Investigation of Pigments on an Indian Palm Leaf Manuscript (18th – 19th century) by SEM-EDX and other Techniques

Abstract

This paper discusses pigments used in Indian palm leaf manuscripts. Formerly it was believed that pigments for palm leaf illustrations were mostly sourced from plant extracts – a believe that is still widespread in India. This paper reports the identification of pigments of an illustrated palm leaf manuscript (eighteenth – nineteenth century) collected from the east coast of India. As Raman spectra of many pigments gave too high background noise, the identification was mostly accomplished through SEM-EDX and FTIR spectroscopy. The analytical findings indicated that both mineral colours and plant extracts were sourced for Indian palm-leaf manuscripts. Analysis indicated the use of lamp black for black, indigo for blue, vermillion for red, orpiment for yellow, china clay for white and a mixture of orpiment and indigo for green coloration in the illustrations. The data has improved our knowledge of historic pigments used in palm leaf illustrations. As some of the pigments are either photosensitive or darken due to atmospheric pollution, necessary preventive conservation measures need to be adopted.

Pigments—Arsenic-based yellows and reds

“…Orpiment, used alone or in admixture with other pigments, was recently identified on Egyptian sarcophagi (Vandenabeele et al 2007) and cartonnage (Gard et al 2020), early Irish manuscripts (Burgio et al 2013), Italian medieval and Renaissance manuscripts (Burgio et al 2010), English manuscripts (Panayotova et al 2017), Islamic manuscripts (Chaplin et al 2006, Burgio et al 2008, Persian manuscripts (Muralha et al 2012a), Byzantine manuscripts (Daniilia and Andrikopoulos 2007), Cistercian manuscripts (Muralha et al 2012b), Asian manuscripts (Nöller et al 2015), Visigothic manuscripts (Carter et al 2016), neareastern icons (Lahlil and Martin 2012), Indian palm-leaf manuscripts (Singh and Sharma 2020), Tudor portrait miniatures (Burgio et al 2012), Tibetan wall paintings (Li et al 2014b), Chilean archaeological sediments (Ogalde et al Uzon caldera in Kamchatka Orpiment, stibnite, uzonite Popova and Polyakov 1985;Popova et al 1986;Bychkov and Grichuk 1991;Migdisov and Bychkov, 1998 (Vermeulen et al 2015) and woodblock prints (Korenberg et al 2019), paintings in Ethiopian churches (Gebremariam et al 2016), Chinese reverse glass (Steger et al 2019) and chiaroscuro woodcuts (Laclavetine et al 2019).…”

Revealing the Mechanism of Ink Flaking from Surfaces of Palm Leaves (Corypha umbraculifera)

“…10 Unfortunately, research studies on palm leaf manuscripts are sparse due to their complex, scarce, and precious nature. 11,12 Most studies on palm leaf manuscripts are conducted in a simplistic manner and lack in-depth discussion. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more profound research on palm-leaf manuscripts to better protect these precious records.…”

“…Chu and co-workers reported the mechanical properties of historical palm leaf manuscripts in various states of deterioration, showing a significant reduction in tensile strength . Unfortunately, research studies on palm leaf manuscripts are sparse due to their complex, scarce, and precious nature. , Most studies on palm leaf manuscripts are conducted in a simplistic manner and lack in-depth discussion. Therefore, there is an urgent need for more profound research on palm-leaf manuscripts to better protect these precious records.…”