An Analytical Study of the Huexotzinco Codex Using X-Ray Fluorescence
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Villafana et al. Herit Sci (2021) 9:54 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-021-00524-1 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access An analytical study of the Huexotzinco Codex using X‑ray fuorescence, fber optic refectance spectroscopy, and portable Fourier‑transform infrared spectroscopy Tana Elizabeth Villafana1*, Mary Elizabeth Haude2 and Amanda Satorius1 Abstract The Huexotzinco Codex is one of the earliest surviving manuscripts from the early colonial period of Mexico. The codex pertains to the legal case of conquistador Hernán Cortés and contains paintings and documents detailing the seizure of Cortés’ personal properties and over-taxation of his Huexotzincan allies by the colonial government in New Spain (present-day Mexico). Eight paintings within the manuscript were subjected to non-invasive analytical tech- niques revealing the pigment palette and production methodology. The fndings of this study show a mixture of pre- and colonial codex production practices as well a unique Maya blue formulation and the identifcation of a silicate material used as a matrix for an organic yellow dye. Keywords: Mesoamerican codices, Huexotzinco Codex, Fiber optic refectance spectroscopy, X-ray fuorescence spectroscopy, Portable infrared spectroscopy, Non-destructive analysis, Pigment identifcation Introduction invasion. Changes in materials and production of the Mesoamerican codices are the best primary sources for codices also show the growing infuence of European understanding the historic and cultural legacy of the painting techniques and pigments. ancient Nahua (which includes the Mexica, or Aztecs) Te Huexotzinco Codex is signifcant as it is one of the and Mayans. Tere has been on-going research for the earliest surviving manuscripts from the early colonial past decade or more devoted to the non-invasive analy- period of Mexico. Produced in 1531 in the town of Huex- sis of pre- and colonial codices in an attempt to better otzinco, Puebla, the codex consists of eight pictographic understand not just the materiality of these works but paintings and 79 documents written in Spanish concern- also technological similarities between diferent Mesoa- ing the legal case of conquistador Hernán Cortés against merican cultural traditions, as well as changes introduced three members of the First Audiencia, the colonial gov- by the Spanish colonizers. Studies of codex materials ernment in New Spain. Te eight paintings of the codex [1–5] thus far have uncovered region-specifc pigment were created by three Indigenous scribes, or tlacuiloque and papermaking technologies and experimentation, in the Nahuatl language, and represent pictorial testi- revealed important iconography, and provided historic mony about the seizure of Cortés’ personal property [6, details about life and culture before and after the Spanish 7]. Te paintings refect a predominantly Indigenous tra- dition with regard to their convention of communicating information through pictographs and their use of Indig- *Correspondence: [email protected] enous papers and colorants. 1 Preservation Research and Testing Division, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20540, USA Despite the historic importance of this manuscript, Full list of author information is available at the end of the article the Huexotzinco Codex has not been the subject of an © The Author(s) 2021. 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://creativeco mmons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/ zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data. Villafana et al. Herit Sci (2021) 9:54 Page 2 of 15 extensive analytical study. Te provenance of the codex spectra only contained information from the codices. Te is fairly well-documented [7]; United States philanthro- instrument is controlled, and data analyzed using Bruker pist Edward Stephen Harkness acquired the codex from software. Spectra were normalized to the Compton peak the US book dealer A.S.W. Rosenbach who had previ- to allow for qualitative comparison between relative peak ously purchased it from a descendant of Cortés. Until intensities between the diferent codices. 