Synthetic Egyptian Blue and the Evil Eye

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First day

on February 01, 2025

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We have arrived in Cairo, ready to find the blue.

Cairo

Location: Le Caire, Gouvernorat du Caire, Égypte

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Visit at city of the dead

Today we met with Hudhud. Alleging to be the main protagonist of the movie Kaboria, and the only one able to make the ancient blue pigment, his shop lies in the historic city of the dead. H. claims to be the only person capable of making this synthetic blue. He generously informs us about the process of making it, using terminology that resembles cooking and bread baking. At Abdel Nabi, where H. gets one of his ingredient, the copper craftsman, H. explains, takes his hammer to soften the copper sheets (the copper has to be red? Or Yellow? It’s important that it is one or the other, but we do not recall. Thankfully we have an audio that needs transcribing). As the copper gets soft to be able to decorate, Abdelnabi bathes the sheet in a water sink. You are to hear the sound of Tshhh, just like molokheyya*. As the copper sinks into the water, a thin black layer floats onto the surface, which is H's main ingredient. This he takes, cleans up and mixes with salt, while heating it. He mak...

findings of the last 10 days in the lab

For over two years, we’ve been researching Egyptian blue—the world’s first synthetic pigment—in an effort to understand and recreate its ancient formula. We’ve tested a wide range of recipes, adjusting ingredients and firing conditions. Recently, working with Joseph and John, we began to see promising results. Some of the most successful samples have now been ground into pigment and mixed with gum Arabic to make paint. We’ve started testing them on pottery shards prepared by Hanaa Shawky, a conservator with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. Our next step is to analyze these samples in the lab of the Grand Egyptian Museum, thanks to the support of Dr. Salima Ikram, who has followed this project from the beginning. The key test will be to see if the pigment shows the characteristic luminescence under infrared light—a signature of authentic Egyptian blue. If it does, it will be a strong indication that our recipe is close to the original. In May, we’ll travel across Egypt, both north ...

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Copyright Dina Danish &Jean-Baptiste Maitre 2025 -This project is made possible with help of the Mondrian Fund