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On Some Natural Organic Yellow Colorants in Aztec Codices: the Florentine Codex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Arie Wallert
Arie Wallert*
Affiliation:
The Getty Conservation Institute, Museum Services Laboratory, J.Paul Getty Museum, 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu CA 90265
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Abstract

Little is known about the colorants that were used in Aztec manuscript illumination. The study of contemporary sources may give us useful information. The Florentine Codex gives names and descriptions for colorants that were traditionally used by the Aztec scribes. These descriptions allow us to identify the botanical source of some of these colorants.

The identification of the original plant materials made it possible to come to a reliable reconstruction of the colours. The colorants that come from plants show a large variation of chromophores and may belong to the flavonoids, the carotenoids, or the anthocyanins.

The chemical constitutions of some of these colorants and the possible methods for their identification are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 352: Symposium – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology IV , 1995 , 653
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1995

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