1925, the codex was part of the private archive of the Italian dukes of Monteleone, descendants of Cortés, and Fiber optic refectance spectroscopy housed in the archives of the Hospital de Jesús de Naza- Fiber optic refectance spectroscopy (FORS) was under- reno in Mexico City. Harkness donated the Huexotzinco taken using an ASD FieldSpec 4 Hi-Res spectroradiom- Codex to the Library of Congress (LC) in 1928, where eter (Malvern Analytical). Te spectral resolution is 3 nm it currently resides in the Manuscript Division’s Hark- at 700 nm and 8 nm at 1400 and 2100 nm. Light from a ness Collection. Te fragile condition of the manuscript halogen bulb (ASD Contact Probe) was used as an illumi- prevented it from being studied by scholars until Sylvia nation source held at a 45° angle and a height of roughly Albro began conservation treatment in 1986 (detailed in 20 cm from the surface. Te detection fber (separated [8]). During the conservation treatment, fber and pig- from the contract probe, because non-contact measure- ment samples were taken from the eight codex paint- ments were preferred) was held perpendicular to the ings to perform limited material analysis using polarized surface at a height of roughly 1 cm, giving a 3 mm sam- light microscopy (PLM). A signifcant contribution Albro pling size. Ten spectra were averaged for each region of made to the understanding of the material aspects of the interest with a total acquisition time of < 5 s. Spectra were Huexotzinco Codex, and Mesoamerican codices, was her normalized to a Spectralon white reference standard. identifcation of two types of Indigenous paper, maguey Te system is controlled via ASD proprietary software, and amate [8]. She also identifed charcoal as the black RS3. Refectance spectra were viewed and otherwise pigment used through-out the manuscript and cochineal processed using ViewSpec Pro; frst derivatives were as the red on several of the paintings. In a later collabora- calculated using a built-in ViewSpec Pro software func- tion, Albro and Mary Elizabeth Haude, reviewing the pig- tion with a derivative gap of nine to highlight the rate of ment samples using PLM, identifed Maya blue and Maya change of the refectance with respect to the wavelength. green (personal communication). Te goal of this paper is to expand upon the earlier Fourier‑transform infrared spectroscopy analysis and to study the materiality of the eight codex A Bruker ALPHA portable FTIR spectrometer with paintings in-depth using a variety of non-invasive tech- a KBr beamsplitter, a DGTa detector and an external niques, including X-ray fuorescence (XRF) spectroscopy, refectance (ER-FTIR) module with a gold reference fber optic refectance spectroscopy (FORS), portable standard was used mounted on a tripod with no aperture external refectance Fourier-transform infrared spectros- for complete no-contact analysis. Each spot was analyzed copy (ER-FTIR), and microscopy. Tis research can also using 64 scans from 4000 to 400 cm−1 with a resolution be placed into context with other studies performed on of 4 cm−1. Spectra were collected and viewed in Bruker’s codices from similar regions and time periods [9–12], proprietary software OPUS Video 7.4. such as the codices Borgia, Cospi, Fejérváry-Mayer, Laud, Vaticanus B, and Mendoza, in order to add further insight Brightfeld and fuorescence microscopy into the cultural traditions of codex production and early Microscopy was performed using an AxioImager.D1m European infuences. (Carl Zeiss) with white light (halogen lamp, HAL100, Zeiss) and UV (mercury lamp, HBO100, Zeiss) in con- Methods junction with a turret cube for UV eye protection X‑ray fuorescence spectroscopy (Chroma). Two objectives were used, LD plan-Neofuar X-ray fuorescence spectroscopy (XRF) was performed 20×/0.4 KORR with adjustable collar set to zero (no with a Bruker Tracer III. Te portable spectrometer has coverslip), and EC Epiplan-Neofuar 50×/0.8 DIC M27. a Rh tube excitation source, 8 μm Beryllium detector Te eye pieces provide an additional 10× magnifcation. window, and a proprietary silicon drift detector. Each Images were captured using an AxioCam HRc CCD and spectrum was collected with the X-ray source operating processed with AxioVision software. at 20‐μA and 50 kV, in air, with a data integration time of 30 s. Spectra were collected by securing the codices Results on a backless easel with the Tracer III held roughly 1 cm Each painting was examined using XRF, FORS, ER-FTIR, above the point of interest, with a spot size of 3 mm. Te and microscopy. Painting VI (Fig. 1) is colorless, hence, confguration of the codices on the easel ensured the XRF only XRF and FORS were performed on the paper. Villafana et al. Herit Sci (2021) 9:54 Page 3 of 15 IV, and VI (on amate paper) have spectral features in the 1400–1500 nm and 1900–2100 nm range that are not related to cellulose. Tese peaks, more obvious in the FORS 1st derivative features at 1453, 1955, and 1993 nm, are associated with the presence of gypsum [14, 15].