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Materials and Techniques of Islamic Manuscripts Penley Knipe1, Katherine Eremin1*, Marc Walton2, Agnese Babini2 and Georgina Rayner1

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Materials and Techniques of Islamic Manuscripts Penley Knipe1, Katherine Eremin1*, Marc Walton2, Agnese Babini2 and Georgina Rayner1 Knipe et al. Herit Sci (2018) 6:55 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40494-018-0217-y RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Materials and techniques of Islamic manuscripts Penley Knipe1, Katherine Eremin1*, Marc Walton2, Agnese Babini2 and Georgina Rayner1 Abstract Over 50 works on paper from Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Central Asia dated from the 13th to 19th centuries were examined and analyzed at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies. Forty-six of these were detached folios, some of which had been removed from the same dispersed manuscript. Paintings and illuminations from fve intact manuscripts were also examined and analyzed, although not all of the individual works were included. The study was undertaken to better understand the materials and techniques used to create paintings and illuminations from the Islamic World, with particular attention paid to the diversity of greens, blues and yellows present. The research aimed to determine the full range of colorants, the extent of pigment mixing and the various preparatory drawing materials. The issue of binding materials was also addressed, albeit in a preliminary way. Keywords: Islamic manuscript, Islamic painting, XRF, Raman, FTIR, Imaging, Hyperspectral imaging Introduction project have been assigned to a particular town or region An ongoing interdisciplinary study at the Harvard Art and/or are well dated. Examination of folios from a single Museums is investigating the materials and techniques manuscript, including those now detached and dispersed used to embellish folios1 from Islamic manuscripts and as well as those still bound as a volume, enabled investi- albums created from the 13th through the 19th centuries. gation of the variations between related works. Although Despite a number of studies from the 1970s onwards, the manuscripts and folios studied in the overall project technical study of Islamic manuscripts is limited com- span the Middle East, in this paper we focus on works pared to those of European manufacture. Synthesis of from Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Central Asia. Te chrono- results is complicated by references to data from old and/ logical range spans the development of early “industrial” or unpublished reports, which often require re-exami- pigments in Europe and hence allows assessment of the nation and reassessment. Te current project is hence extent to which these replaced or augmented traditional aimed at clarifying our understanding of the materials pigments in the 18th and 19th century. Works from Otto- and techniques used in Islamic art works and relating man Turkey and Mughal India will be considered sepa- these to the period and/or place of manufacture. As part rately in further publications. of this, data from a number of unpublished student pro- jects were incorporated where possible. Methodology Te artworks in this study are listed chronologically in Te initial phase of the study consisted of thorough visual table form (see Table 1) and are referred to by their chart examination, including raking and transmitted light exami- number in this essay. Te works draw from the collec- nation, and photography with visible, ultraviolet (UV) and tions of the Harvard Art Museums and from the Villa I infrared (IR) radiation, followed by photography of areas of Tatti, Te Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Stud- interest at high magnifcation, ranging from 8 to 40 times, ies in Florence, Italy. Many of the works included in the through a Nikon camera attached to a stereo microscope *Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Te authors are using the term folio to correspond to the cataloguing of 1 Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA the collections. Te term does not adhere to the strictest understanding of Full list of author information is available at the end of the article folio as a paper folded in half, which is one folio, two leaves and four pages. © The Author(s) 2018. