Analysis of Cow Hide Glue Binder in Traditional Dancheong by Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay

Abstract

Animal glue has been used as a binder in Dancheong since the Joseon dynasty. Binders play an important role in determining the physical characteristics of a painting layer. The analysis of binders can be used to identify the materials and techniques used in traditional Dancheong. Binders can be investigated using physicochemical component analyses methods such as gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry, pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, but the detection characteristics vary depending on the degradation properties of the pigment and binder. Therefore, cross-validation using a combination of physicochemical analysis and enzyme immunoassay is used to increase the reliability of the results. In this study, we present an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as an example of an enzyme immunoassay as a method for analyzing animal glue, a traditional binder used in Korea. The applicability of ELISA was tested using commercial animal glue, in addition to animal glue produced using a variety of extraction conditions. The animal glue was analyzed in a Noerok-additionally coated-replica sample to evaluate the possibility of analyzing the animal glue in a paint layer mixed with pigment. Based on the results, we performed an assay on the use of animal glue in the Dancheong sample of the temples of the Joseon dynasty, that are estimated to have been built in the 17th century.