The Studies of Conservation and Restoration of a Quranic Parchment Belonging to Third and Fourth Centuries (A.H)

Studies on old manuscripts including recognition of the support, ink and pigments used in these manuscripts as well as methods of treatment, exhibition and preservation of these works are among the topics which have always occupied the mind of researchers in this field. In the present research, such studies have been carried out on one of the oldest set of Quranic manuscripts which consist of 15 pages. This manuscript, found within a wall of a building in Yazd’s Mehriz, has been ascribed to third and fourth centuries (A.H.) according to its manner of writing. After examining this manuscript under ultraviolet light, the kind of support, black ink and red and green pigments present in it were identified. Due to limitation of the amount of samples for analysis, nondestructive apparatus procedures, which require minimum amount of samples, were used. For this procedure, the following strategies were made use of: Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (SEM/EDX).The results of laboratory studies indicate that the support of the manuscripts is animal skin. Also, chemical analysis of inks shows that in the composition of some of the red inks compounds of mercury (cinnabar) are used and some of them also contain organic compounds with compounds of iron. The green ink contains compounds of copper and in the black ink elements such as iron and carbon are used.After doing laboratory studies and considering harmful factors, stages of conservation, restoration and maintenance of these pieces of Quranic parchment were proposed.