• Conservation Science in Museum
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• v.29
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• pp.111-132
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• 2023

Terahertz radiation cannot pass through metal and therefore reflect and return most signals. Utilizing this property, this study analyzed information on paintings to verify the usage of metal materials on paintings and the scope of their application. First, the study tested specimens of metal-based pigments and synthetic pearl pigments with metallic colors and textures in order to compare basic characteristics of terahertz images, such as signal severance caused by metallic substances, traits reflected in cross-section images, and high degree of reflection. Subsequently, based on the collected information, the study diagnosed various types of paintings including Korean traditional paintings and oil paintings using the terahertz imaging technique to confirm the usage of metal-based pigments in the inner layers of paintings and their scope of application. The terahertz imaging technique could has the potential to provide scientific evidence for previously-undiscovered information and art-historical records about various types of paintings that used metalbased pigments, thereby rendering significant utility for the conservation and authentication of paintings.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.226-245
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• 2019

Beopjusa Gwaebultaeng (Large Buddhist Painting), designated as Treasure No. 1259, was painted in 1766 and featured Yeorae (Buddha) at the center in the style of a single figure. It is the longest existing buddhist painting and was created by Duhun, a painter who was representative of 18th century Korean artists. His other remaining work is Seokgayeorae Gwaebultaeng (1767) in Tongdosa Temple. Considering their same iconography, they are assumed to have used the same underdrawing. Duhun had a superb ability to maintain a consistent underdrawing, while most painters changed theirs within a year. The Beopjusa painting carries significance because it was not only painted earlier than the one in Tongdosa, but also indicates possible relevance to the royal family through its records. Beopjusa Temple is also the site of Seonhuigung Wondang, a shrine housing the spirit tablet of Lady Yi Youngbin, also known as Lady Seonhui. Having been built only a year before Beopjusa Gwaebultaeng was painted, it served as a basis for the presumption that it has a connection to the royal family. In particular, a group of unmarried women is noticeable in the record of Beopjusa painting. The names of some people, including Ms. Lee, born in the year of Gyengjin, are recorded on the Bonginsa Temple Building, the construction of which Lady Yi Youngbin and Princess Hwawan donated money to. In this regard, they are probably court ladies related to Lady Yi Youngbin. The connection of Beopjusa Gwaebultaeng with the royal family is also verified by a prayer at the bottom of the painting, reading "JusangJusamJeonhaSumanse (主上主三殿下壽萬歲, May the king live forever)." While looking into the historical characteristics of this art, this study took an approach based on scientific analysis. Damages to Beopjusa Gwaebultaeng include: bending, folding, wrinkles, stains due to moisture, pigment spalling, point-shaped pigment spalling, and pigment penetration to the lining paper at the back. According to the results of an analysis of the painting pigments, white lead was used as a white pigment, while an ink stick and indigo were used for black. For red, cinnabar and minium were used independently or were combined. For purple, organic pigments seem to have been used. For yellow, white lead and gamboge were mixed, or gamboge was painted over white lead, and gold foil was adopted for storage. As a green pigment, atacamite or a mixture of atacamite and malachite was used. Azurite and smalt were used separately or together as blue pigments.

• Conservation Science in Museum
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• v.4
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• pp.1-16
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• 2003

For the conservation treatment of the Central Asia mural painting which is to be exhibited in the new museum in Yongsan, we analyzed the pigments used in this mural painting and examined to identify the species of the straw in the wall. We also analyzed the species of the wood of the wooden protective frame and the material of the paper in it, in order to review the material and technique of the conservation treatment performed before the mural painting had been brought to the National Museum of Korea in 1916. The results were as follows: the black pigments of Bon4075 and Bon4078 is carbon(C); the white pigment on the background is gypsum[Ca(SO)₄(H₂O)₂]; the red pigment is lead oxide(Pb₃O₄) and hematite(Fe₂O₃) etc. The straw, which had been mixed into the wall to prevent the wall from cracking, was proved to be either wheat straw or oats straw. The wooden protective frame, which protects the mural painting now, was proved to be made of Salix, Populus, Cryptomeria japonica and pine. The paper discovered in the frame was proved to be made of the bark of a mulberry.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.18-31
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• 2014

