“Analytical techniques used for the characterization and authentification of six ancient religious manuscripts (XVIII–XIX centuries)” by Vornicu et al (2015)

Vornicu, Nicoleta; Deselnicu, Viorica; Bibire, Cristina; Ivanov, Daniela; Doroftei, Florica; “Analytical techniques used for the characterization and authentification of six ancient religious manuscripts (XVIII–XIX centuries)”, Microscopy Research and Technique 78(1) (2015) 70–84.

DOI: 10.1002/jemt.22447 (Wiley Online Library)

Abstract:

This article presents the experimental results of a research on six manuscripts (three of the XVIII century and three of XIX century) belonging collection of old religious books to the Moldovan Metropolitan Church of Romania. Non-invasive techniques (optical microscopy [OM], scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive X-ray system, X-ray fluorescence analysis, shrinkage temperature, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy/attentuated total reflectance) provided information on the degree of degradation and identification of the leather bookbinding type. Moreover, visual assessment and OM revealed the extent of the surface degradation (wane, biological attack, change color, etc.). The degradation extent of the skin bindings was determined on the 12 samples. The insight on the mechanism of degradation was accomplished by analyzing the deterioration of collagen fibers in terms of shrinkage temperature and chemical modifications induced by oxidative and hydrolytic processes. Shrinkage temperature values were lower compared with the literature data for collagen, indicating that the leather bookbinding suffered intrinsic damage. Morphological analysis was accomplished by microscopy and allowed the identification of skin type and provided information about its processing technique. Mineral elements were identified for leather composition and contributed to the information regarding the origin and the extent of degradation of the leather bookbinding, of the studied manuscripts. The analyzed results were useful in determining the state of preservation and were able to provide an increased efficiency of further restoration. The correlation of the obtained data brought new contributions to the knowledge of the leather covers for the book technique in the XVIII and XIX centuries in monastic workshops of Eastern Europe.

Museu de l'Art de la Pell, Vic (España)

Museu de l'Art de la Pell (MAP)
http://www.museuartpellvic.cat/

El MAP acull una magnífica col·lecció d’objectes elaborats amb pell. Les peces de gran riquesa artística, mostren una gran varietat de tècniques del treball de la pell (gravat, ferratjat, gofrat, calat, repujat, emmotllat, brodat, etc). Destaquen les realitzades amb la tècnica del guadamassil (pell de moltó daurada i policromada) utilitzada per a la confecció de revestiments murals, frontals d’altar, paravents, etc… També cal remarcar l’aplicació del cordovà (pell de cabra de gran qualitat) en el recobriment d’arquetes i caixes.

“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)

“La préparation de la peau du renne chez les Lapons de Kautokeino” par Roué et Delaporte (1978)

Roué, Michèle; Delaporte, Yves; “La préparation de la peau du renne chez les Lapons de Kautokeino”, Journal d’agriculture traditionnelle et de botanique appliquée 25(4) (1978), pp. 219–244.
URL / PDF (Persée)

A text-book of tanning by Procter (1885)

Procter, H. R.; A text-book of tanning: a treatise on the conversion of skins into leather, both practical and theoretical, London, Strand (1885).

URL / PDF (Internet Archive/Getty Research Institute)

COLLAGE Project website

COLLAGE

Intelligent system for the analysis and diagnosis of collagen based artefacts

Website

COLLAGE is a Romanian Joint Applied Research Project (Project No. 224/2012) carried out in the PN-II-PT-PCCA Programme and funded by the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI). The project is aiming at developing and modify existing techniques for the analysis of collagen-based historical materials and objects to achieve both high accuracy and micro- or non-invasivity characteristics requested in the evaluation of cultural heritage.

Skin Clothing from the North, edited by Schmidt & Pedersen (2010)

Anne Lisbeth Schmidt and Karen Brynjolf Pedersen (ed.); Skin Clothing from the North, Abstracts from the seminar held at the National Museum of Denmark, November 26-27, 2009, Copenhagen, National Museum of Denmark (2010)

PDF

A brief description about the "Skin Clothing from the North" Project (2009-2012) can be read here.

