. 579)."





6. a safety protocol for your materials, based on the template in GD Student Files in the folder labelled __Safety - Workflow and Protocol__. Your document should describe your workflow, and what safety measures you will need to take. Upload it into the folder labelled __Safety - Workflow and Protocol__. Your file in this folder should be linked to your Wiki field notes.