ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Characterization of the depth profiling of the surface gilding of three detached components of the south Gate of Firenze Baptistery

Abstract: The South Gate of Florence Baptistery is a 3 meters high gilded bronze artifact designed by Andrea Pisano and cast by Lorenzo D’Avanzo and co-workers between 1329 and 1336. It is one of the oldest Middle Ages bronze gates in existence in Europe. In order to gain the highest amount of information about the gate manufacturing method, we plan to use neutron and muon techniques on three detached components. Our goal consists in the investigation of the casting and gilding manufacturing procedures by identifying: a) number and position of the casting channels; b) composition and homogeneity of the brass alloy in the different areas; c) general quality of the casting through the identification of the presence and size of bubbles, flaws and defects; d) composition and thickness of the mercury amalgam gilding. Negative muons depth profiling will be used to ansewer question "d".

Principal Investigator: Dr Simone Porcinai
Experimenter: Dr Francesco Grazzi
Experimenter: Dr Stefania Agnoletti
Experimenter: Dr Francesco Cantini
Experimenter: Dr Andrea Cagnini
Local Contact: Dr Adrian Hillier
Experimenter: Dr Monica Galeotti
Experimenter: Miss Bethany Hampshire

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1920376

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1920376

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
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Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Simone Porcinai et al; (2019): Characterization of the depth profiling of the surface gilding of three detached components of the south Gate of Firenze Baptistery, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1920376

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.