Mythic dyes or mythic colour? New insight into the use of purple dyes on codices

The traditional knowledge concerning the use of Tyrian purple in Late Antique and Medieval purple codices - those precious biblical texts written with noble metal inks on parchment dyed or painted with purple colourants - is here updated in view of new analytical evidence. Recent literature reports the analysis carried out on some purple codices, suggesting that Tyrian purple has not, if ever, been used in their making. A large number of purple codices has been considered in this work to elucidate the nature of the purple colour. Results have been discussed within the frame of previous information, thus covering a vast majority of the purple codices presently identified. In most of the instances the use of less expensive dyes such as folium or orchil is suggested. Moreover, analytical results from a non-invasive spectroscopic approach have been definitely confirmed by micro-invasive surface-enhanced Raman analysis performed on micro samples of purple parchment taken from two 6th century codices.

Analytical investigations on the Coronation Gospels manuscript

The Coronation Gospels or Krönungsevangeliar is a manuscript kept in Vienna at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, datable to the end of VIII century A.D. and produced at Charlemagne court. It is an example of a purple codex, i.e. its parchment is coloured in purple. It has to be considered as one of the most important medieval codices, according to its use to take oath in the coronation ceremony of kings and emperors of the Holy Roman Empire up to 1792. In order to gather information of the manufacture of the manuscript and its present conservation state, a diagnostic investigation campaign has been carried out in situ with totally non-invasive techniques. X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF), UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry with optical fibres (FORS), spectrofluorimetry, optical microscopy and multispectral analysis have been applied in order to identify the colourants used in the decoration of the manuscript, with the main concern to the dye used to impart the purple hue to the parchment. The information collected was useful in order to address some of the questions raised by art historians concerning its history.

On the identification of folium and orchil on illuminated manuscripts

The identification of the two purple dyes folium and orchil has rarely been reported in the analysis of painted artworks, especially when analysing illuminated manuscripts. This is not consistent with the fact that ancient literary sources suggested their use as substitutes for the more expensive Tyrian purple dye. By employing non-invasive spectroscopic techniques, the present work demonstrates that these dyes were actually widely used in the production of ancient manuscripts. By employing UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry with optic fibres (FORS) and spectrofluorimetry, the abundant identification of both dyes on medieval manuscripts was performed by comparing the spectra recorded on ancient codices with those obtained on accurate replicas of dyed or painted parchment. Moreover, examples are also reported whereby the considered purple dyes were used in mixtures with other colourants. The overall information obtained here allowed us to define new boundaries for the time range in which orchil and folium dyes were used which is wider than previously thought, and to focus on their particular uses in the decoration of books.

A diagnostic study on folium and orchil dyes with non-invasive and micro-destructive methods

Folium and orchil are dyes of vegetal origin. Folium is obtained from Chrozophora tinctoria (L.) A. Juss., whereas orchil is obtained from Roccella and other genera of lichens. These dyes were used in the past to impart purple hue to paintings and textiles as substitutes for the more prised Tyrian purple dye, obtained from shellfish. Despite several citations in ancient technical treatises dating back at least to the Greek-Roman age, the identification of these dyes in artworks is rare. In the case of folium, an additional drawback is that its composition is presently unknown. In this work different non-invasive (FT-IR, FT-Raman, fibre optic reflectance spectrophotometry, spectrofluorimetry, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry) and micro-invasive (surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation-time of flight-mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) techniques were used in order to increase the diagnostic information available on these dyes. Measurements were carried out on the dyes extracted from raw materials and on painted or dyed parchments. The possibility to distinguish between folium and orchil by chemical analysis is discussed.

Non-invasive investigation on a VI century purple codex from Brescia, Italy

Purple codices are among the most relevant and prestigious book productions of Late Antique and Medieval age. They usually contained texts from Holy Writings written with golden or silver inks on parchment dyed in a purple hue. According to the tradition, the colour of parchment was obtained by the well renowned Tyrian purple dye. From the material point of view, however, very little is known about the compounds actually used in the manufacture of these manuscripts. Presently, the information available is limited to the ancient art treatises, with very few diagnostic evidences supporting them and, moreover, none confirming the presence of Tyrian purple. It is more than apparent, then, the need to have at disposal larger and more complete information at the concern, in order to verify what came to us from the literary tradition only. In this study, preliminary results are presented from non-invasive investigation on a VI century purple codex, the so-called CodexBrixianus, held in the Biblioteca Civica Queriniana at Brescia (Italy). Analyses were carried out with XRF spectrometry, UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry, molecular spectrofluorimetry and optical microscopy. The results suggest the hypothesis that Tyrian purple had been used as a minor component mixed with other less precious dyes such as folium or orchil.