In this project, Maarten van Bommel (AHM-UvA), Laura Hendriks (HEIA-FR), Suzan Meijer (Rijksmuseum), and Ana Serrano (AHM-UvA), will develop a new protocol combining chromatography and radiocarbon analyses of red colourants in historical textiles to assess their origins.

This cooperation between conservation scientists and textile conservators promotes interdisciplinary research to achieve supportive interpretations about the history of textiles and complement well-established art historical methods of textile provenance and date attribution. Moreover, it will enhance the objects’ historical value in the museums’ collections, possibly impacting future preservation, conservation and exhibition decisions.

The project is financed by the Netherlands Institute for Conservation Art and Science (NICAS) and the Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science.

More about the project on the NICAS website