Posters will be on display in the AIC Exhibit Hall on Thursday, May 29, and Friday, May 30. Poster authors will be at their poster for a Q&A session on Friday, May 30, at 3:30pm.
Banner photo by Lane Pelovsky, Courtesy of Meet Minneapolis
This paper describes the results of a multi-technological analytical protocol and conservation of a polychrome wooden coffin from the Late Period discovered in Rass Algesr, Saqqara, to identify the pigments and ground layer. The investigation utilized visual observation, optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Wood identification was carried out. The results showed the use of yellow ochre α-FeOOH for the yellow-painted layer. Blue was Egyptian blue [Cuprorivaite (CaCuSi4O10)], red as haematite (α-Fe2O3), and white as calcite (CaCO3). The black pigment was carbon(C), the ground layer was calcium carbonate, the fabric layer was linen, and the binding was identified as animal glue.
The conservation of the wooden coffin included mechanical and chemical cleaning. Mechanical cleaning used soft brushes, while chemical cleaning used ethyl alcohol and water for the painted layer, stabilization of the separated gesso layer used primal AC33, and filling the cracks of the gesso layers used glass microballoon with Paraloid B72.
