Investigation of inks, pigments and paper in four Moroccan illuminated manuscripts dated to the eighteenth century

Abstract

The heritage left by the Arab world in the history of science is directly related to the innovations in both the manufacturing of paper and the production of ink. Four Moroccan manuscripts dating to the eighteenth century, conserved at the royal library of Rabat, have been analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF), scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Raman and attenuated total reflection Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR). The combination of the Raman, EDS, and EDXRF spectroscopies results allows us to Characterized the inorganic inks, pigments and fillers used in paper making process. Iron-based ink was used for writing the text for all manuscripts. The main pigments used in the titles and in the illuminated part are found to be vermillion and red ochre in red samples, azurite with barium white and ultramarine in blue color, lead chromate in yellow color, copper and arsenic based ink in green color, carbon black for black color and gold. The main fillers identified in paper are calcite and kaolin. FTIR-ATR and Raman analysis revealed the presence of the characteristic bands of cellulose, the main component of paper. XRD confirms the presence of the fillers detected by FTIR-ATR. Finally, SEM allows to have a better knowledge of the typical morphology of the paper highlighting some effects of the degradation process.

Interpol questioned documents review 2019–2022

“…Twenty-six articles are included in this section to show the use in forensic document examination of analytical techniques. A selection of these is described below, however the majority are included in reference only [ [344] , [345] , [346] , [347] , [348] , [349] , [350] , [351] , [352] , [353] , [354] , [355] , [356] , [357] , [358] , [359] , [360] , [361] , [362] , [363] , [364] , [365] , [366] , [367] , [368] , [369] , [370] ] as they mainly deal with the analysis of historic documents and their components, although these documents are also examined by the FDE. A further 16 presentations [ [371] , [372] , [373] , [374] , [375] , [376] , [377] , [378] , [379] , [380] , [381] , [382] , [383] , [384] , [385] ] were given at conferences and pertain directly to FDE, as well as the two workshops [ 386 , 387 ] concerning novel analytical techniques in the field.…”

“…One article [ 347 ] investigated the inks, pigments, and papers of four Moroccan illuminated manuscripts from the 18th century. The authors employed X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF), scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM–EDS), Raman and attenuated total reflection Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR-ATR) in various combinations to characterize the various components in these documents.…”

A biological cleaning agent for removing mold stains from paper artifacts

“…Raman spectroscopy detection: The DXR 2xi micro-Raman imaging spectrometer [44] was used to detect spectral changes in paper bers under different treatments. A 785 nm laser with 20mW power was used for excitation.…”

Separating pigments and fillers from the polymer matrix in acrylic colors subjected to natural aging

“…Optical spectroscopy offers a wide variety of techniques for in situ, non-invasive, sensitive analysis, and in recent years has been applied to many art objects and materials. In the literature, the capability of different analytical techniques in characterizing the pictorial materials has been discussed [1][2][3][4][5][6]. Nonetheless, when acrylic colors are concerned, the separation of the different components, first of all the pigments from the polymeric matrix, is often a fundamental step in view of their identification and study.…”