This study aims at identifying of characteristics and types of the pigments used for Dancheong(surface decorative and protective pigments) of Yaksajeon Hall in Gwallyoungsa Temple using a Micro-XRF, XRD, SEM-EDS and thereafter, comparing it with the pigments of the wall painting in the same building and with Dancheong pigments of Daeungjeon Hall. The results can be briefly summarized as two points. First, different types of pigments for red, green and white colours had been applied based on different parts of the building and more than two different pigments had been mixed to produce various colours in so me parts. Second, scientific analysis has confirmed that raw minerals for each colour groups are: Cinnabar, minium and Hematite for red; white clay and oyster shell white($Al_2O_3{\cdot}SiO_2{\cdot}4H_2O$) for white; Atacamite and Celadonite for green; carbon(C) for black; Yellow Ocher for yellow; and Lazulite for blue. Comparative analysis of such result with that of the wall paintings and of Dancheong of Daeungjeon Hall has revealed that similar minerals had been used in overall except that several different pigments had been added or removed for making green, white and yellow colour groups in some parts. In conclusion, the result has displayed that painters had used different ways of producing pigments by a type of painting or a building within the same period or for the buildings in the same buddhist temple compound.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.33-46
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• 2018

Traditional inorganic pigments applied to dancheong, buddhist painting, and wall painting were produced from natural minerals which were later replaced by synthetic pigments, resulting in the loss of the recipe to prepare mineral pigments. This study examined the domestic occurrence and mineralogical characteristics of green and blue mineral pigments required for the conservation of cultural heritage. Cuprous green-blue mineral pigments were found as the weathering products of waste dumps and ores of abandoned Cu-Pb-Zn sulfide mines. Mineralogical analyses using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy identified diverse hydrous copper sulfate pigments of green (brochantite and devilline) and blue color (linarite, bechererite, and schulenbergite) with minor green pigments of antlerite and atacamite commonly associated with cerussite, smithsonite, anglesite, and cuprite. Noerok, a green silicate pigment, replaced the fractured basalt lava. Celadonite was responsible for the green color of Noerok, closely associated with opal in varying ratio. Glauconite, green silicate pigment, was identified in the Yellow Sea sediments. Malachite and azurite, the most important green and blue pigments of Korean cultural heritage, were not identified in this study.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.153-158
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• 2019

The traditional sizing treatment for the Hanji is performed to give the following functions. Those are to stabilize the paint of the painting, to prevent the paint of painting and moisture from smearing into the painting itself, to prevent the paint of the painting and moisture from passing to the lining paper, and to make the colors of painting match the surrounding.This study analyzed a result of the effect of Hanji sizing characteristic according to glue and alum mixing ratio and applying times, affects to pigments of painting and fastness of Hanji using accelerated aging test. As a result of color measurement of sizing treated Hanji, the concentration of glue and the number of application increased, the brightness and the $L^*$ value decreased but the yellowness index increased.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.47-59
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• 2020

Scientific analysis was conducted to identify the paint pigments used in the Buseoksa Josadang murals. optical microscopy(OM), X-ray fluorescence(XRF), XRF mapping, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(SEM-EDS), and Raman spectroscopy were performed to examine the pigments. The results confirmed that the Josadang murals consist of two paint layers wherein the pigments were distinct for most colors. It was estimated that celadonite, white clay, red ochre, cinnabar and minium, synthetic green pigment containing tin and zinc paratacamite, or botallackite were used in the upper layer. In addition, bone white, celadonite, red ochre, azurite, cinnabar or vermilion, and gold were identified in the lower layer. In addition, as Zn and Sn were detected in the green pigments extracted from the top layer of the paint, it is believed that Josadang murals were repainted over the original paint layer at some point after the 17th century. In addition, white pigments containing calcium phosphate were found in all the colors in the bottom layer, which is the original paint layer. These results are significant because this is the first time that white pigments are found in Korean traditional paintings. Additionally, the information revealed about the pigments in this study will serve as areference for the pigments used in the Goryeo period.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.150-171
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• 2013

