EDXRF Studies of the Nanking Cargo with Principal Component Analysis of Trace Elements

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Abstract
The energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence technique was applied to the study of 30 pieces of Chinese porcelains from the Nanking Cargo and 4 pieces of modern fakes. Analysis showed that the Nanking Chinese porcelains were made in Jingdezhen, the porcelain city of China. Principal component analysis was applied to the measured concentrations of 10 elements (Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, and Nb). It was found that such analysis could discriminate between the various elements as being useful and not useful variables. It was also found that the glaze used for the base regions was rather different from the glaze used for other regions, a practice which existed during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) but is not carried out nowadays.