Studies of Donatello's St John the Baptist

Author Donatello
Title St John the Baptist
Material bronze
Technique casting
Size height 83 cm
Workshop Objects Conservation
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Studies of the nature of the molding mass from the bronze sculpture St John the Baptist

Investigations of a sample of material (item 1) were carried out by microscopic methods in reflected light (Hund wetzlar microscope).

The microstructure of the sample was studied using a scanning electron microscope (JSM-5910LV, JEOL) in reflected electrons in the Z-contrast regime. Analysis of the distribution of the elements (qualitative and quantitative composition of the samples) was carried out by the method of energy-dispersive microanalysis (analytical systems INCA and AZtecENERGY, Oxford Instruments). Electron microscopy studies were carried out at the Scientific Center for Fiber Optics (headed by Iskhakova, LD, the analytical centre).

X-ray examination of the sample was carried out using a Bruker D2 PHASER diffractometer on CuKα-radiation. The results were processed and the X-ray phase analysis of the samples was carried out using the DIFFRACplus (EVA and TOPAS 4.2.0.2) software complexes.

The method of IR spectrometry on the Simex instrument IR Fourier spectrometer FT-801 and microchemical analysis was also used.

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