Organic Matter and Pigments in the Wall Paintings of Me-Taw-Ya Temple in Bagan Valley, Myanmar

• Published in: Applied sciences Vol. 11; no. 23; p. 11441
• Main Authors: Amadori, Maria Letizia, Mengacci, Valeria, Vagnini, Manuela, Casoli, Antonella, Holakooei, Parviz, Eftekhari, Negar, Lin, Kyi, Maekawa, Yoshifumi, Germinario, Giulia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.12.2021
• Subjects: 13th century; Archaeology; Binders; Black carbon; Carbon black; Conservation; Cultural heritage; Dispersion; Earthquake damage; Earthquakes; Energy; Fluorescence; Fourier transforms; Gas chromatography; Historic sites; Historical buildings; Infrared spectroscopy; Inscriptions; Light microscopy; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Me-taw-ya; Murals; Myanmar; non-invasive investigation; Optical microscopy; Organic binders; organic compounds; Organic matter; Pigments; Plants; Polarized light; Portability; Raman spectroscopy; Scanning electron microscopy; Scientific papers; Seismic activity; wall paintings; X-ray fluorescence; Myanmar (Burma)
• ISSN: 2076-3417; 2076-3417
• DOI: 10.3390/app112311441

Pagán is an ancient city located in Myanmar that is renowned for the remains of about 4000 pagodas, stupas, temples and monasteries dating from the 11th to 13th centuries. Due to a magnitude 6.8 earthquake in 2016, more than 300 ancient buildings were seriously damaged. As a part of the post-earthquake emergency program, a diagnostic pilot project was carried out on Me-taw-ya temple wall paintings to acquire further information on the materials and on their state of conservation. This article presents our attempts at characterising the painting materials at Me-taw-ya temple using non-invasive portable energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (ED-XRF), portable Raman spectroscopy and micro-invasive attenuated total reflectance—Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), micro-Raman spectroscopy (µ-Raman), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), polarized light microscopy (PLM) and environmental scanning electron microscope—X-ray energy dispersive system (ESEM-EDS) investigations with the aim of identifying the composition of organic binders and pigments. The presence of a proteinaceous glue mixed with the lime-based plaster was ascertained and identified by GC-MS. In addition, this technique confirmed the occurrence of plant-derived gums as binders pointing to the a secco technique. Fe-based compounds, vermillion, carbon black and As-compounds were identified to have been incorporated in the palette of the murals.