In Situ Nondestructive Identification of Natural Dyes in Ancient Textiles by Reflection Fourier Transform Mid-Infrared (FT-MIR) Spectroscopy

Abstract

Silk embroideries and cotton grounds of ancient Caucasian (Kaitag) textiles were analyzed in situ by a portable Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer equipped with a reflection module. Differently colored areas were analyzed for the purpose of identifying the dyes fixed on the fibers. The spectra so obtained were elaborated by calculating the corresponding second derivative, and a library search was then performed using a database including the second derivative spectra of a large range of historical dyes and the corresponding undyed fibers. The results presented here suggest that this technique, combined with the library search method, has a good capability of recognizing natural dyes on both types of ancient textile fibers, in an entirely nondestructive way.

Keywords

Reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FT-IR In situ analysis Ancient textile dyes Portable instrumentation.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Pozzi

Poldi

Bruni

De Luca

Guglielmi

. “Multi-Technique Characterization of Dyes in Ancient Kaitag Textiles from Caucasus”. Archaeol. Anthropologic. Sci. 2012. 4(3): 185–197.

Gulmini

Idone

Diana

Gastaldi

Vaudan

Aceto

. “Identification of Dyestuffs in Historical Textiles: Strong and Weak Points of a Non-Invasive Approach”. Dyes Pigm. 2013. 98(1): 136–145.

Clementi

Miliani

Romani

Favaro

. “In Situ Fluorimetry: A Powerful Non-Invasive Diagnostic Technique for Natural Dyes used in Artefacts: Part I. Spectral Characterization of Orcein in Solution, on Silk and Wool Laboratory-Standards and a Fragment of Renaissance Tapestry”. Spectrochim. Acta, Part A. 2006. 64(4): 906–912.

Clementi

Miliani

Romani

Santamaria

Morresi

Mlynarska

Favaro

. “In-Situ Fluorimetry: A Powerful Non-Invasive Diagnostic Technique for Natural Dyes Used in Artefacts: Part II. Identification of Orcein and Indigo in Renaissance Tapestries”. Spectrochim. Acta, Part A. 2009. 71(5): 2057–2062.

Rosi

Miliani

Clementi

Kahrim

Presciutti

Vagnini

Manuali

Daveri

Cartechini

Brunetti

B.G.

Sgamellotti

. “An Integrated Spectroscopic Approach for the Non-Invasive Study of Modern Art Materials and Techniques”. Appl. Phys. A. 2010. 100(3): 613–624.

Miliani

Doherty

Daveri

Loesh

Ulbricht

Brunetti

B.G.

Sgamellotti

. “In Situ Non-Invasive Investigation on the Painting Techniques of Early Meissen Stoneware”. Spectrochim. Acta, Part A. 2009. 73(4): 587–592.

Rosi

Daveri

Miliani

Verri

Benedetti

Pique

Brunetti

B.G.

Sgamellotti

. “Non-Invasive Identification of Organic Materials in Wall Paintings by Fiber Optic Reflectance Infrared Spectroscopy: A Statistical Multivariate Approach”. Anal. Bioanal. Chem. 2009. 395(7): 2097–2106.

Miliani

Rosi

Daveri

Brunetti

B.G.

. “Reflection Infrared Spectroscopy for the Non-Invasive In Situ Study of Artists' Pigments”. Appl. Phys. A. 2012. 106(2): 295–307.

Kahrim

Daveri

Rocchi

De Cesare

Cartechini

Miliani

Brunetti

B.G.

Sgamellotti

. “The Application of In Situ Mid-FTIR Fibre-Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy and GC-MS Analysis to Monitor and Evaluate Painting Cleaning”. Spectrochim. Acta, Part A. 2009. 74(5): 1182–1188.

10.

Ricci

Miliani

Brunetti

B.G.

Sgamellotti

. “Non-Invasive Identification of Surface Materials on Marble Artifacts with Fiber Optic Mid-FTIR Reflectance Spectroscopy”. Talanta. 2006. 69(5): 1221–1226.

11.

Williams

R.S.

. “Non-Destructive, In-Situ, On-Site, Mid-Infrared Spectroscopic Chemical Analysis of Objects in Museums Using a Portable Spectrometer with Fiber Optic Probe”. In: Marabelli

Parisi

, editors. 6th World Conference on NDT and Microanalysis in Diagnostics and Conservation of Cultural and Environmental Heritage, Rome, Italy; 1999, Vol. 2, pp. 1617–1631.

12.

Williams

R.S.

. “In-Situ Mid-IR Spectroscopic Analysis of Objects at Museums using Portable IR Spectrometers”. In: Picollo

, editor. Proceedings of the Sixth Infrared and Raman Users Group Conference (IRUG6). Padova, Italy: Il Prato, 2005. Pp. 170–177.

13.

Bruni

DeLuca

Guglielmi

Pozzi

. “Identification of Natural Dyes on Laboratory-Dyed Wool and Ancient Wool, Silk, and Cotton Fibers Using Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Raman Spectroscopy”. Appl. Spectrosc. 2011. 65(9): 1017–1023.

14.

Vincent

R.K.

Hunt

G.R.

. “Infrared Reflectance from Mat Surfaces”. Appl. Opt. 1968. 7(1): 53–59.

15.

Norris

K.H.

Williams

P.C.

. “Optimization of Mathematical Treatment of Raw Near-Infrared Signal in the Measurement of Protein in Hard Red Spring Wheat. I. Influence of Particle Size”. Cereal Chem. 1984. 61(2): 158–165.

16.

Schweppe

Winter

. “Madder and Alizarin”. E. In: FitzHugh

, editor. Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of Their History and Characteristics Volume 3. Oxford University Press, 1997. Pp. 109–142.

17.

Cardon

. Natural Dyes: Sources, Tradition, Technology and Science. London, UK: Archetype Publications, 2007.

18.

Edelmann

Lendl

. “Toward the Optical Tongue: Flow-Through Sensing of Tannin-Protein Interactions Based on FTIR Spectroscopy”. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002. 124(49): 14741–14747.

19.

Griffiths

P.R.

De Haseth

J.A.

. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 2007.

20.

Chenciner

. Kaitag Textile Art from Daghestan. London, UK: Textile Art Publications, 1993.

21.

Hunt

Chenchiner

. “Colour Symbolism in the Folk Literature and Textile Tradition of Caucasus”. Opt. Laser Technol. 2006. 38(4-6): 458–465.