Materials and techniques used for the “Vienna Moamin”: multianalytical investigation of a book about hunting with falcons from the thirteenth century

Abstract

A multianalytical approach was used to characterize the materials in the “Vienna Moamin”, an outstanding richly illustrated manuscript from the late thirteenth century, which was made in Italy and is now kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. The investigations were carried out with a non-invasive approach by using complementary techniques, such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF), reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (rFTIR), Raman spectroscopy, and fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS). In addition, XRF scans were performed in two areas which yielded chemical maps showing the elemental distribution. The results revealed that typical materials from the medieval times were applied for the manuscript. Calcium carbonate on the parchment surface indicated a dehairing process with lime and/or whitening with chalk. Two different iron gall inks were detected in the main text and marginal notes, and vermilion was used for rubrication. The color palette included azurite, a green colorant composed of orpiment and indigo, yellow ochre, brown iron oxide pigments, minium, vermilion, brazilwood lake, and carbon black. Moreover, mosaic gold was detected in gold-beige hues. Lead white was identified for white areas and fine decoration lines, as well as in mixture with blue and red pigments for light color shades. No reliable information could be obtained concerning the binding media. Two differing application techniques for gold leaf were detected, which correspond with stylistic differences: either on gypsum or chalk preparation layers. Furthermore, calcium soap contents in certain colors were determined only on one folio with unique characteristics. The XRF scans of two historiated initials revealed that similar materials were applied in both cases and provided further valuable information about the painting technique. The results obtained enabled to gain insights into Italian thirteenth century manuscript production techniques and to characterize the used materials. The investigations showed the importance of scanning XRF for the elucidation of painting techniques, but also the demand of scanning devices utilizing compound specific analytical techniques such as rFTIR.

Analysis of the manufacturing craft of the painted gold foils applied on the lacquerware of the Jin Yang Western Han Dynasty tomb in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China

“…For its shining appearance and stable chemical properties, gold has been favoured by different cultures for a long time and is widely used for the decoration of artefacts, especially being processed to thin foils as surface decoration. Gold foils of cultural relics were found on the surfaces of metal [1], stone [1,2], ceramic [1][2][3], glass [3], mosaic [3], wood [4,5], paper [6], parchment [1], tiles [7], plaster [8] and so on. Those unearthed in China are on the surfaces of metals, wood, lacquerware or separately excavated [9] more frequently.…”

Characterization of Korean handmade papers collected in a Hanji reference book

“…Material characterization can provide useful information on paper composition and conservation state [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Investigation on traditional East Asian handmade papers employed a variety of material characterisation methods such as physical property measurements [22,23,30], microscopy observation [31][32][33] and chemical composition analysis [34][35][36].…”