Reworking Recipes

Abstract

While the complementary nature of practical texts has been addressed in the literature, less is known about the interplay between text and practice itself. What were the boundaries, constraints and possibilities that determined how the interplay between text and practice could evolve? How did text as a medium determine the playing field for authors and readers? What were, in other words, the particular challenges and affordances that text as a medium brought to the communication of practical knowledge? In as far as the challenges of textual communication have been mentioned in previous scholarship, the focus has primarily been on the tacit, gestural or embodied character of practical knowledge. A few other examples include the culture-specific or local character of practical knowledge that remain difficult to account for in text. 56 However, in virtually every case the focus has been on the writer's perspective. The challenges texts as a medium pose to the communication of practical knowledge thus appear to only complicate the writer's task, while the reader's perspective has received almost no attention at all. In this dissertation, I include the reader's perspective and study practical texts as a medium that brought specific challenges and affordances, not only to the authors but also to the readers.

Red glass in Kunckel's Ars Vitraria Experimentalis: The importance of temperature

“…Kunckel argues that the color of glass is sensitive to the way ingredients are sourced and processed and emphasizes the importance of furnace management in optimizing the color of glass. Kunckel does in fact provide advice on fire management and adequate timing in glassmaking: “when the Fire is much too Strong, the Color that one obtains will perish and another will appear that one does not desire nor wants to have.” 8 In this study, all the produced glasses presented the characteristic amorphous properties of vitreous materials and the diffraction patterns of metallic copper. The significant difference observed in the produced glasses was obtained when different melting temperatures were used.…”

“…Different mixtures resulted from the distinctive preparation methods of the crocus martis, with the results of the reproduction presented in Refs. [7,8] clearly showing the impact of the production method on the color and crystallographic properties of the obtained iron oxide.…”

“…These products are mixtures of metallic iron and different iron oxides. Most recipes suggest correcting the final color with small additions of iron compounds 7,8 …”

“…For the other iron‐oxides (which appear in the recipes as crocus martis ) Kunckel provides recipes starting from steel or iron. Two of the recipes (124 and 128) introduce this compound in the form of crocus martis 8 . The rosichiero recipe 125 prescribes the use of bloodstone or natural hematite.…”

“…Source: Based on Ref. [8] processes and on the materials and equipment used, including tools for glass shaping, mold production, and furnaces. Furthermore, along with new recipes, glass recipe books are often critical translations and may contain commentaries, annotations, and additional recipes from previous treatises.…”