The Analysis of Medieval European Manuscripts
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English Slovak |
| Online Access: | http://www.viks.sk/chk/revincon7.doc |
| Abstract: | SUMMARIES. The benefits of analysing the materials of manuscripts, particularly pigments, are outlined. The difficulty of analysing manuscripts, compared to that for other artefacts, is explained. The development of the analysis of manuscripts, the techniques used and the results reported, are reviewed. Suitable techniques are identified, and their strengths and weaknesses are assessed. Tables are given, which provide keys to the published analyses, indexing them by date and by the techniques used. The results of these published analyses are collated in a referenced table, showing those pigments that have been positively identified by reliable techniques, by century, for medieval European manuscripts. CONCLUSION. The amount of analytical work done has increased recently, as increasingly sensitive and unambiguous techniques are developed. An ideal technique would be: - Non-destructive. The technique should not require samples to be taken, and should do no other damage. The physical integrity of an artefact should be respected where possible. A compromise has often been the avoidance of visible damage, for example in the taking of micro-samples. - Capable of identifying a completely unknown material. - Universal (capable of identifying any material). - Sensitive to very small samples, or to very small traces in larger samples. Pigment grains may be as small as 0.5 nm across and weigh a few picograms. - Specific, i.e. be able to distinguish unambiguously between similar materials. - Immune from interference (from media, mordants, substrates etc.). Be capable of identifying components of mixtures. - Capable of good spatial resolution, to allow analysis of small adjacent areas of colour without interference from fields, and to distinguish individual pigment particles in a mixture. - Portable, such that valuable artefacts need not be transported. - Fast.However, no technique that has been published is yet ideal, and particular problems remain in the analysis without sampling of organic pigments, mixtures and media. There is no single 'magic bullet', but when more than one method of analysis is used, the weakness of any given technique may be complemented by corresponding strengths in another. Typically, fingerprinting techniques (UV-Vis, Raman and IR spectrometry), which with the dilute and small samples common on manuscripts can often give weak or ambiguous peaks, is complemented by the highly sensitive elemental analysis techniques of XRF, EDX and PIXE. The choice of equipment often simply depends on availability, as does the choice of manuscripts to examine. PIXE is a good example; it would be unimaginable to purchase a PIXE installation simply to carry out elemental analysis of manuscripts, when XRF is far simpler, cheaper and more portable, but if it is available, it can make more sense to use it. The overwhelming problem still remains that of getting equipment and manuscripts together in the same room - the equipment is often too big, and the manuscripts often too valuable, to be moved. Much published research has been determined by these considerations. Now that Raman equipment is becoming 'portable' (in the sense that it can be moved, with difficulty), more and more Raman analysis is being carried out and more may be expected. Often research has been driven by someone who has access to equipment and has a research 'itch', so examines whatever manuscripts are available; less often is it initiated by a curator, who may have difficulties in getting authorization to move manuscripts. To date, the main application of analysis has been motivated by art historical or codicological considerations, rather than by those of conservation. |
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| ISSN: | ISSN 1605-8410 |
