Analytical study of the special crafts used in Ancient Tripitaka

Tripitaka, which means the “Great Treasury of Sutra”, is the most holy book of Tibetan Buddhism. There are limited numbers of Tripitaka persist today; most of them present various patterns of degradation. As little is known about the techniques used in Tripitaka, it appeared necessary to identify the substances and crafts applied and to further define adapted conservation treatment. We focused in this paper on two samples of Tibetan Tripitaka taken from the precious museum collections of Wuwei, dated from Ming Dynasty. Scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectrum, X-ray fluorescence and Fourier transform-infrared spectrum analyses were employed to characterize the composition of the writing pigment, paper filler and protective layer. The results reported here proved, for the first time, that Fe2O3 and silver powder were applied in the writing pigment, red lead were used in the paper filler and the protective layer which employed to prevent silver powder from oxidation and sulfuration was identified as mixture of lipids which may contain beeswax. In the end, suggestions for protecting and restoring the ancient Tripitaka are provided.