Three English manuscripts post‐1066 AD : pigment identification and palette comparisons by Raman microscopy

Three distinguished English manuscripts post‐1066 AD, viz. Add. Ms 42555, the Abingdon Apocalypse, Add. Ms 24686, the Alphonso Psalter, and Harley Ms 7026, the Lovell Lectionary, were analysed by Raman microscopy in order to establish the identities of the pigments used in each case. Palette comparisons were made with those of earlier Anglo‐Saxon manuscripts. The palette of the Abingdon Apocalypse contains carbon, chalk, indigo, lazurite, orpiment, red lead, verdigris, vermilion and white lead. The palette of the Alphonso Psalter is closely similar, one notable difference being that azurite replaces indigo; this identification by Raman microscopy of azurite indicates the earliest established usage of this pigment (ca 1300 AD) on an English manuscript. The palette of the Lovell Lectionary does not include chalk, indigo or red lead, but notably does include lead tin yellow type I in its later parts, which date from ca 1450 AD, indicating the earliest established usage of this pigment on an English manuscript.