Investigation of Performance Methods of Raised Gilded Ornaments on Shams-al-Emare's Stony Plinth in Tehran

In this paper, the performance technique of a special and rare kind of ornaments, i.e. pastiglia on stone, is investigated. The investigated sample in this paper consists of pastiglia ornaments on stone in “Shams-al-Emare” edifice. Pastiglia technique has been often performed on plaster surfaces. In accordance to the smooth surface of marble stone which is the surface of the investigated ornaments, the performance of pastiglia with common method was difficult. The most sufficient method for investigating the performance technique was making sample and reperformance because there is no guidance about the performing method of this special kind of ornaments in written sources and also there is no investigation about this subject until now. This investigation was done based on library, visual and laboratorial studies. For identification of organic materials, FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) and for microscopic image, SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) have been utilized. Experiments revealed that the "Kaman oil" was used as constituent material in these ornaments. Results of investigation showed that these ornaments with pastiglia method have not been performed by experts and traditional masters and the created thickness in these raised ornaments has been completely made with brush on the surface. In fact, the investigated ornaments were not pastiglia and a completely different technique has been used in them. So, pastiglia was not a clear and perfect name for these ornaments. Therefore, “embossed drawing on the stone” was proposed instead.