Abstract
Red pigments with bright colors were widely used in ancient Chinese painted pottery, books, antiques, calligraphy, and paintings. Herein, red pigments of traditional paper notes were investigated by non-invasive optical technology in order to enrich the Chinese historical pigments knowledge base. The results of laser Raman spectroscopy tests on five paper notes clearly identified the inorganic mineral pigments including ocher and cinnabar. Infrared spectroscopy measurements indicated that an artificial synthetic magenta was employed as the organic pigment. Inorganic and organic red pigments were applied together on the same samples 2 and 5 which can be speculated to serve an anti-counterfeiting function. In addition, SEM-EDS analysis of sample 5 clearly showed that the red pigment was composed of lead oxides and ZnS was added as color modulator. Combined with the abovementioned non-invasive techniques, analysis of printed pigments can provide a feasible method to authenticate and conserve paper notes.
Highlights
Red pigments were some of the most commonly used pigments in ancient China due to their bright colors
During our research on the material of stamps, we found that there are many reports on the use of pigments abroad, such as the Hawaiian missionary stamps issued by the Hawaiian Islands in 1851 [11], Mauritius stamps in 1847 [12], stamps and banknotes in the region of Rijeka in Croatia in 1918 [13], and a set of stamps in the Italian Kingdom and Republic [14]
The red pigments of samples were analyzed by laser confocal Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and infrared spectroscopy
Summary
Red pigments were some of the most commonly used pigments in ancient China due to their bright colors. The research methods of scientific and technological history workers for cultural relic collections generally involve site visits and investigations, followed by observation with the eyes, hands and other traditional methods These traditional identification methods sometimes have some shortcomings, and the use of scientific and technological means can make up for these shortcomings and increase the accuracy of Coatings 2021, 11, 410 technological means can make up for these shortcomings and increase the accuracy of identification. The body adopted the blue pigment printing, and the center was covered by a red square seal, as shown in area 1-a; the lower right corner of the sample was stamped by a red cross-page seal, as shown in area 1-b. The bill body adopted red pigment printing and was stamped with purple and black handwriting, as shown in sample 2-a. Sample 5 is a 1940 print issue note sized at 16.4 cm × 8.8 cm. The nominal subject is blue, the far left in area 5-a is printed with “Do not fill in here” in red letters, the center was stamped by a “transfer paid” rectangular red seal in area 5-b, the central printing of the bill has 2 red vertical stripes in area 5-c, and the lower right corner of a round red seal is affixed in area 5-d
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