Katalog

35 Technical Investigations: Inscriptions, Signatures, Pigments A variety of technical methods is available for tracing the provenance and dissemination of works of art. One of the simplest is examining the works in reflected light, raking light, or transmitted light. Initially used to analyse condition and to locate and document damage, these methods also reveal underdrawings and inscriptions that have been overpainted that may provide information about manufacturing processes or clues as to origin. When examined in transmitted light in connection with digital post-processing, writings in nasta‘līq , nāgarī and Dutch, were found on roughly thirty miniatures—both those pasted into albums and those mounted on paper backings. These inscriptions, mostly mentioning the sitter, in different languages provide evidence of the number of hands through which the works may have passed (figs. 1a and b). For those miniatures from Augustus the Strong’s collection that are mounted in albums, a custom-made “light wedge” was used during the examination to protect the pages of the book. Using digital infrared reflectography, it was possible to visualize inscriptions that had been painted over, and, in individual cases, obtain information on workshop practices. 11 Under the dark blue of the sky at the upper left of the Ban. gālī rāgin. ī , for example, a line written in a local nasta‘līq script was found that described the subject matter as “night time conversation with a cheetah” (figs. 2a and 2b). The inscription probably was to be painted over by an artist after completing the picture. Infrared radiation can be used to make certain colours or underlying layers transparent. In Portrait of a Deccani Nobleman , for instance, a completely different first composition became visible that had been painted over. Originally the artist had sketched in black ink a scene from the Kakubhā rāgin. ī showing a young woman frightened by the cry of a peacock sitting on a roof (figs. 3a and b). In the miniature A Visit to a Shrine , 12 an underdrawing with sketches of figures drawn in different directions, which was subsequently painted over with a completely different scene, can be detected with infrared reflectography and, in parts, with the naked eye. This discovery sup- ports the assumption that artists re-used papers for the manufacture of wasli . 13 The ink lines, visible in transmitted light, bear no relation to the actual subject matter and might be indicative Fig. 2a Cat. 59 | Ca 122/14 Ban. gālī rāgin. ī Hyderabad, early 18 th century Watercolour and gold, painted frame 28×19.5 cm, image 21.3×13.1 cm Fig. 2b Digital infrared reflectograph (detail)