New insights into the red and green pigments in the illuminated foral charter of Setubal (1515) by combined use of μ-Raman and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

The richly decorated foral charter attributed by D. Manuel I of Portugal, in 1515, to the village of Setubal, was studied using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry and Raman micro-spectroscopy. An in situ characterization of the pigments used in the production of this masterpiece showe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2016-03, Vol.119 (10)
Main Authors: Guerra, M., Carvalho, M. L., Le Gac, A., Manso, M., Mortari, C., Longelin, S., Pessanha, S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied physics
Copper
Energy dispersive X ray spectroscopy
Pigments
Raman spectroscopy
Scientific imaging
Spectrometry
X-ray fluorescence
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Summary:The richly decorated foral charter attributed by D. Manuel I of Portugal, in 1515, to the village of Setubal, was studied using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry and Raman micro-spectroscopy. An in situ characterization of the pigments used in the production of this masterpiece showed a very different pigment palette choice when compared to other similar Manueline charters. The red and green pigments are particularly puzzling, as the widely used mercury- and copper-based pigments, vermillion and malachite, respectively, were not found in the illuminated frontispiece. Instead, the cheaper lead-based pigment minium was used in the King's flag, while a mixture of copper sulfates was found for the green color, identified by means of micro-Raman spectroscopy. This result led to a new look at the conception that only one Royal workshop existed for the elaboration of Manueline foral charters.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.4943617