Fruit stone black

Description

A carbon black pigment obtained by charring the pits from peaches, dates or cherries and later from nut shells such as walnut, almond or coconut. The deep blue-black color was recommended for watercolor paints in the early 17th century. Vegetable blacks were rarely used in oil painting due to very slow drying times.

Synonyms and Related Terms

kernel black; peach black; vegetable black; pit black

Additional Information

J.Winter, "The Characterization of Pigments Based on Carbon" Studies in Conservation, 28:49-66, 1983.

Authority

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• John S. Mills, Raymond White, The Organic Chemistry of Museum Objects, Butterworth Heineman, London, 2nd ed., 1994

• Art and Architecture Thesaurus Online, http://www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/aat/, J. Paul Getty Trust, Los Angeles, 2000