Non-destructive identification of green and yellow pigments: the case of some Sicilian Renaissance glazed potteries"

Selected decorated Renaissance ceramic fragments,found during the excavation of a Sicilian archaeologicalsite (Caltagirone, Sicily, South Italy), have been studiedby combining scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energydispersiveX-ray spectrometry (EDS), and X-ray absorbancespectroscopy (XAS). The study was aimed at providing microchemicaland microstructural characterization of the coloredglazed coatings in order to elucidate the nature of thepigments in the decorative layers, and in the glaze itself.From the obtained results, the general perspective has beenthe identification of information to be used for a reliablerecognition of the production techniques.In particular, XAS measurements, performed using synchrotronradiation (SR) as the source at the Cu K-edge, inthe case of green decorations, provided structural informationof the oxidation states and the local chemical environmentof copper (neighboring atoms and bond distances