Indian ink
Also India ink.
A black pigment made in China and Japan, sold in sticks; understood to consist of lampblack made into a paste with a solution of gum and dried. More accurately called China ink (China 2 b).
| 1665 Pepys Diary 5 Nov., Mr. Evelyn, who..showed me most excellent painting in little, in distemper, Indian incke, water colours. 1667 Ibid. 26 Apr., A young man was working in Indian inke the great picture of the King and Queen. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 32 His designs..are in Indian ink, heightened with white. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxxvii, A drawing of the Porter's Lodge at Queen's Crawley, done..in India ink. 1887 A. Lang Bks. & Bookmen 88 It seemed to be sepia, sometimes mixed with a little Indian ink. |