Elemental analysis by portable Ag and Rh X-ray sources of a Namban type folding screen

This work focuses on the characterization of the materials used in a Japanese Namban type folding screen. Namban is the art style inspired by the arrival of the southern barbarians or Nambanjin to Japan in 1543, and the commercial trade then initiated. Energy dispersive X ray spectrometry (EDXRF) was used and complemented with Raman spectroscopy. The unexpected aspect about this screen concerns the brownish–grey color over which the characters stand instead of the usual golden color obtained by gilding. To better assess the elemental composition of the background and, most importantly, conclude about the presence of precious metals, an X-ray tube with Rh anode was used supporting the results obtained with the Ag one.