Page - 144 - in The Vienna Genesis - Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment
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144 The silver inks of the Vienna Genesis
Table 2: Samples for SEM/EDX.
Sample num-
ber Origin Description
T2 a–c Vienna Genesis Silver ink, f4
T5 Vienna Genesis Silver ink, f4, page 8, line 1 right
T6a, b Vienna Genesis Silver ink, f5, page 9, line 4 right
T11 Codex Purpureus
Petropolitanus f25, page 50, last line
T17 Vienna Genesis f22, page 43, cross-section: parchment with silver ink
Pe1 Vienna Genesis f22, page 43, parchment without ink from inner edge
P1 Reference ink ST1_B LA-parchment, purple dyed, silver ink with sodium chloride and
copper(1)oxide, polished, aged
P2 Reference ink ST1_B See above
P3 Reference ink ST1 See above, polished, unaged
All samples were investigated in a FEI Quanta FEG 250 SEM in high vacuum mode (if
not specified otherwise). X-ray micro analyses were performed with an EDAX system
equipped with an Apollo X SDD detector. The samples were investigated in their state
as delivered, no sample preparation was applied. Since in all samples from the Vienna
Genesis the surface of the silver ink was contaminated with material consisting mainly of
organic matter mixed with mineral particles, only point analyses were performed on spots
where the surface of the silver ink appeared to be clean in BSE images.
Results of EDX analyses containing all elements detected from three samples are pre-
sented in Table 3 (normalized to 100 wt%, all figures are given in percentage by weight),
the element patterns of these samples are representative of all other samples. The EDX
results, which are only partly listed in Table 3, show that chlorine is present at each sample
position in a percentage ranging from about 1 % to 20 %. Sulfur is present only at about
2/3 of total positions and in half of these positions with a percentage of less than 1 %.
Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that the corrosion of the silver ink is predomin-
antly of chloridic nature.
Table 3: EDX results containing all detected elements for three samples (point analyses), percentage
per weight, normalised to 100 wt%.
Pos C N O Na Mg Si S Cl Ag Ca Fe Cu Au
T2 b 1 7.24 1.00 5.20 1.04 0.86 0.33 7.04 73.84 2.09 0.83
T2 b 2 8.74 1.44 5.82 1.09 0.30 1.35 4.12 75.07 0.55 0.66 0.64
Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY 4.0
The Vienna Genesis
Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment
- Title
- The Vienna Genesis
- Subtitle
- Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment
- Editor
- Christa Hofmann
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- Wien
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-21058-0
- Size
- 17.3 x 24.5 cm
- Pages
- 348