https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-03862-0
Regular Article
The use of in situ non-invasive techniques as powerful tools in the investigation of eighteenth century Chinese wallpapers from the National Museum of Ancient Art—Lisbon
1
HERCULES Laboratory, University of Évora, Palácio do Vimioso, Largo Marquês de Marialva 8, 7000-809, Évora, Portugal
2
Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Rua das Janelas Verdes, 1249-017, Lisbon, Portugal
3
City University of Macau Chair in Sustainable Heritage and China-Portugal Belt and Road Joint Laboratory on Cultural Heritage Conservation Science, University of Évora, Casa Cordovil, 7000-651, Évora, Portugal
Received:
15
October
2022
Accepted:
4
March
2023
Published online:
24
March
2023
The National Museum of Ancient Art in Lisbon (MNAA) hosts the most important Portuguese public collection of art. Among its different types of artworks, a set of six Chinese wallpaper panels from the eighteenth century is present; they represent the production of porcelain and have been donated to the Museum in 1949. Despite the large interest that has raised around these kinds of artefacts, few technical studies have been carried out to date on Chinese wallpapers. In this study, a non-invasive investigation of the wallpaper panels from the MNAA by means of portable devices is described. More specifically, the combined use of technical photography (namely UVF, Vis and IR photography), Vis-NIR-FORS and EDXRF allowed to carry out a preliminary diagnostic survey, which higlighted an improper handling of the wallpapers prior to their donation to the Museum, and poor conservation conditions of the paper sheets. Furthermore, it allowed for the identification of the painting technique, the main pigments, and their distribution; the presence of inorganic pigments (such as vermilion and lead white) and organic dyes (e.g. anthraquinone-based red dyes and indigo), used both as overlapping layers and mixtures, has been determined.
Focus Point on Scientific Research in Cultural Heritage 2022 Guest editors: L. Bellot-Gurlet, D. Bersani, A.-S. Le Hô, D. Neff, L. Robinet, A. Tournié.
© The Author(s) 2023
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