Spectroscopic Characterization of the Architectural Painting from the Cizhong Catholic Church of Yunnan Province, China

Abstract

The Cizhong Catholic Church, which incorporates local Chinese architectural styles and artistic motifs, witnessed the transmission of Catholicism in Yunnan Province in the late Qing Dynasty. The pigments of the paintings from the church were identified by micro-Raman Spectroscopy, micro X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The analyses indicated that chromogenic substances of the white pigment was calcite, that of the black pigment was carbon black, that of the red pigment was hematite, that of the blue pigment was artificial ultramarine, and that of the green pigment was emerald green. The study also revealed that artificial ultramarine and emerald green were probably imported or brought by French missionaries from Europe. In addition, emerald green was identified to have partially degraded into cornwallite.

Keywords:

• Architectural painting
• Cizhong Catholic church
• Micro-raman spectroscopy
• Pigment

Acknowledgments

The research is supported by the National Science Foundation of China (No: 41103013). We would like to thank Mr. Tao Wei for his comment in drafting the manuscript. In addition, we would like to thank the editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.