“Couros Dourados / Guadamecis dos Países Baixos em Portugal (Séculos XVII e XVIII)” por Pereira (2015)

Pereira, Franklin; “Couros Dourados / Guadamecis dos Países Baixos em Portugal (Séculos XVII e XVIII)”, Al-Madan Online 19(2) (II^a Série) (2015) pp. 117–132.
URL (Issuu)

Resumo:

Nos séculos XVII e XVIII, Portugal recebeu guadamecis relevados por prensa provenientes dos Países Baixos. Estes rectângulos de “couros dourados” em estilo barroco e rococó foram utilizados em frontais de altar, estofos e biombos, e encontram-se espalhados por colecções particulares, igrejas e museus. O autor apresenta estudo comparado dos modelos conhecidos nessa técnica ornamental em couro. Considera ainda algumas imitações e as influências estéticas em estofos em couro lavrado executados em Portugal.

Abstract:
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Portugal received machine-pressed gilt leather (guadamecis) from the Netherlands. These rectangles in Baroque and Rococo style were used on altar fronts, upholstery and screens. They can be found in private collections, churches and museums. The author presents a comparative study of the known models of this leather decoration technique. He also refers to some imitations and to the aesthetical influences on leather upholstery made in Portugal.

"Species identification of archaeological skin objects from Danish bogs" by Brandt et al (2014)

Brandt, Luise Ørsted; Schmidt, Anne Lisbeth; Mannering, Ulla; Sarret, Mathilde; Kelstrup, Christian D.; Olsen, Jesper V.; et al., “Species Identification of Archaeological Skin Objects from Danish Bogs: Comparison between Mass Spectrometry-Based Peptide Sequencing and Microscopy-Based Methods”, PLoS ONE 9(9) (2014) p. e106875.

DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0106875

Abstract:

Denmark has an extraordinarily large and well-preserved collection of archaeological skin garments found in peat bogs, dated to approximately 920 BC – AD 775. These objects provide not only the possibility to study prehistoric skin costume and technologies, but also to investigate the animal species used for the production of skin garments. Until recently, species identification of archaeological skin was primarily performed by light and scanning electron microscopy or the analysis of ancient DNA. However, the efficacy of these methods can be limited due to the harsh, mostly acidic environment of peat bogs leading to morphological and molecular degradation within the samples. We compared species assignment results of twelve archaeological skin samples from Danish bogs using Mass Spectrometry (MS)-based peptide sequencing, against results obtained using light and scanning electron microscopy. While it was difficult to obtain reliable results using microscopy, MS enabled the identification of several species-diagnostic peptides, mostly from collagen and keratins, allowing confident species discrimination even among taxonomically close organisms, such as sheep and goat. Unlike previous MS-based methods, mostly relying on peptide fingerprinting, the shotgun sequencing approach we describe aims to identify the complete extracted ancient proteome, without preselected specific targets. As an example, we report the identification, in one of the samples, of two peptides uniquely assigned to bovine foetal haemoglobin, indicating the production of skin from a calf slaughtered within the first months of its life. We conclude that MS-based peptide sequencing is a reliable method for species identification of samples from bogs. The mass spectrometry proteomics data were deposited in the ProteomeXchange Consortium with the dataset identifier PXD001029.

Leather and parchment communications at CRCC50 International Conference, Paris (2013)

"Cultural heritage conservation science and sustainable development: experience, research, innovation", International conference in the frame of the 50th anniversary of the Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation des Collections - CRCC50, held at Paris, 23-25 October 2013

Oral communications on leather and parchment:
- Claire Chahine
"Le cuir: enjeux pour la conservation et l'environnement"
Video presentation (URL)

- Elena Badea
"Identification of environmentally sensitive archival parchment for lower energy storage"
Video presentation (URL)