Analysis of Material Properties of Wallpaper and Blue-dyed Paper Used for Banja Ceiling at Main Hall of Jongmyo Shrine

In this study, we collected wallpaper covering the Banja ceiling in chambers 4, 13, 15, and 17 at Jeongjeon Hall of Jongmyo Shrine, and conducted a scientific analysis of the paper material and dye. We carried out fiber identification and physical property analysis such as basis weight, thickness and density for a total of 24 specimens. As finding nine pieces of them were blue-dyed papers, we attempted to analyze the blue substances used as the stain through ultraviolet-visible light(UV-Vis) spectroscopy and gas chromatography(GC). During the layer separation process, we discovered a lotus flower pattern and a swatika pattern were on blue-dyed papers. As the result of analysis, it was confirmed that the fiber of 24 wallpapers was made of bast fiber. And result of basic physical property analysis and averaging, the basis weight was 65.4 g/m2(StDev22.1), the thickness was 0.1523 mm(StDev0.0447), and the density was 0.4428 g/cm3(StDev 0.1358) confirmed. As a result of analyzing blue dye using UV-Vis and GC on blue-dyed paper, components indicating ‘natural indigo’ were commonly detected. So It was determined that ‘Jjok(natural indigo)’ used to dye the blue-dyed paper used for papered royal palace in the Joseon Dynasty period.