Page - 87 - in The Vienna Genesis - Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment

Sophie Rabitsch, Inge Boesken Kanold, Christa Hofmann 87 Application 0.23 g of the dry folium were mixed with the same amount of alum in 48 ml of tap water. A weight ratio of 30 % w/w with respect to the weight of parchment was used, which measured 0.78 g. The pH value of the liquid dyestuff was at 3.37. The parchment, prepared in Late-Antique style by Jiří Vnouček, was immersed for 24 hours in the dye bath while being kept flat. For drying, it was stretched on a soft fibreboard, using pins. The parch- ment behaved very differently than in the dye experiments with orchil or shellfish purple. It was stiffer, tore very easily and showed no tendency to curl and buckle. This could be a reaction to the low pH value of the dyestuff. Results The parchment dyed with folium has a light rose colour, very different from the folios of the Vienna Genesis. As with the previous experiments, the hair side absorbed more dye and appears therefore darker in colour than the flesh side (Fig. 14). The use of folium prepared from fresh fruits by Rita Araújo gave very similar colours as the use of folium pre- pared from dry Chrozophora fruits. The same type of parchment was used for both experi- ments. On the folios of the Vienna Genesis, no evidence of the use of a fabric for colour transfer has been detected. If the dyers of the parchment of the Vienna Genesis’ parchment Fig. 12: Dried purple fruits of Chrozophora tincto- ria. Fig. 13: Dry extract of Chrozophora tinctoria. Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0