Decorated Surfaces on Ancient Egyptian Objects

This important volume, proceedings of a conference held in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge on 6-9 September 2007, focuses on ancient Egyptian decorated surfaces, from polychrome wood to coloured basketry and from patinated metal to painted textiles. Beautifully illustrated in full colour throughout, this book brings together experts from around the world to explore all aspects of investigation and treatment, as well as broader issues of preservation, storage and display. A comprehensive review of past and current treatments for organic objects is followed by case studies, including innovative solutions to conservation problems, the discovery of an unusual lead cladding on a royal sculpture and the revealing forensic study of a red-shroud mummy. Wide-ranging, authoritative and accessible, this book is essential reading for anyone concerned with the study and care of ancient Egyptian objects. Contents:
Observations on the preparation layers found on ancient Egyptian decorated coffins in the Michael C. Carlos Museum; Lead cladding on a wooden royal figure: an unusual ancient surface reconstructed; Egyptian colours and pigments in French collections: 30 years of physicochemical analyses on 300 objects; Greener shades of pale: a review of advances in the characterisation of ancient Egyptian green pigments; Patina and polychromy: reconstructing some technical histories for small Egyptian bronze sculpture in the British Museum; Computed tomography and X-radiography of a coffin from Dynasty 21/22; The conservation of decorated organic Egyptian surfaces: a literature review; Selected case studies in the treatment and preservation of Middle Kingdom polychrome wood in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Ancient Egyptian basketry: investigation, conservation and colour; Treatment of a Dynasty 18 painted coffin, 37.47e a-e (Abbott Collection 405a); Roman Egyptian gilded cartonnage: technical study and conservation of a mummy mask from Hawara; Deterioration and damage on encaustic mummy portraits; The conservation treatment of the Roman Egyptian paintings in the Hearst Museum of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley; The new life of Crispina: scientific analyses and conservation of an Egyptian painted shroud of the Roman period; Material investigations of the J. Paul Getty Museum’s red-shroud mummy; Emergency stabilisation and removal of the termite-damaged coffins found in Tomb KV-63, Valley of the Kings, Luxor: a memoir presented by Dr Nadia Lokma, General Director of Conservation for Greater Cairo; Issues in the display of ancient Egyptian decorated material.