Non-DestructiveIn Situ Identification of Cinnabar on Ancient Chinese Manuscripts

A standard, non-destructive, in situ analytical procedure has been developed to test the proposal that cinnabar [mercury(II) sulphide] is the principal component of red inks and pigments on pre-tenth century Chinese manuscripts. Eight manuscript fragments with traces of red ink or pigmentation, and also one textile fragment, were examined by Raman microscopy, Fourier transform near-infrared Raman spectroscopy and x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Mercury(II) sulphide was unambiguously identified on all four paper samples with red calligraphy and on the textile fragment with red pigmentation. Mercury(II) sulphide was not detected on three paper fragments with red legal or punctuation dots or on one paper fragment with a divine image hand-painted in red. The likely identity of the non-cinnabar pigment is madder.