"All that glitters: conservation of a gilt leather chasuble" by Smith (2014)

Smith, Katy; “All that Glitters: Conservation of a Gilt Leather Chasuble”, V&A Conservation Journal 62 (2014)

URL

"A 15th-century Flemish enclosed garden in cuir bouilli. Production, degradation and conservation issues of a small painting on leather" by Watteeuw & Van Bos (2014)

Watteeuw, L.; Van Bos, M.; "A 15th-century Flemish enclosed garden in cuir bouilli. Production, degradation and conservation issues of a small painting on leather", in J. Bridgland (ed.), ICOM-CC 17th Triennial Conference Preprints, Melbourne, 15–19 September 2014, art. 0703, Paris, International Council of Museums (2014)

PDF (Lirias)

Abstract:
An early 15th-century figurative cuir bouilli coffret lid, with remains of original polychromy, belonging to the town museum in Nivelles (Belgium), was studied and conserved in 2013. Cuir bouilli is the medieval Norman-French term for ‘boiled leather’. The technique was widespread in Flanders and Paris in the High Middle Ages. The scene depicted is an ‘enclosed garden’ with the Virgin and Child. The cuir bouilli artefact has been severely damaged by environmental conditions and previous restorations. There are large lacunas in the deformed and hardened leather support, as well as in the pictorial layers. This paper explores the historical context of the artefact, the production of the material, its use and conservation history. Results of reflectance topographic imaging (RTI) are followed by physicochemical analyses and the treatment protocol to stabilise and validate the importance of this lost technique of medieval leatherworking.

“An unusual decorated skin coat from Canada: aspects of conservation and identification” by Cruickshank et al (2013)

Cruickshank, Pippa; Cartwright, Caroline; King, Jonathan C.H.; Simpson, Antony; “An unusual decorated skin coat from Canada: aspects of conservation and identification”, British Museum Technical Research Bulletin 7 (2013) pp. 95–104.
PDF

Summary:

A skin coat (Am1949,22.175), which has recently been examined and conserved, belongs to a group of about perhaps 30 surviving within museum collections and made around James Bay and Hudson Bay in northern Canada. They date to around 1760–1860 and were made by the Cree people, with possible additions by the Ojibwe/Anishaabeg in the region of the northern Great Lakes. As this group of coats is poorly understood and the coat stimulated some discussion while undergoing treatment in the conservation studio, further investigation was carried out on the materials of which it is composed. Fibre samples were identified using variable pressure scanning electron microscopy. The coat is thought to be made of moose skin but as it has been de-haired no moose hairs survived for identification. The few hairs remaining in situ on the collar and cuffs were identified as wolverine and river otter respectively. Conservation treatment enabled the cuffs to be gently folded back outside the sleeves. As the coat would originally have looked very different, before almost total loss of hair on the collar and cuffs due to past insect attack, a digital reconstruction was made to give an idea of its original appearance. The epaulettes have been quite roughly attached to the shoulders of the coat with coarse thread, suggesting that they may well have been added later, possibly from an older garment, as evidenced by the very fine but faded loom-woven quillwork and the presence of clear glass beads. The fur collar and cuffs could also have been added to the coat at this time.

CHEMCH 2014, Vienna (Austria), online posters on parchment and leather

The 3^rd International Congress on Chemistry for Cultural Heritage, CHEMCH 2014, that took place last July in Austria, was hosted by the Institute of Science and Technology in Art of the Academy of Fine Arts of Vienna (book of abstracts is available here).

Some of the posters presentations on leather and parchment are available online at the Congress website. The titles, the authors and the posters pdf files are as follows:

P14
"EXAMINATION OF HISTORIC PARCHMENT MANUSCRIPTS BY NON-INVASIVE REFLECTION-FTIR – POSSIBILITIES LIMITATIONS"
W. Vetter, G. Pöllnitz, M. Schreiner
PDF

P19

"DETERIORATION OF VEGETABLE-TANNED LEATHER INVESTIGATED BY UNILATERAL NMR: EFFECTS OF HYDROLYSIS AND THERMAL TREATMENTS"

C. Sendrea, E. Badea, H. Iovu
PDF

P21
"ARTIFICIALLY AGED PARCHMENT INVESTIGATED BY FTIR"
I. Petroviciu, C. Carsote, W. Vetter, L. Miu, M. Schreiner
PDF

La fabrication et le commerce des cuirs et des peaux par Vincent (1872)

Vincent, Charles; La fabrication et le commerce des cuirs et des peaux, Paris, Bureaux au Journal la Halle aux cuirs (1872).

