• Conservation Science in Museum
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• v.15
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• pp.96-121
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• 2014

Portrait of Sim Huisu is a seventeenth-century Joseon portrait of a meritorious vassal. The National Museum of Korea currently owns two portraits of Sim Huisu, which are the eldest son's family and by the eldest grandson of the family's second eldest son. Both were donated in 1980. Portraits were still in its original mounting, but the supporting silk had been damaged and stained in a flood. Conservation treatment was undertaken to restore the original style, and scientific analysis, such as, X-ray, XRD, XRF and Graff "C" stain, was conducted to study the materials and painting techniques. The support silk was found to be refined fibroin and a plain weave consisting of two weft threads and one warp thread. The lining papers were found to be bamboo fiber paper of first layer in China and Korean traditional mulberry paper in second. Various pigments were identified in the painting, including white lead, cinnabar, atacamite, ink stick, azurite, silver, and gold. The study also confirmed the use of the back painting, with colors such as white ^{White Lead}, green ^Atacamite, orange ^Minium, black ^{Ink Stick}, and yellow ^Dye. Also, it was found that stick ink or dye was used with white lead.