Seite - 151 - in The Vienna Genesis - Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment
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Rabitsch, Malissa, Hradil, Erlach, Uhlir, Griesser, Hofmann 151
The metal used for the production of the silver ink may have been pure silver, at least no
contradicting indications were found. If small amounts of copper had been present in the
metal originally, this would most likely have been removed due to the corrosion process.
No metallic silver has been found in the remnants of the silver ink, silver is always accom-
panied by chlorine, most likely as silver chloride. The copper detected in the parchment
below the inked area in the cross-section of T17 could result from copper compounds in
the ink that migrated into the parchment carrier. Studies on copper pigments on paper
showed that copper ions migrate into surrounding areas especially under high humidity50.
Summary and conclusions
The folios of the Vienna Genesis were cut and resized at least once. Measurements of the
text blocks and the margins suggest a maximum folio size of 400 x 292.5 mm. XRF analy-
ses revealed that the elemental composition of the silver inks is consistent on all folios of
the Vienna Genesis. The presumably two scribes used a similar ink recipe. According to
XRF, XRD and SEM/EDX silver is the main component of the ink. Significant copper
peaks were detected by XRF on all folios with a constant ratio of silver to copper intensi-
ties. The XRF spectrum of reference ink ST1 with a copper content of 4.55 wt% compares
well with XRF spectra of the silver ink on the Vienna Genesis. On one cross-section of
a micro-sample, low amounts of copper were detected in the parchment by SEM/EDX.
The results of XRF, XRD and SEM/EDX confirm the presence of silver chloride as main
corrosion product. XRF detected chlorine in the parchment and in the ink with higher
intensities in inked areas.
In comparison with reference inks and the ink on two folios of the 6th century Codex
Purpureus Petropolitanus, we assume that the scribes of the Vienna Genesis used a silver
ink which contained copper. Due to several limitations, XRF analysis does not allow an
exact quantification of the concentration of copper in the ink. Besides environmental in-
fluences, the corrosion product silver chloride could also originate from the production
process of the ink itself, for example the use of sodium chloride as a grinding aid for silver.
The enhanced presence of chloride in the parchment could be an additional hint for con-
tact of the manuscript with chlorine containing media, for instance with salty seawater or
Mediterranean climate. We assume that the corrosion of the silver ink and the degradation
of the parchment of Vienna Genesis are caused by a combination of internal and external
factors:
50 Hofmann et al., 2015, p. 175.
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
- Titel
- The Vienna Genesis
- Untertitel
- Material analysis and conservation of a Late Antique illuminated manuscript on purple parchment
- Herausgeber
- Christa Hofmann
- Verlag
- Böhlau Verlag
- Ort
- Wien
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-21058-0
- Abmessungen
- 17.3 x 24.5 cm
- Seiten
- 348