An external PIXE study: Mughal painting pigments

Recently, a new external beam PIXE facility was installed at the 2 MV tandem ion accelerator of the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM). For external beam PIXE, 1-3 MeV protons are extracted through a thin exit window and focused on the target under air pressure. This set-up is particularly suitable for multielement trace analysis in the field of unique art and archaeological objects. We report the first archaeometric findings of the study of Mughal painting pigments by means of this experimental set-up. The Indian miniatures chosen for the study date from the Mughal period (1526-1858) and were executed by various artists in particular workshops between the 17th and the 19th centuries. The paintings are typical depictions of Mughal sovereigns and courtiers or show genre scenes. Until now, in contrast to European paintings, only scarce information on the materials used in the workshops of Mughal painters has been available. Therefore, the exact knowledge of the painting materials employed would allow a more detailed attribution of the precious miniatures to a particular period and to distinguish original paintings from later copies. Copyright (C) 2005 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.