DoctorEstrella Sanz Rodriguez

An interdisciplinary project has been carried out in the framework of the National Research Plan in Cultural Heritage (Plan Nacional de Investigacion en Conservacion, PNIC) and in collaboration with the Valencia de Don Juan Institute of Madrid. The project is focused on the study of a set of medieval fabrics using analysis techniques. This study leads to a more precise knowledge of the textile technology and the characterization of the used materials. The analysis let us know diferent production centers, with a detailed relation of manufacturing textile techniques for diferent periods, and identify variations in the composition of metal threads depending on the geographical region where they have been produced.

Interview after completion of the Ian Potter Foundation awared grant.

Ice cores contain an abundance of information about climate and the changes it is undergoing. Brett Paull and Estrella Sanz Rodriguez from the Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS) at the University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia, spoke to LCGC about their work on the analysis of Antarctic ice cores and the important role of capillary ion chromatography (cap-IC) in this area of research.

Interview for Thermo Fisher Scientific

In this work we present the results obtained for the characterization of dyes found in seven Chinese garment pieces, which came from the Museum of Arts and Design in Madrid to Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute (IPCE) for their restoration. They were dated to the times of the Qing Dynasty, between 1700 and 1900 AD. The samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography coupled to a diode array detector (LC-DAD) and liquid chromatography tandem diode array quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-DAD-QTOF). Dyes identified in the pieces under study were clearly correlated with two important features, their oriental origin and the date of manufacture, making them a particularly complex matrix. Thus, on one hand, the natural dyes found, such as indigo, brazilwood, curcuma, Asian berberis yellow dye, pagoda tree and safflower, are characteristic for Asia and the Middle East. On the other hand, these pieces date from the transition period between the exclusive use of natural dyes and the widespread introduction of synthetic ones during the late 19th century. Therefore, some early synthetic dyes such as Prussian blue, picric acid, basic fuchsine and Victoria blue B were also detected.