Application of reflected light microscopy for non-invasive wood identification of marquetry furniture and small wood carvings

Abstract

a b s t r a c tWood identification is a basic information that should interest any wooden artefact. This typically involves invasive sampling, but sometimes sampling is unattainable either because of the object typology or because it is difficult to obtain authorizations. In the present study, reflected light microscopy potential as a non-invasive identification tool for wooden cultural artefacts is assessed on a number of marquetry furniture and small wood carvings. In more than one half of the 13 examined cases accurate wood identification was possible, while the remaining cases yielded information of diagnostic value, making it possible to exclude several potential candidate species. In a number of cases the use of optical filters improved the visibility of character states. Shape and orientation of surfaces influenced the visibility of microscopic characters. The study confirms that reflected light microscopy is a valuable tool for non-invasive wood identification. In many cases it is able to support accurate identification, in others it can anyway provide important information, useful to help decision about supposed species, or to limit the invasiveness of possible further analysis by addressing them on specific features.

Asia-Pacific forest sector outlook: Innovative forestry for a sustainable future. Youth contributions from Asia and the Pacific.

“…However, the applicability of RLM depends greatly on the degree of visibility of anatomical features, which can help with species identification by comparing to wood anatomy databases, textbooks and IAWA lists (Ruffinatto et al 2010;Ruffinatto et al 2014). RLM cannot be applied on artefacts whose surfaces are generally treated and coated because this hinders the identification of anatomical features.…”

“…RLM cannot be applied on artefacts whose surfaces are generally treated and coated because this hinders the identification of anatomical features. Sometimes, very old historical structures and artefacts are deteriorated, which distorts their anatomical structure (Ruffinatto et al 2010;Ruffinatto et al 2014). In such cases, some anatomical features may be recognized but wood species identification cannot be confirmed conclusively.…”

Emerging photonic technologies for cultural heritage studies: the examples of non-linear optical microscopy and photoacoustic imaging

“…Furthermore, diagnostic methods such as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), Digital Holography and Terahertz imaging [3][4][5] can reveal structural information and provide a 3D mapping of multi-layered CH media. In addition, other relevant modalities include IR thermography [6], which is used to record the temperature of an object's surface and monitor its variations over time, optical techniques such as Reflected light optical microscopy for superficial observations [7], and elemental analysis methods (e.g., X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry [8]) have been extensively used for detailed investigations in CH. On site/remote techniques capable to record the emitted fluorescence or images that reveal the reflectance spectrum of the materials include George Filippidis and George J. Tserevelakis have contributed equally to this study.…”

Non-invasive wood identification on parts of King Horemheb's ritual couches (New kingdom)

“…Due to the low availability of wood for sampling and analysing, a large amount of Egyptian wooden artefacts are preserved in museums without scientific identification such as the collection of King Horemheb at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. In recent papers, reflected light microscopy (RLM) was considered as an effective tool for non-invasive identification of historical wooden objects [3][4]. So, the purpose of this work is to non-invasively identify the botanical species of wood, through the use of reflected light microscopy, to improve our knowledge of wood species used for making ritual couches in King Horemheb period for the first time since the discovery of his tomb in 1908.…”