Nondestructive investigation on the 17‐18th centuries Sicilian jewelry collection at the Messina regional museum using mobile Raman equipment

Abstract

In recent years, the use of mobile Raman equipment as an archeological, artistic, and conservation tool has largely increased due to the possibility to obtain quick and nondestructive compositional analysis on precious, vulnerable, and unique art objects. In particular, art and archeological museums can take great advantage in carrying out in situ measurements in short times and without moving the artifacts. In this work, we report on the Raman measurements carried out by portable instruments on an important jewelry collection dated back to 17th–18th centuries and preserved in the Messina Regional Museum (Sicily, Italy) with the goal to verify the identification of the gems and gemological materials of the collection, previously made by conservators. Although most of the previous identifications were confirmed, some important reclassifications have been proposed. Finally, interesting and unusual combinations of different materials were detected in some jewels. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.