A multi-analytical approach towards the investigation of Subarctic Athapaskan colouring of quillwork and its sensitivity to photo-degradation

Non-European dyed materials other than textiles have received comparatively little systematic analysis, this is particularly true for objects made with dyed porcupine quills. This paper presents a comprehensive study of a group of Athapaskan porcupine quill specimens collected in 1862 which are held...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Microchemical Journal
Main Authors: Hulme, Alison N, Troalen, Lore, Röhrs, S, Calligaro, T, del Hoyo-Meléndez, J M, Kunz, S, Pacheco, C
Other Authors: {"funder_name":"Arts and Humanities Research Council","funder_position":0}
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Elsevier 2016
Subjects:
Mordants
PIXE/RBS
Porcupine quillwork
Photo-degradation
Dyestuffs
UPLC
Subarctic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.microc.2015.11.053
Description
Summary:Non-European dyed materials other than textiles have received comparatively little systematic analysis, this is particularly true for objects made with dyed porcupine quills. This paper presents a comprehensive study of a group of Athapaskan porcupine quill specimens collected in 1862 which are held within the collections of National Museums Scotland, UK. Due to sampling limitations micro-destructive testing, or non-invasive analysis using PDA-UPLC, Raman Spectroscopy and PIXE were used to characterise the dye sources and metallic mordants. RBS was used to obtain additional information on the depth-profiling of the mordants in the keratin-based quill. The sensitivity of the quill specimens to photo-degradation was evaluated using Micro Fade Testing (MFT). The results from this multi-analytical study will be used to inform future display regimes of this unique collection.

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