N.º 1 2005 pp. 55-62

Article
Study and treatment of a chasuble from the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

Paula Maria Tomaz

Instituto Português de Conservação e Restauro

texteis_ipcr@hotmail.com

Abstract

A chasuble from the textile collection of the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga underwent a laboratorial study prior to the conservation treatment.The analyses gave vegetable fibres for the support layers used in the embroidered strips (orphreys), in the applied embroidered figures, in the volume in-filling threads of those applied embroidered figures, and the intermediate linning support layer. The patterned silk, the back linning, and the embroidery threads of the orphreys are made of ungummed silk. Through X-ray fluorescence spectrometry the main component of the metallic embroidery threads was found to be silver, although other metals were also detected. These results together with the observations made using a metallographic microscope and a scanning electron microscope suggest that the golden threads should be gold plated silver, which was commonly used between the 15th and 17th Centuries. This paper also presents a description of the condition survey and treatment intervention, which includes the application of a nylon support as a consolidation method on the embroidered figures, opposed to the traditional method, which was thought to be inadequate for the present case.

Keywords

Textiles
Conservation
Chasuble
Vestments
Metallic threads
X-ray fluorescence spectrometry
Scanning electron microscopy

Language

Portuguese

Original title

Estudo e tratamento de uma casula do Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga

DOI

10.14568/cp1_6

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History

Online: 2017-10-3
Publication: 2005-2-3

References

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Stable url: https://doi.org/10.14568/cp1_6