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Non Invasive Study of Nineteenth Century Iranian Polychrome Underglaze Painted Tiles by Fibre Optic Visible Reflectance Spectroscopy

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Abstract

This paper presents the first results of the application of fibre optic visible reflectance spectroscopy to a group of fourteen underglaze polychrome painted tiles from nineteenth century Iran. The measurement of the entire range of colours appearing on the tiles is aimed at investigating the practices of the Persian master potter Ali Muhammad Isfahani (AMI), who was active in his workshop in Tehran between 1884 and 1893, according to his signed works. In an earlier study, an analytical approach for the non destructive investigation of underglaze painted ceramics was developed, combining microanalytical X-ray methods for the determination of the chemical composition of the glaze (micro X-ray fluorescence, XRF or micro proton induced X-ray and gamma-ray emission, microPIXE/PIGE) with microRaman and visible reflectance spectroscopy, intended to identify more particularly the types of colorants and pigments used (Reiche et al. 2009).

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References

  • Dupuis G, Elias M, Simonot L (2002) Pigment identification by fiber-optics diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Appl Spectrosc 56:1329–1336

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  • Reiche I, Röhrs S, Salomon J, Kanngießer B, Höhn Y, Malzer W, Voigt F (2009) Development of a nondestructive method for underglaze painted tiles demonstrated by the analysis of Persian objects from the nineteenth century. Anal Bioanal Chem 393(3):1025–1041

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  • Troalen L, Reiche I, Röhrs S, Pretzel B, Burgio L, Shah B, Peschard S, Boust C, Tate J, Martin G and Voigt F (2009) ‘To acquire a good name’: Specimens of nineteenth century Persian tilemaking from the Teheran workshop of the master potter Ali Muhammad Isfahani, In: Sources and Serendipity – Testimonies of Artists’. Practice. London (Archetype Publications): 119–127

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Franco-Britain ALLIANCE Programme 2007–2008, supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (EGIDE, no. 15125NJ) and the British Council (Alliance, project no 07.003), as well as Lucia Borgio, Mariam Rosser-Owen, Tim Stanley (V&A), Ulrike Al-Khamis (NMS), and David Saunders (BM) for their support of this programme. We owe particular thanks to the owners of the tiles in the private collection for allowing our examination.

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Correspondence to I. Reiche .

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Reiche, I. et al. (2011). Non Invasive Study of Nineteenth Century Iranian Polychrome Underglaze Painted Tiles by Fibre Optic Visible Reflectance Spectroscopy. In: Turbanti-Memmi, I. (eds) Proceedings of the 37th International Symposium on Archaeometry, 13th - 16th May 2008, Siena, Italy. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14678-7_21

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