| Abstract: | SUMMARIES. Technical and analytical studies were carried out on a fifteenth-century German illuminated manu¬script, Barlaam und Josephat, in the collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum. Deterioration of the paper support has occurred as a result of interaction with the copper green pigments used extensively for illumina¬tion. The green pigment was determined by X-ray diffraction to be a variety of basic verdigris and the binding medium, analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), was determined to be egg. A dark green glaze was shown to have a glue binder, and is an example of a copper-proteinate complex. An organic red. also in a glue binder, was characterized by thin-layer chromatography and UV/vis spectroscopy as rhubarb, mordanted with alum. Rhubarb has not been previously identified as an organic red colorant in illu¬minated manuscripts. Vermilion, azurite, lead white and an unidentified organic yellow were also employed in the decoration. Discussion of the artistic milieu in which the manuscript was produced includes comparisons with well-known manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries such as the Strasburg Manuscript and the Göttingen Model Book. The possible options for conservation treatment of the embrittled paper support are discussed. |
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