A scientific study of the pigments in the wall paintings at Jokhang Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet, China

Heritage Science

Table 1 XRF results of pigment samples

Sample no.	Color	Elements detected by XRF(Wt%)																			Possible pigments
Sample no.	Color	Cu	As	Hg	Fe	Pb	Cr	Au	Ag	Ca	Zn	Ba	S	P	K	Si	Sr	V	Ti	Sc	Possible pigments
DZ1	Blue	42.7	---	---	3.2	---	---	---	---	10.0	8.7	8.9	24.3	---	2.2	---	---	---	---	---	Azurite
DZ2	Gold	8.4	---	---	11.5	2.6	---	7.3	1.0	23.1	19.5	15.2	4.0	3.8	---	---	1.6	---	---	---	Gold
DZ3	Green	53.2	10.4	---	1.4	1.1	---	---	---	10.7	1.0	---	8.5	6.9	0.7	---	0.3	---	---	---	Malachite, Emerald green
DZ4	Blue	84.4	---	---	0.8	1.5	---	---	---	7.5	---	5.6	5.0	---	0.4	---	---	---	---	---	Azurite
DZ5	Yellow	0.5	---	---	4.1	1.5	1.2	---	---	19.2	10.1	24.9	22.1	---	---	---	0.3	---	---	---	Chrome yellow
DZ6	Orange	---	---	---	1.3	36.1	1.2		---	11.7	---	37.4	---	4.5	1.4		0.6	3.3	---	0.5	Read lead
DZ7	Orange	0.3	---	---	0.6	69.7	0.5	---	---	6.4	0.6	19.2	---	---	---	2.3	---	---	---	---	Read lead
DZ8	Gold	---	---	---	1.3	---	---	0.3	---	27.6	0.4	3.1	29.0	25.5	---	---	---	---	---	---	Gold
DZ9	Red	0.2	---	49.6	---	2.2	---	---	---	16.3	---	13.5	10.5	7.8	---	---	---	---	---	---	Cinnabar
DZ10	Red	0.4	---	25.8	0.9	0.3	---	---	---	37.6	0.4	---	32.9	---	---	---	---	---	1.3	---	Cinnabar
DZ11	Red	---	---	---	7.5	48.4	---	---	---	39.7	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	---	4.2	---	Read lead, Mars red