Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2019) 134: 542
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2019-12896-2

Regular Article

Multi-analytical study of 14th to 19th century illuminated Moroccan manuscripts

¹ Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry and Physico-Chemistry of Materials, Faculty of Sciences Ben M’Sik, Hassan II University of Casablanca, Casablanca, Morocco
² Laboratory of Conservation-Restoration of Manuscripts, Royal Library of Rabat, Royal Palace, Morocco
³ Laboratory of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Fez, Morocco
⁴ LIBPhys-UNL, Laboratório de Instrumentação, Engenharia Biomédica e Física da Radiação, Departamento de Física, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal
⁵ Faculdade de Belas-Artes, Universidade de Lisboa, Largo da Academia Nacional de Belas-Artes, 1249-058, Lisboa, Portugal

^* e-mail: marta.sampaio@fct.unl.pt

Received: 13 October 2018
Accepted: 16 July 2019
Published online: 31 October 2019

Abstract

Moroccan manuscripts heritage preserves valuable information regarding different fields of Arabian history and culture. Despite this fact, analytical studies carried out in Moroccan manuscripts are scarce. In this work, we made use of a multi-analytical methodology to study, for the first time, four illuminated manuscripts from the Royal library of Rabat covering the span 14th to 19th centuries. The chemical structure of inks and paper support was identified. Elemental distribution obtained by micro-energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (μ-EDXRF) showed the use of iron, copper and vermillion in black, blue and red inks, respectively. Arsenic and lead were identified as orange inks in the 17th and 19th century manuscripts, respectively. Quantitative characterization of the paper supports obtained by triaxial geometry EDXRF spectrometry showed high levels of sulphur, chlorine and potassium. Regarding the study of the manuscripts support, cellulose was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) in all the analyzed samples. Cellulose fibers observations by scanning electron microscopy showed that the manuscripts are in general, in a good condition. Calcite is the main filler determined by XRD.