A seventeenth century Japanese painting: Scientific identification of materials and techniques

Abstract

A Japanese painting on paper, in the form of a horizontal scroll from the Stibbert Museum in Florence, is being treated at the ISCR Paper Conservation Laboratory. The scroll, entitled Bamo Dōi-zu represents 33 different types of horses. Although there is no author's seal, it has been attributed to the famous Japanese artist, Kanō Sansetsu (1589–1651). Before conservation treatment, the artefact underwent technical and scientific examination in order to identify its materials and determine its conservation condition. As sampling paint layers from paintings on paper is extremely invasive, non-destructive techniques such as X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and spectrophotometry were employed. Several points from the paper support were analysed: the metal-leaf decorations, the seals and calligraphy, as well as the painted horses. Results detected and revealed a very simple palette: cinnabar (or its synthetic equivalent vermillion), shell white, carbon black, and the organic yellow gamboge. Pure gold and silver leaves were used for decorating the frontispiece. Useful information was obtained from the paper support and on its conservation conditions. Micro-destructive analyses were also performed on a few paper fragments for microscopic and scanning electron microscope equipped with an X-ray probe analysis. Results showed that materials and techniques are consistent with the Kanō School period.

Keywords:

• Japanese painting
• Emakimono
• Kanō School
• Paper identification
• Pigment identification
• Raman
• XRF

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Masaki and Ikuko Handa of the Conservation Studio Handa Kyūseido, Tokyo, member of The Association for Conservation of National Treasures, and Akinori Ōkawa, retired researcher from the Paper Research Centre of Kōchi Prefecture, Japan, for their valuable contributions in understanding further aspects of the techniques and materials in Japanese works of art. We also thank ISCR Giuseppe Guida, Marco Bartolini, and Lucia Conti for their support in scientific analyses; Edoardo Loliva and Sergio Tagliacozzi for image processing; Alfonso Pio Russo, Dipartimento di Fisica ‘E.Amaldi’, Università Roma Tre, for his technical support; and Luana Maekawa for proofreading the English text.