Two 16th century recipes for dyeing wood

From Girolamo Ruscelli, The secretes of the reuerende Maister Alexis of Piemoun … London: By Iohn Kingstone for Nicolas Inglande, dwellinge in Poules churchyard, 1558. Transcribed and modernized by Marybeth Lavrakas, 2005.

A very goodly secret to dye or color wood, of what[ever] color a man will, which some Joiners do use that make tables and other things of divers colors, and do so esteem it among themselves to be of such excellency, that one brother will not teach it to another.

Take early in the morning new and fresh horse dung made that night [1], and take of the moistest you can get, with the straw or litter and all, and lay upon some little sticks laid across one over another, and set some vessel underneath for to receive that [which] shall fall drop or fall from the said dung. And if you cannot have enough in one morning, do the like two or three times, or as often as you will. Then when you have well drained out the water of the dung you shall put into every pot of the said water roche alum [2] the bigness of a bean, and as much gum Arabic. [3] Then steep what[ever] color you will in it, using divers vessels if you will have divers colors, and put in what pieces of wood you will, holding them at the fire or in the sun. And at each time pluck out some pieces and lay them apart, leaving the other in, for the longer you let them lie in the water, the more will the color adhere. And in this manner you shall have a great quantity of divers colors, the one clearer, the other darker, and may use it to your commodity, to what use you list, for they shall be colored both within and without, so that they will never lose their color neither by water or any other thing. (pages 87-88)

To counterfeit the black wood called Hebenus, or Hebenum, and to make it as fair as the natural Hebene, which growth nowhere but in India.

All kind of wood that is like unto this Ebony may be dyed black, but the hardest and the massivest ([such] as box and other like) are meetest for it, and will be brighter, and above all, the wood of [a] Mulberry tree, as well the white as the black, is the best to be colored, albeit the black be much more for the purpose. Take then the said wood, and let it lie the space of three days in alum water, either in the sun or a pretty way off from the fire, until the water wax somewhat warm. Then take oil olive, or oil of linseed, and put it in a little pan wherein is Roman vitriol [4] the bigness of a nut of, and as much Brimstone.[5] This done, seethe your wood in the said oil a certain space, and so shall you have a thing very dark of color. And the longer you let it boil, the blacker it will wax, but too much boiling burns it and makes it brittle. Therefore both in the one and the other you must be circumspect and use discretion. (page 88)

Notes
1. Although stale urine was often used in the past when dyeing fabrics, this is the first time I've encountered dung in a dye recipe. According to Griffen Dyeworks, dung generally contains phosphates, carbonates, sulfates, chlorides, silicates, potassium, sodium, ammonium and fatty acids with a general 4.6 to 8.4 pH. I don't know yet what components of horse manure gave a positive contribution to dyeing wood.

2. Also "rock" alum, a particular type of alum that presumably came in pebble form rather than finely ground. Alum (Potassium aluminum sulfate) is a commonly used mordant that helps natural dyes bind to the fiber being dyed.

3. A plant resin used as a thickening agent.

4. Copper sulfate. Used as both a mordant and a color modifier on fabrics.

5. Sulpher.