USING MICROFOCUS X-RADIOGRAPHY AND OTHER TECHNIQUES TO CREATE A DIGITAL WATERMARK DATABASE
A. Jean E. Brown, Richard Mulholland · Studies in Conservation · 2002
The watermark in a sheet of paper can be the key to valuable information for art and paper historians, forensic scientists and paper conservators. Difficulties resulting from the number of watermark images and the methods used to record them have resulted in this becoming a much under-used resource. The Conservation Unit and the Institute for Image Data Research at University of Northumbria, Newcastle have reevaluated the use of watermarks in terms of paper history and conservation, and established an archive of watermark images and related information which can be accessed by content based image retrieval (CBIR). This paper presents a discussion of the radiographic techniques used for recording watermarks for digitization and image retrieval, and the practical utility and value of grenz microfocus X-radiography for the analysis of watermarks and paper. A number of films and developers are evaluated for image quality. Alternatives to X-ray-specific films and chemistry are suggested.