Spectroscopic analysis of pigments and inks in manuscripts: I. Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts (10–18th century)

•Pigments and inks in Byzantine and post-Byzantine manuscripts are analyzed.•In the 10–12th century manuscripts pigment lead tin yellow type II was identified.•Abundance of gold and purple-red madder is identified in decorated manuscripts.•Lapis lazuli is used as blue pigment and in mixtures with yellow for green color.•Beside gall ink, logwood and goethite were used as inks.

Pigments and inks used in six Byzantine manuscripts (covering the period from 10th to 15th century) and one 18th century post-Byzantine manuscript have been analyzed, using micro-Raman spectroscopy, ATR-FT-infrared spectroscopy and SEM–EDS. Micro-Raman spectroscopy allowed fast and in situ analysis of majority of pigments and inks used, except for the purple-red organic pigment, brown-purple ink and metallic pigments (silver and gold). The nature of the organic purple-red pigment and organic purple ink was revealed applying ATR-FTIR. In the analysis of the metallic pigment (silver and gold) as well as additional technique in characterizing organic purple-red dye and ink, SEM–EDS was used.Varieties of inks were used in the manuscripts. Gold and silver inks were used for capital letters and for emphasizing certain paragraphs. Red ink was identified as madder in illuminated manuscripts and as vermilion in simple texts. Gall ink was identified as black-brown ink in most of the manuscripts. In 18th century manuscript logwood was identified while in the 12th century manuscript, goethite was used as ink.The analysis of the pigments and inks revealed that over the course of 5 centuries, the pigments used for decoration in Byzantine manuscripts remained similar and traditional (mineral and organic), with pronounced variations in the 18th century post-Byzantine manuscript.