Clay pigment structure characterisation as a guide for provenance determination-a comparison between laboratory powder micro-XRD and synchrotron radiation XRD

0359641 - ÚACH 2012 RIV DE eng J - Journal Article
Švarcová, Silvie - Bezdička, Petr - Hradil, David - Hradilová, J. - Žižak, I.
Clay pigment structure characterisation as a guide for provenance determination-a comparison between laboratory powder micro-XRD and synchrotron radiation XRD.
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry. Roč. 399, č. 1 (2011), s. 331-336. ISSN 1618-2642. E-ISSN 1618-2650
Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z40320502
Keywords : powder X-ray micro-diffraction * kaolinite * pigment provenance
Subject RIV: CA - Inorganic Chemistry
Impact factor: 3.778, year: 2011

Application of X-ray diffraction (XRD) based techniques in analysis of painted artworks is not only beneficial for indisputable identification of crystal constituents in colour layers but it can also bring insight in material crystal structure, which can be affected by their geological formation, manufacturing procedure or secondary changes. This knowledge might be helpful for art historic evaluation of an artwork as well as its conservation. By way of example of kaolinite we show that classification of its crystal structure order based on XRD data is useful for estimation of its provenance. We found kaolinite in the preparation layer of a Gothic wall painting in a Czech church situated near Karlovy Vary, where are important kaolin deposits. Comparing reference kaolin materials from eight various Czech deposits we found that these can be differentiate just according to the kaolinite crystallinity. Within this study we compared laboratory powder X-ray micro-diffraction (micro-XRD) with synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (SR-XRD) analysing the same real sample. We found that both techniques led to the same results.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0197388