URL (Gallica)

"The repair of an Alaskan Inupiaq sealskin mat with Lascaux 360 HV and 498 HV" by Lukezic (2014)

Francis Lukezic, "The repair of an Alaskan Inupiaq sealskin mat with Lascaux 360 HV and 498 HV", in Current Solutions for Mutual Issues: postprints from the Book and Paper Group’s sessions at the Icon Positive Futures conference, 10-12 April 2013, Glasgow (2014) pp. 53-55.
PDF (The Book & Paper Gathering)

The tanner’s key to a new system of tanning sole leather by Burridge (1824)

John Burridge, The tanner’s key to a new system of tanning sole leather, or, The right use of oak bark, London (1824).
URL (InternetArchive)

"Russian Yufte as ‘Russia Leather’ in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Western Bookbinding" by Tsygankova (2012)

Valeria Tsygankova, "Russian Yufte as ‘Russia Leather’ in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Western Bookbinding" (2012)

URL / PDF

“Cluster TOF-SIMS imaging of human skin remains: analysis of a South-Andean mummy sample” by Cersoy et al (2012)

Cersoy, Sophie; Richardin, Pascale; Walter, Philippe; Brunelle, Alain; “Cluster TOF-SIMS imaging of human skin remains: analysis of a South-Andean mummy sample”, Journal of Mass Spectrometry 47(3) (2012) 338–346.
DOI: 10.1002/jms.2979 (restricted access)

Abstract:

A skin sample from a South-Andean mummy dating back from the XIth century was analyzed using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging using cluster primary ion beams (cluster-TOF-SIMS). For the first time on a mummy, skin dermis and epidermis could be chemically differentiated using mass spectrometry imaging. Differences in amino-acid composition between keratin and collagen, the two major proteins of skin tissue, could indeed be exploited. A surprising lipid composition of hypodermis was also revealed and seems to result from fatty acids damage by bacteria. Using cluster-TOF-SIMS imaging skills, traces of bio-mineralization could be identified at the micrometer scale, especially formation of calcium phosphate at the skin surface. Mineral deposits at the surface were characterized using both scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and mass spectrometry imaging. The stratigraphy of such a sample was revealed for the first time using this technique. More precise molecular maps were also recorded at higher spatial resolution, below 1 µm. This was achieved using a non-bunched mode of the primary ion source, while keeping intact the mass resolution thanks to a delayed extraction of the secondary ions. Details from biological structure as can be seen on SEM images are observable on chemical maps at this sub-micrometer scale. Thus, this work illustrates the interesting possibilities of chemical imaging by cluster-TOF-SIMS concerning ancient biological tissues.

"Application of ATR–FTIR spectroscopy to the analysis of tannins in historic leathers..." by Falcão & Araújo (2014)

Falcão, Lina; Araújo, Maria Eduarda M.;“Application of ATR–FTIR spectroscopy to the analysis of tannins in historic leathers: The case study of the upholstery from the 19th century Portuguese Royal Train”, Vibrational Spectroscopy 74 (2014) 98–103.

DOI:10.1016/j.vibspec.2014.08.001 (restricted access)

Abstract:

Tanning materials of historic leather samples collected from the 19th century Portuguese Royal train were analyzed by attenuated total reflection–Fourier transform infrared (ATR–FTIR) spectroscopy. Studied leathers were visually identified as morocco leathers, one of the most valued types of vegetable tanned leathers. In technical and historic literature, morocco leathers are described as a distinctive type of vegetable tanned leather, with a typical grain surface pattern, made from goat skins and sumac (Rhus coriaria) leaves.

ATR–FTIR spectra of the Royal train leathers were investigated and compared with 10 reference tanning materials obtained from different plants in use in the 19th century, here described. Two different types of vegetable tanned leathers were identified. The obtained spectra allowed to confirm the presence of morocco leathers as well as to detect a different type of vegetable tanned leather, probably applied as a restoration material in a past intervention. This study shows the usefulness of ATR–FTIR to distinguish different types of historic leathers based in the spectroscopic characteristic IR bands of vegetable tannins used for leather production, which can be of great assistance for conservation condition assessments.

“Pieles, zapateros, curtidurías...del Reino de Valencia (ss. XIV-XV)" per Aparici Martí (2012)

Aparici Martí, Joaquín, “Pieles, zapateros, curtidurías. El trabajo del cuero en la zona septentrional del Reino de Valencia (ss. XIV-XV)”, Millars: espai i història 35 (2012) pp. 49–68.

URL / PDF (Raco)

Resum:

Hemos tratado de reunir en este trabajo las referencias bibliográficas y los datos archivísticos dispersos existentes sobre la producción de cueros de los siglos XIV a XV en una geografía determinada como es el norte del Reino de Valencia, adjuntándose un mapa para una rápida visualización de los resultados obtenidos.