The most important part of conservation treatment of murals is to preserve them against the risk of a damage by injecting fixative into them when the painting loses its cohesion or powderization of pigments occurred due to occurrence of cracks inside the painting layer. However, studies on the stability of fixative used for painting layers of murals are still insufficient. This study manufactured a mural as a specimen and colored it with four kinds of pigments including oyster shell white, cinnabar, malachite and red clay and applied four kinds of fixative, including, Paraloid $B-72^{(R)}$, Caparol-$binder^{(R)}$, glue and Hydoxypropyl $cellulose^{(R)}$. artificially generated environmental changes in temperature, humidity and ultraviolet rays which may occur after the completion of conservation treatment. Then the changes in physical properties were observed in multifaceted ways such as color stability, contact angle, brilliance, adhesive strength and surface. As a result, this study found that ultraviolet rays and hot?humid environment have a large impact on color stability causing changes in brightness and chroma of all painting layers where the fixative were applied, except for oyster shell white and are considered the main factors of decomposition by accelerating the aging process of fixatives applied. In comparison to the synthetic resins that were also tested in this study, the traditional glue showed satisfactory results in terms of color stability and influence preservation and the hydrophile property. As it showed exceptionally outstanding adhesive strength in all painting layers in the aspect of adhesive strength, it is considered to be highly stabile for the fixation treatment of painting layers of mural.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.403-409
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• 2015

Malachite and Azurite are the typical copper system pigments which used the mural paintings since ancient times. The mural painting is at risk for damages of the painting layer by atmosphere gas because it is exposed at external environment. In this study, it did experiment about an effect to Malachite and Azurite by environmental pollution gas($NO_2$, $CO_2$, $SO_2$) then analysis and estimate about test for pieces using mural painting colored that two pigments. As a result, Malachite and Azurite were changed on $NO_2$ but not changed $CO_2$ and $SO_2$. Especially as the concentration of $NO_2$ is increased, exfoliation of the pigment layer weave remarkably formed pores on the pigment particles on SEM, the phenomenon to be pieces were observed together with smaller particles. In the case of Malachite that were exposed to $NO_2$ gas, new compounds(Rouaite : dicopper (nitrate(V) trihydroxide, $Cu_2(NO_3)(OH)_3$)) was appeared by XRD analysis. Therefore, there had been able to verify the fact that the cause exfoliation and discoloration phenomena accompanied by chemical changes for Malachite and Azurite.

• Journal of Conservation Science
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.371-380
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• 2017

To investigate the pigments used in modern and contemporary oil paintings, thirty-two paintings by Jiho Oh and Bonung Gu were selected. The white pigment found in the ground and painting layers was identified as lead white (hydrocerussite), zinc white (zinc oxide), titanium white (titanium dioxide in anatase or rutile forms), calcite (calcium carbonate), and barite (barium sulfate). Further, this indicated that pigments differ according to the artist and date of the painting's creation. However, both Oh and Gu used zinc white during the modern and contemporary period, while lead white was replaced by titanium white, barite and calcite. Compared with the overseas studies on pigments and oil paints, the change patterns of pigments were the same with them but the periods of the use were partially different. It seems to be due to the fact that South Korea is linked to the historical background of the art material which was imported from Japan instead of Western countries. Therefore, it is inevitable that any change in the white pigments used for domestic oil paintings occurred at a different time from global transitions. If the results of this study are used in the analysis of art works it is suggested that a database recording such aspects as material properties of oil paints, artistic techniques, and chronology would become important for future conservation science and the study of art history.