Programa de Doctorado Arte y Patrimonio, Escuela Internacional de Doctorado (EIDUS), Universidad de Sevilla, P de Las Delicias s/n, 41003, Sevilla, Spain.
Scientific Laboratory Opificio delle Pietre Dure (OPD), Viale F. Strozzi 1, 50129, Firenze, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2024 Mar 4;14(1):5320. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-54480-4.
Animal-based metal threads were largely used between the 10th and the fifteenth century, in European, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern textile productions for the decoration of textiles and cloths. They belong to a larger group of metal threads, used either as flat threads or wrapped around a fiber core, that were backed by an organic support (animal or paper). This study focuses on the medieval production of metal threads backed by an animal membrane (e.g. gut membrane), or skin. A total of 91 samples were collected from a corpus of 66 textile fragments belonging to 54 catalogued objects. The relevance and novelty of the present study is represented by the combination of proteomics, cross-section analysis, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDS and SEM-µXRF). The diversity of materials and manufacturing techniques found within each typology of thread, respectively, membrane-based metal threads and skin-based metal threads, hinted at different production technologies. Membrane-based threads were found to be invariably made from cattle gut membrane, coated with gilt-silver leaves. A possible sheep glue adhesive was found in a few samples. Skin-based threads were made from either goat or sheep leather, coated with metal leaves or powder. Within the three different types of coatings identified (silver, gold and gilt-silver), gold coatings were the most represented. Goat leather threads were associated with an egg-white binder, while sturgeon glue was identified as adhesive in all sheep leather threads. Collagen glue from other species (cattle, sheep, horse) was occasionally found in mixed adhesives. In two textiles, the finding of human proteins indicates past contamination due to handling or use. The analytical results show coherence between the fabrication patterns of animal-based metal threads and their probable geographical areas of manufacture, indicating that the study of materials and techniques provide further criteria to classify and group textiles, and trace correlations between manufacturing centers within Eurasian territories.
动物源金属线在 10 世纪至 15 世纪期间，广泛应用于欧洲、中东和远东的纺织品生产中，用于装饰纺织品和布料。它们属于更大的金属线群体，要么作为扁平线使用，要么缠绕在纤维芯上，这些金属线都有一个有机支撑（动物或纸张）。本研究专注于中世纪动物膜（如肠膜）或动物皮支持的金属线的生产。总共从属于 54 个编目对象的 66 个纺织品碎片的共 91 个样本中收集了样本。本研究的相关性和新颖性在于蛋白质组学、横截面分析和扫描电子显微镜（SEM-EDS 和 SEM-µXRF）的结合。分别对基于膜的金属线和基于皮的金属线这两种类型的线中的材料和制造技术的多样性进行研究，表明了不同的生产技术。基于膜的金属线始终由牛肠膜制成，表面涂有镀金银叶。在少数样本中发现了可能的绵羊胶黏剂。基于皮的金属线由山羊皮或羊皮制成，表面涂有金属叶片或粉末。在所识别的三种不同涂层（银、金和镀金银）中，金涂层的代表性最强。山羊皮线与蛋清粘合剂有关，而在所有羊皮线中都发现了鲟鱼胶作为粘合剂。偶尔在混合粘合剂中发现来自其他物种（牛、羊、马）的胶原蛋白胶。在两块纺织品中，发现了人类蛋白质，这表明由于处理或使用，过去曾受到污染。分析结果表明，动物源金属线的制造模式与其可能的制造地区之间存在一致性，这表明对材料和技术的研究为纺织品的分类和分组提供了进一步的标准，并可追溯欧亚大陆制造中心之间的相关性。
