Oxgall
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Description
A semitransparent liquid obtained from the gall bladders of cattle. Oxgall, or ox bile, contains sodium choleate salts (taurochloate and glycochloate) with some cholesterol, lecithin, and other natural products. Oxgall is dried and powdered, then mixed with water or ethanol for use. It is an effective natural wetting agent that is used with watercolor paints to facilitate flow. Oxgall has also been used in marbling, engraving, lithography, and textile dyeing. It has been used as a plasticizer in glue-paste mixtures (Ackroyd, 1996).
Synonyms and Related Terms
ox gall ; ox-gall (Br.); ox bile; sodium choleate; Bi-ketolan; Bilein; Bilicholan; Cholatol; Crescefel; desicol; Doxychol; Glycotauro; Panoxolin; Plebilin
Other Properties
Soluble in water, ethanol.
Additional Images
Ox gall paste
Sources Checked for Data in Record
- G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971
- Reed Kay, The Painter's Guide To Studio Methods and Materials, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1983
- Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982
- George Savage, Art and Antique Restorer's Handbook, Rockliff Publishing Corp, London, 1954
- Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000