STUDIES ON THE DETERIORATION, CONSERVATION AND PIGMENT COMPOSITION OF MURAL PAINTINGS IN VIHEAR KOMPONG TRALACH LEU, KOMPONG CHHNANG PROVINCE, CAMBODIA

Abstract

This research aims to study on the deterioration, conservation and pigment composition of mural paintings in Vihear Kompong Tralach Leu. The Vihear was constructed in 1672. While the ancient mural painting in the Vihear was drawn in 1850. The paintings are divided into three different sections, the first on the top ceiling is about Ramayana, the second on the upper part of the wall is about the former life of the Buddha and the third on the lower part of the wall is the Biography of the Buddha. The paintings are suffered from severe deterioration mainly due to humidity. The two-phase conservation has been done eight years ago to reduce the effect of humidity. Before the restoration of the painting is proceeded, the scientific analyses of the pigments and the plaster need to be done. The minute amount of the pigments and plaster from the wall was collected for FT-IR, SEM-EDX and XRD analyses. The spectroscopic studies on the plaster samples showed the similar composition of the old and new plaster indicating the proper preparation of the plaster for the conservation. From the EDX analyses, all pigments contain calcium and silicon. The green and blue colors contain copper while the red-brown contains iron. The golden yellow has sulfur. The calcium found in the paints comes from the plaster on the wall.

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