TY - JOUR
T1 - Secondary ion mass spectrometry, a powerful tool for revealing ink formulations and animal skins in medieval manuscripts
AU - Gravis, David
AU - Roy, Nicolas
AU - Ruffini-Ronzani, Nicolas
AU - Houssiau, Laurent
AU - Felten, Alexandre
AU - Tumanov, Nikolay
AU - Deparis, Olivier
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors.
PY - 2023/6/7
Y1 - 2023/6/7
N2 - Book production by medieval scriptoria have gained growing interest in recent studies. In this context, identifying ink compositions and parchment animal species from illuminated manuscripts is of great importance. Here, we introduce time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) as a non-invasive tool to identify both inks and animal skins in manuscripts, at the same time. For this purpose, both positive and negative ion spectra in inked and non-inked areas were recorded. Chemical compositions of pigments (decoration) or black inks (text) were determined by searching for characteristic ion mass peaks. Animal skins were identified by data processing of raw ToF-SIMS spectra using principal component analysis (PCA). In illuminated manuscripts from the fifteenth to sixteenth century, malachite (green), azurite (blue), cinnabar (red) inorganic pigments, as well as iron-gall black ink, were identified. Carbon black and indigo (blue) organic pigments were also identified. Animal skins were identified in modern parchments of known animal species by a two-step PCA procedure. We believe the proposed method will find extensive application in material studies of medieval manuscripts, as it is non-invasive, highly sensitive and able to identify both inks and animal skins at the same time, even from traces of pigments and tiny scanned areas.
AB - Book production by medieval scriptoria have gained growing interest in recent studies. In this context, identifying ink compositions and parchment animal species from illuminated manuscripts is of great importance. Here, we introduce time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) as a non-invasive tool to identify both inks and animal skins in manuscripts, at the same time. For this purpose, both positive and negative ion spectra in inked and non-inked areas were recorded. Chemical compositions of pigments (decoration) or black inks (text) were determined by searching for characteristic ion mass peaks. Animal skins were identified by data processing of raw ToF-SIMS spectra using principal component analysis (PCA). In illuminated manuscripts from the fifteenth to sixteenth century, malachite (green), azurite (blue), cinnabar (red) inorganic pigments, as well as iron-gall black ink, were identified. Carbon black and indigo (blue) organic pigments were also identified. Animal skins were identified in modern parchments of known animal species by a two-step PCA procedure. We believe the proposed method will find extensive application in material studies of medieval manuscripts, as it is non-invasive, highly sensitive and able to identify both inks and animal skins at the same time, even from traces of pigments and tiny scanned areas.
KW - attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
KW - cultural heritage
KW - parchment and inks
KW - surface analysis
KW - time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry
KW - X-ray diffraction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85162174843&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1098/rsos.230059
DO - 10.1098/rsos.230059
M3 - Article
SN - 2054-5703
VL - 10
JO - Royal Society Open Science
JF - Royal Society Open Science
IS - 6
M1 - 230059
ER -