Non Destructive In situ Study of Mexican Codexes: Methodology and First Results of Materials Analysis for the Colombino

and Azoyu codexes. S. Zetina1, J.L. Ruvalcaba2*, M. Lpez Cceres3, T. Falcn1, E. Hernndez1, C. Gonzlez3, E. Arroyo1
1 2

Instituto de Investigaciones Estticas, UNAM, Mexico

Instituto de Fisica, Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico.

3

Biblioteca Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, INAH, Mexico

Introduction Little is known about manuscript painting practices in pre Hispanic Mesoamerica, around the world just sixteen codices from pre-Hispanic Mexico survived the Conquest, most of them are held at European collections. Even though the codices manufacture was spread during the Postclassic period (1325-1521 A.D.), the features of the surviving pre-Hispanic and Early Colonial documents show some technical differences that can be related to local traditions. The only pre-Hispanic codex held at a Mexican Collection is Colombino Codex from Mixtec coast. But many manuscripts produced in New Spain preserved the indigenous codex tradition and practices. These manuscripts are an important information source of the materials used in the writing and coloring tradition. Usually, organic colorants obtained from local plants, carbon inks, and calcium rich preparation layers were employed. Nevertheless, there are few studies of original manuscripts, done on a reduced amount of samples (Gonzalez C. 1998) and scarce information has been obtained on this subject. In this research a specific non-destructive methodology has been developed to carry out in situ general examination of the codices and the analysis of inks, colorants and pigments. In particular, a comparative study between the preHispanic codex Colombino, and the colonial codex Azoyu I is presented. Previously the colonial codex de la Cruz-Badiano has been studied using the same methodology (Zetina S. et al. 2008). The Colombino Codex tells the history of Mixtec lord Eight Deer Jaguar Claw (Carrasco D. 2001). The support is animal skin sewn with an agave thread. One side was prepared for painting with a thick polished white ground. Colors were applied saturated and flat on sharply defined areas. The proportion and regularity of the figures is constant. The color palette is reduced: blue, green; red and yellow which are used saturated and diluted, and a bright orange

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found only in scarce details, which has almost disappeared; and black, in transparencies and more opaque for the contour lines. On the other hand, Codex Azoyu I was produced during the 16th century; the front section has a pictographic tradition historical account of the Guerrero region of the Tlachinollan Caltitlan reign between 1300 and 1565. In the Tlapa region, Nahua, Mixtec and Tlachinolla people coexisted as today. In 38 pages, the document describes the conquest of about twenty places located in eastern Guerrero. One folio has written words in Latin alphabet (23r). The support is amate paper (made from an indigenous bark) screen folded in 28 pages. The historical section, the most antique, covers the obverse. A calendaric frame delimits each page; the squares at the center contain historical pictographs and were prepared with a slight wash applied over the surface of the paper before painting. Pink, red, orange, brown, yellow, black and gray, bluegreen and green were found, in pale shades. Over the reverse, a genealogical section is depicted in 11 pages, it is considered more recent than the other. The painting technique is quite similar in the second version. There is a third later addition, a cartographic and economic section. Methodology Firstly, all the documents were digitally photographed after light calibration. We used fluorescent tubes illumination daylight color temperature (Hanckok) and a Mac Beth spectrophotometer in order to measure color temperature at 5700K. All the photographs were taken with a digital camera Nikon D2x with and a 50 mm objective. Limited UV examinations were carried out by a low power 8W UV lamp with long and short wave (365 and 254 nm respectively). All the images were recorded by digital photography. Also IR reflectography was performed with a lead sulfide vidicon tube (Hammamatsu C2741) with a sensibility range from 400 to 1800 nm and led array lighting (940nm). IR images were obtained by a digital shot directly to the monitor. In order to interpret the IR and UV images of the codex, a comparison with reference of pigments, colorants, inks and other materials commonly used in manuscripts and illuminations was fundamental. Reference standards were prepared on 100% cotton paper with carboxymethyl-cellulose used as binder. Under IR illumination gypsum has a brilliant appearance but iron gall inks have a medium absorbance and iron oxides appear very opaque. On the contrary, different dyes and colorants (prepared as lakes or fixed into clays) are transparent in different grades. Under UV lighting gypsum had a bright violet fluorescence while lakes, cochineal and achiote plant showed also some kind of bright fluorescence. Iron oxides and iron gall inks (even mixed with cochineal) had a dark violet response to UV. After proceeding with imaging techniques, the manuscripts were analyzed using our SANDRA XRF portable system. This device has a Mo X-ray tube and two sets of measurements were carried out by two different X-ray detectors (CZT and Si-Pin) with a 75 W Mo X-ray tube. CZT

