Scientific analysis of <italic>tie luo</italic>, a Qing Dynasty calligraphy artifact in the Palace Museum, Beijing, China.

<italic>Tie luo</italic> (affixed hanging) was an expressive form of traditional Chinese calligraphy or paintings, and popular in the imperial palaces for interior decorations in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 C.E.). A piece of calligraphic <italic>tie luo</italic>, written by an eminent calligrapher Gu Gao (1763-1832 C.E.), was restored recently in the Palace Museum, Beijing, China. The paper with pigment coating specially made for this calligraphic piece was named as <italic>fenjian</italic>. This article presented results from materials identification prior to the restoration. Multianalysis with scientific approaches revealed how <italic>tie luo</italic> was manufactured. It could be concluded that the investigated <italic>tie luo</italic> used a paper made from bast fibers of mulberry trees. And the decorative ground layer for the piece was also studied, which indicated that a type of organic red pigments were used for the masterpiece. White lead was considered as the main pigment, mixed with a red dye extracted from sappanwood. Meanwhile, animal glue, drying oils and beeswax were confirmed as the organic binding media. In dye analysis, protosappanin B and brazilin as well as brazilein were identified, which implied that sappanwood was used for the organic manufacture of pigments. In addition, both Nowik type A and C were found in the research, which were characteristic of sappanwood for identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]