Identification of Theophrastus’ pigments egyptios yanos and psimythion from archaeological excavations

Abstract

Following the fourth-century BC treatise by Theophrastus, On Stones, regarding preparation of pigments, blue and white ones coming from fresh archaeological excavations in Attica, Greece, a blue made by the Kremer factory, and a white reproduced following an ancient recipe were all submitted to analytical measurements. New results derived from the application of infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy (IRPAS), scanning electron x-ray microprobe analyzer (SEM-EDS), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy identified their mineralogical content. The psimythion and kyanos egyptios of Theophrastus are attributed to lead white (cerussite and hydrocerussite) and Egyptian blue (cuprorivaite), respectively.