Printing Inks of The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty

What is it about?

A field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis was carried out to determine the origin of the oriental printing inks used in The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, which are a national treasure of the Republic of Korea and listed in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. The average diameters of the carbon black found in the printing inks of all the samples were in the range of 30–500 nm. The carbon black diameters of the printing inks in J-Se 68, J-Se 124, and T-Gwang 37 were 80–130 nm, whereas those of the printing inks in J-Seong 1, T-In 46, and T-Heon 4 were larger than 150 nm. It could be concluded that the printing inks in J-Se 68, J-Se 124, and T-Gwang 37 are lampblack ink, and those in J-Seong 1, T-In 46, and T-Heon 4 are charcoal ink. Furthermore, the results of infrared (IR) and principal component analysis (PCA) of printing inks suggest that there was no difference in the binding medium used in the manufacturing process of the charcoal ink stick and the lampblack ink stick.

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Why is it important?

We have identified the type of inks used in the annals of the Joseon Dynasty, which is listed as a UNESCO documentary heritage and designated as a National Treasure of the Republic of Korea. There has never been an analysis of food used in the national treasure of Korea and it is introduced for the first time in this paper. Through this paper, we can know the kind of inks used in the past.