https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04248-y
Regular Article
Coupling of electron and vibrational spectroscopy with false colour imaging for the investigation of natural dyes in historical fabrics (15th–18th centuries)
1
Department of Collection Management-Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
2
Applied Laser Spectroscopy Laboratory Institute of Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds Research Area of Pisa, National Research Council of Italy, Pisa, Italy
3
Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy
Received:
14
September
2022
Accepted:
1
July
2023
Published online:
21
July
2023
A series of historical textile fragments belonging to the Guggenheim collection had been previously studied by FORS and IRR imaging. The need for further analysis emerged in order to get a better understanding of the applied dyes. Under this perspective, SERS measurements and false colour images (UVFC and IRFC) were acquired on selected samples dated back between the fifteenth and the eighteenth centuries and constituted by velvets, embossed velvets, brocades, brocatelles, damasks, lampasses, satins, gros and taffetas of Italian manufacture. The cross-checking of spectroscopic data allowed for confirming some of the results previously obtained, but in the majority of cases much more complex situations were found. On many occasions, SERS and FORS demonstrated their complementarity allowing for discovering the use of mixtures instead of single dye as previously assumed. In addition to indigotin, cochineal and tannins, already identified in the previous investigation, new data allowed for determining the presence of orcein, annatto, luteolin, quercetin and saffron. The FC images supported the obtained results but evidenced the need for the generation of a complete database of historical dyes employed with different dyeing procedures, substrates, mordants and as mixtures with different proportions. The multi-technique approach, involving both non-invasive and micro-invasive methods, also allowed for checking the compatibility of compounds with both the declared historical period and the origin of the investigated textile fragments.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-04248-y.
© The Author(s) 2023
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
