127

3.2.4 PIGMENTS OF THE LACQUER AND GROUND LAYERS

The investigation of the pigments using SEM/EDX and XRF revealed the
presence of orpiment for the yellow lacquer layers; the greens were coloured
using orpiment and indigo, the red with cinnabar, and the black lacquer
layers with carbon

black.29
The thin yellow drawing on the reverse of the screen frame was executed
with orpiment and ochre.
Only earth pigments were determined in the ground layers (not pigmenting
proper, rather the natural components of the earths used).

3.2.5 METAL PARTICLES AND TEXTILE FIBRES OF THE LACQUER AND 	
	     GROUND LAYERS

The metal powders and leaves used in the lacquer painting of the reverse
were also identified using XRF: depending on the ‘gold tone’, silver, gold,
and silver-gold alloys were detected. For instance, in a cross-section (see
fig. 30), over a sprinkling of a fine powder of a silver–gold alloy, a line with
red lacquer (cinnabar with some earth pigment) is detectable, onto which
very pure gold (only traces of silver and copper detectable) was again
sprinkled.
The textile fibres and textiles in both the ground and the overall covering
were investigated in Textile Conservation using microscopic investigation.
In all samples,

ramie-like30

stem fibres were

determined.31

29	 Marianne Webb lists orpiment, cinnabar, and carbon black as the pigments historically

most commonly used to colour lacquer layers, before the introduction of synthetic
pigments; see Webb (cit. n. 25), 8.
30	 Ramie, also called China grass, China plant, or Chinese nettle, is obtained from

the inner bark of the stem of the ramie plant. The natural fibre is a bast fibre.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramie (last accessed: 20 November 2020).
31	 Thanks to our colleagues Barbara Pönighaus-Matuella and Lisa Metatla.

CHINESE

LACQUER SCREEN