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Microscopy and X-Ray Spectroscopy Analyses for Assessment of Gilding and Silvering Techniques of Portuguese Illuminated Manuscripts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2015

Agnès Le Gac ,
Isabel D. Nogueira ,
Mauro Guerra ,
José Carlos Frade ,
Stéphane Longelin ,
Marta Manso ,
Sofia Pessanha ,
Ana Isabel M. Seruya  and
Maria Luisa Carvalho
Agnès Le Gac*
Affiliation:
Departamento Conservação e Restauro, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal Centro de Física Atómica, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
Isabel D. Nogueira
Affiliation:
Instituto Superior Técnico, Instituto de Ciência e Engenharia de Materiais e Superfícies, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Mauro Guerra
Affiliation:
Centro de Física Atómica, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
José Carlos Frade
Affiliation:
CITAR—Centro de Investigação em Ciência e Tecnologia das Artes, Escola das Artes, Centro Regional do Porto da Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 1327, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal
Stéphane Longelin
Affiliation:
Centro de Física Atómica, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
Marta Manso
Affiliation:
Centro de Física Atómica, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
Sofia Pessanha
Affiliation:
Centro de Física Atómica, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
Ana Isabel M. Seruya
Affiliation:
Centro de Física Atómica, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
Maria Luisa Carvalho
Affiliation:
Centro de Física Atómica, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal
*
*Corresponding author. alg@fct.unl.pt
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Abstract

The objects of this study are various local charters (cartas de foral, in Portuguese) granted by Dom Manuel I, King of Portugal (1495–1521), which substituted for medieval ones and were intended to achieve an administrative unification. These are luxuriously illuminated manuscripts, and our study aims at obtaining a better understanding of the gilding and silvering techniques applied to the parchments, in which the forais were written, between 1500 and 1520. The combined use of microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy analyses allowed us to identify the vestigial materials used for making the parchments, including products such as salt (NaCl), lime (CaO), pumice stone (SiO2+Al2O3), and chalk (CaCO3). Chalk was employed as a whitening agent to give the parchment its final color and opacity. Shell-gold and shell-silver mixed in with animal glue or gum binding media were directly applied on type 1 and 3 forais, while very thin gold leaves (<1 µm) were applied over lead-based tempera grounds (50–180 µm thick) in type 2 forais. Silver was always employed in its finest form without a further protective layer (thus its recursive state of corrosion), while gold was used in various alloy grades.

Keywords

X-ray spectroscopySEM-EDSEDXRFFTIRIlluminated manuscripts
Type
SPMicros Special Section
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , February 2015 , pp. 20 - 55
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2015 

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