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A Multidisciplinary Approach to Pigment Analysis: King’s Yellow and Dragon’s Blood From the Winsor and Newton Pigment Box at the Victoria and Albert Museum

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Molecular and Structural Archaeology: Cosmetic and Therapeutic Chemicals

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((NAII,volume 117))

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Abstract

A 19thcentury box of unused watercolour pigment cakes, manufactured by Winsor and Newton and currently at the Victoria and Albert Museum, was analysed using several techniques. The box and its contents are in remarkably good condition, with most of the watercolour cakes being still intact; thus a unique opportunity was made available to study unadulterated artists’ materials. Two interesting results obtained by using Raman microscopy and synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction are reported here for the pigment cakes labelled king’s yellow and dragon’s blood.

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© 2003 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Burgio, L., Clark, R.J.H., Martin, G., Pantos, E., Roberts, M.A. (2003). A Multidisciplinary Approach to Pigment Analysis: King’s Yellow and Dragon’s Blood From the Winsor and Newton Pigment Box at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In: Tsoucaris, G., Lipkowski, J. (eds) Molecular and Structural Archaeology: Cosmetic and Therapeutic Chemicals. NATO ASI Series, vol 117. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0193-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0193-9_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-1499-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-010-0193-9

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