The production of manuscripts termed as “Persian” is characterised by great richness in their decoration, illustrated by beautiful and sophisticated miniatures and writings. This feature is equally shared by manuscripts of Iranian, Turk-Ottoman and Moghul Indian geographic provenance, coming inside a large area of Persian influence and culture that goes from Turkey to northern India across modern Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Of particular interest in Persian manuscripts is also the great care in the preparation of supports for painting, which notably differs from traditional methods used in Western miniature painting art. Some relevant features are the use of sheets dyed in many and different hues, the practice of spraying noble metal particles on the surface of sheets and the practice called as marbling, consisting in the use an oil/water emulsions to create patterns similar to smooth marble. A contribution to this knowledge has been given by non invasive analysis performed on some Persian manuscripts held in Italian libraries and museums. UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry, spectrofluorimetry and x-ray fluorescence spectrometry were used in situ to characterise the palettes used on these manuscripts, with particular relevance to the identification of organic colorants. Results evidenced that the richness from the figurative point of view corresponded to richness in the choice of painting materials. The palettes used by Persian artists, in fact, nearly always included precious pigments such as gold, orpiment, cinnabar, lake pigments made from insects and, above all, the highly prised lapis lazuli coming from Badakshan (north eastern Afghanistan).

A noninvasive investigation into the richness of the painting materials used on Persian manuscripts

AGOSTINO, Angelo;FENOGLIO, GAIA;GULMINI, Monica;IDONE, AMBRA;RUSSO, Maria Luisa;
2013-01-01

Abstract

The production of manuscripts termed as “Persian” is characterised by great richness in their decoration, illustrated by beautiful and sophisticated miniatures and writings. This feature is equally shared by manuscripts of Iranian, Turk-Ottoman and Moghul Indian geographic provenance, coming inside a large area of Persian influence and culture that goes from Turkey to northern India across modern Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Of particular interest in Persian manuscripts is also the great care in the preparation of supports for painting, which notably differs from traditional methods used in Western miniature painting art. Some relevant features are the use of sheets dyed in many and different hues, the practice of spraying noble metal particles on the surface of sheets and the practice called as marbling, consisting in the use an oil/water emulsions to create patterns similar to smooth marble. A contribution to this knowledge has been given by non invasive analysis performed on some Persian manuscripts held in Italian libraries and museums. UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry, spectrofluorimetry and x-ray fluorescence spectrometry were used in situ to characterise the palettes used on these manuscripts, with particular relevance to the identification of organic colorants. Results evidenced that the richness from the figurative point of view corresponded to richness in the choice of painting materials. The palettes used by Persian artists, in fact, nearly always included precious pigments such as gold, orpiment, cinnabar, lake pigments made from insects and, above all, the highly prised lapis lazuli coming from Badakshan (north eastern Afghanistan).
2013
TECHNART 2013 Analytical Spectroscopy in Art and Archaeology
Amsterdam - Paesi Bassi
23-26 Settembre 2013
Technart 2013 Analytical Spectroscopy in Art and Archaeology
95
95
Aceto M;Agostino A;Fenoglio G;Gulmini M;IDONE A.;Benotto A;Russo M L;Abate F M
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/156699
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