Unveiling materials and origin of reused medieval music parchments by portable XRF and ER-FTIR

In this research, we analyzed two handwritten music parchments, dated back between the late 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century, using non-invasive multiband (MBI) and reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), portable Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (p-XRF), and External Reflection FTIR spectrometry (ER-FTIR). The two parchments were discovered in different libraries in Northern Italy, in Milan and Pavia, respectively, as covers of paper books (a manuscript and a printed book). Since the findings represent a valuable evidence of rare Lombard polyphonic music of the late Middle Ages, they have aroused great musicological and philological interest leading to the fusion of humanistic disciplines with multiple analytical set-ups to get insights into their story. The paleographic, stylistic, and musical similarity of the two manuscripts raised questions about their origin: whether the two fragments were originally part of the same musical manuscript disassembled at a later period and reused as book covers, and whether different portions of the manuscripts were written at different stages of time. The study addressed the origin of the parchments through the non-invasive spectrochemical and superficial characterization of the inks and parchment substrate. The results of the proposed multi-analytical approach proved effective and reliable in the morphological and chemical distinction of medieval inks from inks applied in later periods and identifying parchment manufacturing processes and degradation products. In addition, relative ratios Cu/Fe and Zn/Cu were used as fingerprints for black inks confirming the common origin of the two medieval musical manuscripts and the writing of different portions of the manuscripts using the same ink, likely within a short period. Overall, this study highlights not only the synergic contribution of a multidisciplinary approach, but also limitations and analytical strategies to overcome critical drawbacks in the analysis of historical manuscripts.