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Lye
"lye, n.1". OED Online. March 2016. Oxford University Press. http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/111578?rskey=TpocRZ&result=1&isAdvanced=false (accessed March 20, 2016).

Research lyes as mordants


Litharge or White Lead?
The french term in the MS is 'litharge'
So is this recipe using white lead or litharge - and if litharge, is it yellow lead or red lead?

Thid term is only used once again in the manuscript in the below recipe:

32v
VitrierIls nont poinct linvention de faire un rouge parfaict en besoigne quil fault recuire Touteffois essaye le rouge dallemaigne qui est rouge descaille Ils font leur rouge commun avecq de la sanguineestain de glacerocaille litharge & un peu descaille de fer. Ledict rouge se charge dun coste & daultre du verre affin quil aye plus de couleur sil nestoit charge que dun coste il seroit trop orange paste

Glassmakers
They have no way to produce a perfect red that needs to be annealed. Try, however, the German red which is scaled red. They produce their ordinary red with some sanguine iced pewter, lead rocks, and some iron file dust. This red is to be applied on both sides of the glass< because it is more colourful. If it were applied on one side only it would look pastel orange.

Litharge is Lead Oxide, whereas White Lead is a basic lead carbonate.

Question: is this an unusual recipe, but one suitable given he is in a metal workshop? Is this about the availability of goods, and the trade and identity of the author practitioner (in the same manner as the hourglass sand experiment?)

Litharge in the OED:



a. Protoxide of lead (PbO) prepared by exposing melted lead to a current of air. †Also litharge of lead.

1322 in 23/20 Litarge 4d. per lb.
c1386 Chaucer 222 Oure grounden litarge eek in the P[o]rfurie.
1477 T. Norton Ordinall of Alchimy iii, in E. Ashmole (1652) 41 Then we name it our grounde Litharge.
1563 T. Galeiv. ii. f. 48v, Take Litarge of leide in fyne pouder.
1674 J. Ray Smelting Silver in 114 When the furnace is come to a true temper of heat the Lead converted into Litharge is cast off.
1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont 325 Lead being..burnt into Litargie, retakes also its first Form..if a Lixiviate Salt be..applied to it.
1758 A. Reid tr. P. J. Macquer I. 389 Pure Lead, being exposed to a strong fire without any additament, turns to Litharge.
1860 G. W. S. Piesse 155 Put a few grains of litharge before the blowpipe flame.
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†b. litharge of gold: a name given to litharge when coloured red by mixture of red lead. litharge of silver: a name given to it as being a by-product in the separation of silver from lead. litharge of bismuth: ? a similar product obtained by the oxidation of bismuth. Obs.

c1400 99 Take..litarge of gold, litarge of siluir g. viii.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens vi. lxxxvii. 771 To be pound with the lytarge of sylver and frankencense.
1597 J. Gerardii. 269 The iuice mixed with oile of roses, ceruse, and littarge of golde, and applied [etc.].
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny I. 304 The very root of the right Nard..is mingled..with Litharge of siluer, Antimony, or the rind of Cyperus.
1639 T. de Grayii. ix. 208 Take lyturgy of Gold, and lyturgy of Silver.. Mixe well the lyturgys.
1718 J. Quincyii. xii. 213 Lethargyrus Auri, Letharge of Gold. It generally is call'd thus for its Colour sake.
1728 E. Chambers (at cited word), Artificial Litharge is of two Kinds, viz. that of Gold, and that of Silver; or rather 'tis the same, with this difference, that the one having undergone a greater Degree of Fire than the other has occasioned different Colours, and thence different Names.
1796 R. Kirwan (ed. 2) II. 489 Litharge of Bismuth.
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†2. Used as equivalent to white lead or red lead (see lead n.1 2).

1551 W. Turner sig. M j, The iuice of Coriandre with whyte lede or lythurgyry and vinegre.
1660 J. Howell sig. H h hv, Litargie, or white Lead.
1683 J. Pettus (1686) i. 26 Of these pibble-stones take one part, and half a part of red Littorage or Littarge..and hete it well.
1796 R. Kirwan (ed. 2) II. 368 Litharge or Red Lead.
1800 tr. E. J. B. Bouillon-Lagrange II. 64 If you expose to heat in a crucible red oxide of lead or litharge.






Amsterdam student work in Drive Student Files

Fall 2015 files by Yuan Yi and Cindy Kok