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creat​iveco​mmons​.org/licen​ses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creat​iveco​mmons​.org/ publi​cdoma​in/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Knipe et al. HeritSci (2018)6:55 et al. Table 1 Pigments and underdrawing identifed in the Islamic manuscripts studied Number Objects Red/pink Yellow Blue White Green Brown Metals Other Underdrawingb 1 1971.95.1 Vermilion; Pararealgar, Indigo on plant side, n/a Orpiment, Brown-red: n/a Calligraphy in Red ink 1224, iraq organic red realgar ultramarine on land- indigo ultramarine, brown ink, Struchnos scape side organic red vermilion plants, Dark brown- illustrated red: realgar, folio from pararealgar the khawass al-ashjar 2 1965.478 Vermilion; Vermilion, orpi- Ultramarine n/a Orpiment, Brown-red: n/a Calligraphy in Red ink 1224, iraq vermilion and ment (bird indigo hematite, brown ink, Verbascum orpiment and plant pararealgar vermilion plants, side) (plant side) Purple-red: illustrated Pararealgar Light brown– organic reda folio from (plant side) pararealgar, the khawass vermilion al-ashjar (plant side) 3 1960.193 Vermilion; red Pararealgar Ultramarine;ultramarine Lead white Orpiment, n/a Gold Calligraphy in Red ink 1224, iraq lead, organic with copper green indigo brown ink, Warrior and red Copper green vermilion physician Purple: with the unknown plant kestron, with some illustrated vermilion folio from the khawass al-ashjar 4 2002.50.140 Vermilion n/a n/a n/a Lighter green– Red-brown– n/a Calligraphy in Red ink (minor) Early 13th cen- orpiment, vermilion, brown ink, tury, iraq indigo orpiment vermilion Fineleaf Darker green– Purple: fumitory, orpiment, unknown, illustrated indigo, some vermil- folio from unknown ion the khawass al-ashjar 5 1960.204 Vermilion; red n/a n/a n/a Orpiment, Unknown Gold n/a n/a 1300s, maraga, lead indigo with some iran vermilion Mule, illustrated folio from the manaf al-hayawan by 2of40 Page ibn bakhtishu Knipe et al. HeritSci (2018)6:55 et al. Table 1 (continued) Number Objects Red/pink Yellow Blue White Green Brown Metals Other Underdrawingb 6 1960.205 Vermilion Pararealgar Azurite, some with n/a Orpiment, Pararealgar Gold Orange/yellow: n/a 1300s, maraga, malachite inclusions indigo Probably with pararealgar, iran organic red, vermilion Falcon, carbon black Purple: vermil- illustrated Light brown: lion, azurite, folio from pararealgar, organic reda the manaf vermilion, Gray: carbon al-hayawan by azuritea black ibn bakhtishu 7 1919.130, Vermilion; n/aa Ultramarine Lead white Orpiment and Hematite, Gold; silver-rich Orange: vermil- 1955.167, organic red indigo vermilion gold ion, orpiment; 1956.212, Pink: red lead, Silver red lead, 1957.193, lead white vermilion; red 1958.288, orpiment lead, hematite 1960.190 1330s, tabriz, iran Illustrated folios (6) great ilkha- nid shahnama by frdawsi 8 Villa i tatti Vermilion; n/a Ultramarine, sometimes Lead white Orpiment and Hematite, Gold Orange: red Black ink 1330s, tabriz, Vermilion, red mixed with lead white indigo; cop- vermilion Silver lead, vermil- iran lead; per green, Hematite, ion, orpiment Prince isfandiyar Red lead; lead white vermilion, red Purple: organic reproaches Organic red lead red, ultrama- his father, Pink: vermilion, Hematite, rine, red lead; gushtasp, lead white, vermilion, organic red, illustrated red lead, orpiment ultramarine, folio from the organic reda indigo; great iklhanid organic red, shahnama by ultramarine; frdawsi organic red, ultramarine, lead white gray: lead white, carbon black Page 3of40 Page Knipe et al. HeritSci (2018)6:55 et al. Table 1 (continued) Number Objects Red/pink Yellow Blue White Green Brown Metals Other Underdrawingb 9 1960.96.1 Vermilion Orpiment Indigo, ultramarine Lead white Rare copper Brown: Gold Orange: red C. 1330s, bagh- Pink: lead white, green orpiment, Silver lead, vermil- dad, iraq vermilion vermilion ion Mihras ofers nushirvan the treasure of rum, illustrated folio from the shahnama by frdawsi 10 1960.186.1 Vermilion; Orpiment Azurite, sometimes with Lead white Copper green; Hematite Gold Orange: orpi- 1341, isfahan, organic red Orpiment lead white Lead white orpiment, Red-brown: ment, vermil- iran Pink: vermillion, Ultramarine indigo hematite, lion Illustrated folio lead white, Azurite; light blue: Orpiment, vermillion Purplea: vermil- from the sometimes azurite, lead white indigo ion, orpiment, mu’nis al- mixed with indigo ahrar f daqa red lead ‘iq al-ash’ar Pink: vermilion, (recto) orpiment, 1960.186.2 lead white 1341, isfahan, iran Illustrated folio from the mu’nis al- ahrar f daqa ‘iq al-ash’ar (verso) 11 1965.476 Vermilion Orpiment Ultramarine; ultrama- n/a Orpiment, Vermilion, car- n/a Orange: vermil- n/a 1354, cairo, Pink: vermilion, (some vermil- rine, azurite; light indigo bon black ion, orpiment egypt lead white ion) blue: ultramarine, lead Pump for rais- white ing water, illustrated folio from the kitab f ma ‘rifat al-hiyal al-handasiya by al-jazari Page 4of40 Page Knipe et al. HeritSci (2018)6:55 et al. Table 1 (continued) Number Objects Red/pink Yellow Blue White Green Brown Metals Other Underdrawingb 12 1919.138 Vermilion Orpiment Indigo n/a Orpiment, n/a Gold Orange ink 1354, cairo, Pink: lead white, (some vermil- indigo egypt
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