Volume 39, Issue 4 -

The aims of this research were to identify deterioriation processes of lontar (palm leaf) manuscripts and to describe traditional handling and care of such manuscripts stored in the library of Rekso Pustoko, Surakarta. Environmental conditions were monitored and interviews regarding handling and preservation practices were conducted; furthermore, the current physical condition of lontar manuscripts was documented within a survey. Librarians still use some traditional methods to clean and improve the flexibility of palm leaves such as applying a mixture of minyak sereh (lemon grass oil) and bubuk kemiri (candlenut powder) to the surface of the leaves. This paper recommends some further preservation me-thods in order to prevent deterioration and damage in the future.

Extracts from plants have been used traditionally for the preservation of palm leaf manuscripts in India. Although these methods are slowly being replaced by modern chemicals, art conservators still prefer herbal plant extracts as fungicides and insecticides. In this study, several traditional herbal extracts from the state of Odisha were studied using GC-MS and their long-term impact on palm leaf manuscripts was substantiated by visual observation. GC-MS results showed the presence of different herbal plant extracts from walnut fruit, Artemisia oil, cinnamon oil, equisetum stem, circium roots, Rhizophora leaf, tobacco leaf, and beggar-tick plant oil in palm leaf manuscripts. Illustrated manuscripts were also studied using FTIR spectroscopy which showed the presence of starch paste and pectin as binding media mixed in the pigments and writing inks for palm leaf manuscripts.

This study investigates the colours and inks used in diplomatic documents of the Ottoman Empire dating from the 13 th to the 20 th century. Elemental and spectroscopic analyses were carried out on more than 150 documents using μ-XRF, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy; 10 documents were selected representatively for each century. In addition to the characterization of colour and ink, their use and distribution through the centuries is discussed. Analysis showed the presence of minium, vermilion, red ochre and cochineal (red pigments); lapis lazuli (ultramarine blue), azurite (blue verditer), Prussian blue and smalt (blue pigments); malachite and green earth (green pigments); massicot and yellow lead (yellow respectively orange pigments) and basic lead carbonate and zinc oxide (white pigments). All illuminations were ornamented with gold to demonstrate the power of the Empire and the Emperor. Texts were written in iron gall- and carbon-based black ink (carbon black/soot), cochineal (red) ink and gold.