Page - 99 - in The Vienna Genesis - Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment

Sophie Rabitsch, Inge Boesken Kanold, Christa Hofmann 99 Semi-circular shaped transparent areas are formed by re-stretching parchment after dye- ing. These areas can be observed on some folios of the Vienna Genesis. Therefore, it can be assumed that the parchment of the manuscript was dyed after manufacture and removal of the frame. After dyeing the parchment was dried stretched. In the experiments described, the purple shades achieved with orchil more resemble the colours found on the folios of the Vienna Genesis than those obtained with folium or shellfish purple. Orchil results in warm saturated purple hues that turn brownish after light exposure. Reddish and brownish purple hues can be observed on the manuscript. The results of the technological experiments confirm the analytical identification of the purple dye on the Vienna Genesis. Orchil and folium are very light sensitive. This disadvantage might have been of less importance in a closed book versus a cloth worn in sunlight. The symbolism of the colour purple was perhaps of higher significance than the source of the dye. Literature Aceto, M., A. Agostino, G. Fenoglio, A. Idone, M. Gulmini, P. Baraldi, F. Crivello, and C. Porter. 2014. On the Colouring of Purple Codices. VIII congresso nazionale di archeome- tria, 5–7 february 2014: 54–56. Aceto, M., A. Agostino, G. Fenoglio, M. Gulmini, A. Idone, P. Baraldi, C. Hofmann, and C. Porter. 2016. A state-of-the-art report on the analytical characterisation of purple codices. Poster presentation, Care and Conservation of Manuscripts 16, Copenhagen, 13-–15 April 2016. Bailey, K.C. 1929. The Elder Pliny’s Chapters on Chemical Subjects, Part I, 28–29. London: Arnold. Barber, E.J.W. 1991. Prehistoric Textiles. The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Beecken, H., E.-M. Gottschalk, U. von Gizycki, H. Kramer, D. Maassen, H.G. Matthies, H. Musso, C. Rathjen, and U.I. Zdhorsky. 2003. Orcein and Litmus. Biotechnic & Histochemistry 78: 289–302. Boesken Kanold, I. 2017. Dyeing wool and sea silk with purple pigment from Hexaplex trunculus. In Treasures from the Sea. Sea Silk and Shellfish Purple Dye in Antiquity, ed. H. Landenius Enegren and F. Meo, 67–72. Oxford: Oxbow. Bogensperger, I. 2015. Purpur: Eine Farbe als Statussymbol. Mitteilungen der anthropologi- schen Gesellschaft in Wien 145: 155–171. Bogensperger, I. 2017. Purple and its various kinds in Documentary Papyri. In Textile Ter- Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0