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| Ivory black | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ivory black |
| Alternative names | Bone black, Mars black (historical) |
| Type | Carbon-based pigment |
| Chemical formula | Carbon (amorphous) |
| Color | Deep black |
| Pigments | Carbonized bone, charred ivory |
| First used | Ancient Egypt; documented use through Renaissance |
| Notable users | Rembrandt, Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, Édouard Manet, J. M. W. Turner |
| Permanence | High lightfastness; variable chemical stability |
| Toxicity | Low to moderate; concerns with arsenic/lead contamination historically |
Ivory black is a traditional deep black pigment historically made by charring animal bone or ivory. It has been used since antiquity in Ancient Egypt, through the Renaissance, into modern 20th century art and industrial applications. Artists, conservators, and materials scientists study its production, spectral behavior, and conservation challenges in relation to works by masters such as Rembrandt, Francisco Goya, Pablo Picasso, Édouard Manet, and Albrecht Dürer.
The name derives from the historical practice of charring ivory and bone in pits or retorts, documented in sources tied to Ancient Egypt, Classical Antiquity, and Medieval Europe. Guild records from the Renaissance and inventories of ateliers associated with Leonardo da Vinci and Titian list "bone" or "ivory" blacks alongside lamp black and vine black; such materials appear in palettes cataloged for Rembrandt and Diego Velázquez. During the Industrial Revolution and the rise of chemical pigment manufacture in 19th-century France and Britain, producers like those supplying Eugène Delacroix and J. M. W. Turner standardized bone-char processes, while artists including Goya and later Pablo Picasso adapted ivory black to evolving media.
Ivory black is primarily amorphous carbon derived from the calcined organic matrix of bone or ivory; historic recipes describe controlled pyrolysis in sealed vessels used by workshops tied to Florence and Paris. Bone contains hydroxyapatite and trace elements such as calcium and phosphorus, which remain as mineral residues in the pigment particles; trade routes connecting Mogadishu and Lisbon influenced ivory sourcing historically, with regulatory impacts from treaties like those later embodied by institutions such as CITES. Nineteenth-century manufacturers in Lyon and London mechanized calcination; modern syntheses in laboratories at institutions like University College London and Massachusetts Institute of Technology replicate particle size and porosity via controlled thermal decomposition, sometimes blended with organic binders studied at research centers including the Getty Conservation Institute.
Morphology and optics of the pigment have been characterized using scanning electron microscopy at facilities like Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids and spectroscopic methods developed at Royal Society-affiliated labs. Ivory black particles exhibit porous, irregular shapes with residual phosphate-rich matrices detectable by X-ray diffraction at synchrotrons such as European Synchrotron Radiation Facility and by Raman spectroscopy used at Smithsonian Institution analytical labs. Optical absorption across visible and near-infrared bands provides high covering power; conservation scientists referencing studies at The Courtauld Institute of Art and Tate correlate reflectance spectra with artist use. Thermal stability assessments performed at National Institute of Standards and Technology and colorimetry protocols from International Color Consortium-aligned groups help predict aging in collections held by museums like the Louvre and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Artists from Rembrandt and Goya to Pablo Picasso and Édouard Manet applied ivory black in oil, tempera, and watercolor palettes; workshop manuals from Vasari and nineteenth-century treatises used by studios in Paris and Rome discuss its mixing with lead white and vermilion for tonal modulation. Printmakers in Edo period Japan and 19th-century Britain used carbon blacks including bone-derived blacks for ink formulations; industrial uses emerged in 19th-century Germany for polishing, glazing, and as precursor to carbon blacks used in tyre reinforcement technologies developed by companies contemporaneous with Karl Benz and Goodyear. Contemporary artists and conservators associated with institutions like Tate Modern and Museum of Modern Art continue to address the pigment’s role in monochrome practice and mixed-media works.
Historic procurement of ivory-linked materials implicates trade and regulatory frameworks such as those later codified by CITES and informed by conservation ethics debated at forums including ICOM. Contaminants in historical batches—arsenic residues from preservation methods or lead from processing equipment—have been documented by analytical teams at Smithsonian Institution and British Museum, prompting guidelines by occupational health bodies like OSHA and national agencies such as Environmental Protection Agency. Modern production minimizes hazardous residues under standards promulgated by organizations like ISO; institutions including the Getty Conservation Institute and Wellcome Trust fund research on ethical sourcing and substitution policies to avoid illegal ivory linked to poaching and to comply with international law and museum acquisition policies.
Conservators and scientists at the Getty Conservation Institute, Tate, Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and university centers employ noninvasive imaging—reflectance hyperspectral imaging protocols influenced by NASA remote-sensing technology—and microanalytical techniques (SEM-EDS, Raman, FTIR) to identify carbonates and phosphates characteristic of bone-derived pigments. Provenance research spanning archives in Florence, Madrid, and Paris complements material analyses to authenticate works attributed to Rembrandt, Goya, Turner, and Picasso. Case studies published by teams from The Courtauld Institute of Art and Smithsonian Institution demonstrate how trace-element signatures and particle morphology can distinguish ivory/bone blacks from lamp black or synthetic carbon blacks, informing conservation treatments guided by professional standards from ICOM-CC and laboratory protocols at institutions like Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Category:Pigments