detector is more suitable for pigments analysis while the Si-Pin detector may detect lighter elements. Measuring time was 90 s at 40 kV and 30 mA with a X-ray spot of 1 mm dia. Only qualitative measurements were carried out. Results Figure 1 shows the calibrated digital photography of one folio of the Colombine codex as well as the corresponding UV and IR images. The examination of the complete document showed similar behaviors for the entire codex. The homogeneity of the materials and depictions may correspond to a single writing period. The UV red color fluorescence is quite similar to the cochineal colorant. Instead the yellow colorant presents a bright fluorescence and its identity is unknown. Under IR illumination the colors are transparent or presents a light grey tone, similar to the organic materials features. Considering the imaging techniques results and reflectivity and fluorescence observations, XRF measurements focused in 6-8 folios in order to get representative data. XRF results for the Colombine indicate the presence of S, K, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Sr and Pb in the leather. Nevertheless in the ground only S, Ca, K Fe and Sr were detected. A comparison of with a gypsum reference match with the S/Ca ground ratio. On the other hand the black and the red colors did not show any significant difference by comparison to the ground X-ray ratios. This means that the black may be carbon and the red a colorant. The yellow color presents a similar behavior but with an increase in the K content by a factor of 7. K contents may be used for an identification of the yellow colorant. Besides the detected ground elements, the green and blue colors presents Si, Mn, Ti and an increment of Fe by a factor of 5 or more (figure 1). This result suggests the use of clay to fix these colors. Perhaps, the green color was produced by mixing the yellow and the blue colorants. On the other hand, the calibrated image as well as the UV and IR imaging for the first part of the Azoyu codex is shown in figure 2. Several differences have been observed between the epochs but the sections seem homogeneous. For the first part, the preparation layer is gypsum in the interior frame. Several corrections may be observed from UV images. Red color has fluorescence similar to the cochineal one. Blue color may correspond to indigo. The interior frame presents the gypsum fluorescence. No preparation ground has been observed for the calendaric frame. The main XRF results for the Azoyu codex are shown in table 1. Colorants were used for the first and second parts but European pigments and mixtures, mainly for green colors, appeared only in the latest section. Carbon and iron-gall inks were used in the three sections. Despide the European influences, we may consider that the earlier epochs of the Azoyu codex were written and painted following pre-Hispanic traditions in the use of materials for colors. Further material

comparisons with other codexes may suggest its main cultural manufacturing trends: Nahua, Mixtec or Tlachinolla.

Figure 1. The Colombine codex (a) folio 7, (b) UV imaging 365nm (c) IR reflectography, 940 nm led illumination. XRF spectrum from green and blue region is shown. Clay presence was identified for these colors.

Figure 2.

The Azoyu I codex. (a) folio 18, 1st epoch (b) UV imaging 365nm (c) IR

reflectography, 940 nm led illumination. Only in the white area of the historic frame, gypsum was identified in the ground by XRF.

Table I. Identification from XRF results of the colors and inks used in the Azoyu codex in its three sections.
Color Red Pink Yellow Green Blue White Black Inks 1st Epoch organic organic organic organic organic (indigo) gypsum carbon 2nd. Epoch organic organic organic organic organic (indigo) gypsum carbon 3rd. Epoch minium (Pb) minium and lead white limonite (Fe oxides) dark.: organic light: limonite + indigo organic (indigo) lead white carbon iron gallic inks

carbon-irongallic inks carbon-irongallic inks

Conclusions From our UV-IR imaging and XRF measurements we may conclude that the composition of the Colombine codex is very homogeneous. Colorants were applied on a gypsum ground layer and carbon inks were used. Blue color was prepared by colorant fixed to clay, while green may be made from blue and yellow superposition. In the Azoyu codex, although it is a colonial one, colorants are in the first and second epochs, while only in the last epoch colorants are replaced by European pigments. This means that the pre-Hispanic traditions and the use of colorants remained. In contrast, the colonial de la Cruz-Badiano codex has different features but also dyes are present. From material point of view, this codex is diverse to the Colombino and Azoyu ones. UV-IR imaging works perfectly for a general prospection of the document, then XRF may be applied on representative areas. Further analyses are required using Raman and FTIR spectroscopies for organic compound characterization. Acknowledgements This research has been supported by the Mexico CONACyT grand U49839-R. References Carrasco D. (2001). Colombino-Becker codex in The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures vol. 1 Oxford University Press, Oxford. 231-232. Gonzalez Tirado C. (1998). Anlisis de pigmentos en ocho cdices mexicanos sobre piel, M.Sc. thesis, The Monfort University, Leicester. Zetina S., Ruvalcaba J.L., Falcn T., Hernndez E., Gonzlez C., Arroyo E., Lpez Cceres M., (2008). Painting syncretism: A non destructive analysis of the Badiano codex, 9th International Conference on ART2008. Jerusalem, Israel. In CD.