An Insight into Gandharan Art: Materials and Techniques of Polychrome Decoration

Abstract

Gandharan art developed in the Himalayan area in the early centuries CE. It has been investigated mostly from an iconographic point of view, missing, until very recently, a systematic technical investigation of materials and techniques. Recently our team began performing chemical analyses of the traces of the polychromy originally covering statues, reliefs and architectural decorations, to discover the ancient painting techniques and artistic technologies. This paper presents the results of the analytical investigation (optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry) of pigments, ground layers and binders of a new group of samples taken from stucco architectural decorations (2nd–3rd/4th centuries CE). The samples were collected directly at an archaeological site in the Swat Valley, ensuring the exact knowledge of their stratigraphic provenance, as well as the absence of any restoration treatment applied prior sampling. The results are discussed in the wider context of Gandharan polychromy investigated so far by our team, as found in sculptures and architectural decorations preserved in museums (in Italy and France) and in archaeological excavations in Pakistan. The aim of this research is to shed light on the materials and techniques of this Buddhist ancient art from this region and on the influences exerted on it from Eastern and Western artistic traditions.

Analyses of the brown stain on the Parthenon Centaur head in Denmark

“…GC separation was performed on a fused silica capillary column coated with HP-5MS (J&W Scientific, Agilent Technologies; stationary phase 5% diphenyl-95% dimethylpolysiloxane, 30 m, 0.25 mm inner diameter, 0.25 μm film thickness) connected to a deactivated fused silica pre-column (J&W Scientific, Agilent Technologies; 2 m, 0.32 mm inner diameter). The details of the analytical procedure and the instrumental conditions are reported elsewhere [35].…”

The modeling pastes of the monumental terracruda sculpture of the Silk Roads: Archaeometric study of the Tepe Narenj and Qol‐e‐tut examples (Kabul, Afghanistan)

“…Considering all this information, the study presented in this paper was aimed at providing relevant data to elucidate some of the open questions about the technology and materials used in the production of the ancient Afghan sculptures. We wanted to understand if there were different layers of clay‐based pastes in the same sculpture, and their nature (coarser/smoother; Blänsdorf & Melzl, 2009; Klimburg‐Salter, 2018; Tarzi, 1986; Verardi, 1983), the composition of the material commonly known as ‘stucco’ (which is supposed to be lime or gypsum‐based; Middleton & Gill, 1996; Tarzi, 1986; Varma, 1987; Verri et al, 2019) and the addition of binding organic substances in the stucco or the clay‐based pastes (Bonaduce et al, 2009; Forgione, 2019; Lluveras‐Tenorio et al, 2022; Pannuzi et al, 2019). All of these data are of great relevance in addressing the design of conservation interventions on historic‐archaeological examples.…”