Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-01T01:01:42.668Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ancient Egyptian Pigments: The Examination of Some Coffins from the San Diego Museum of Man

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

David A. Scott
Get access

Abstract

Egyptian pigments include the most successful synthetic blue pigment made, which has been in use for more than 2500 years. The nature of some Egyptian pigments, such as malachite, azurite, green earth, and calcite are briefly reviewed. The principal artworks examined here are a group of several 26th Dynasty coffins in the collection of the San Diego Museum of Man. This article examines the nature of the wooden substrate, binder, pigments, and alteration products. The conservation needs of the collection are of special importance. The pigments used in the coffins are malachite, orpiment, carbon black, calcite, and red ocher. Gum Arabic was used as a binder. Wood anatomical studies identified fig as the wood. This article also covers the degradation product, oxammite, resulting from the microbiological decay of textile threads on a Hawk Mummy.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Bulletin , Volume 35 , Issue 5: In Situ Mechanical Testing of Biological and Inorganic Materials at the Micro- and Nanoscales , May 2010 , pp. 390 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Lee, L., Quirke, S., in “Ancient Egyptian Materials and Technology,” Nicholson, P.T., Shaw, I., Eds. (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000), pp. 104–121.Google Scholar
2.Green, L., in “Conservation in Ancient Egyptian Collections,” Brown, C.E., Macalister, F., Wright, M., Eds. (Archetype Publications, London, 1995), pp. 85–92.Google Scholar
3.Riederer, J., in Artists' Pigments, FitzHugh, E.W., Ed. (National Gallery of Art, Washington, and Oxford University Press, NY, 1997), vol. 3, pp. 23–46.Google Scholar
4.Lucas, A., Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 4th edition, Revised by Harris, J.R. (Edward Arnold, London, 1962).Google Scholar
5.Spurrell, F.C.J., Archaeol. J. 52, 222 (1895).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6.Heywood, A., Met-objectives (Newsletter of the Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation, Metropolitan Museum of Art) 3, 3 (2001b).Google Scholar
7.Heywood, A., Metropol. Mus. J. (2010), in press.Google Scholar
8.Tite, M., Bimson, M., Cowell, M.R., in “Early Vitreous Materials, British Museum Occasional Paper 56,” Freestone, I., Ed. (British Museum Press, London, 1987), pp. 39–46.Google Scholar
9.Lucas, A., Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries, 1st edition (Edward Arnold, London, 1934).Google Scholar
10.Daniels, V., Stacey, R., Middleton, A., Stud. Conserv. 49, 217 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Baines, J., Am. Anthropol. 87, 282 (1985).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Scott, D.A., Warmlander, S., Mazurek, J., Quirke, S., J. Archaeol. Sci. 36, 923 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13.Green, L., in “Colour and Painting in Ancient Egypt,” Davies, W.V., Ed. (British Museum Press, London, 2001), pp. 43–48.Google Scholar
14.Heginbotham, A., personal communication, Los Angeles, March 2009.Google Scholar
15.Blom-Boer, I., Oudheidkd. Meded. Rijksmus. Oudheiden Leiden 74, 55 (1994).Google Scholar
16.Pagès-Camagna, S., Colinart, S., Archaeometry 45, 637 (2003).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Pagès-Camagna, S., in Actes du colloque IRUG6 Florence, Italy, 29 March–1 April 2004 (Infra-Red Users Group Conference Papers, Florence, 2005).Google Scholar
18.Pagès-Camagna, S., in Decorated Surfaces on Ancient Egyptian Objects: Technology, Deterioration and Conservation, Rozeik, C., Dawson, J., Wright, M., Eds. (Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, 2010), in press.Google Scholar
19.Dana's System of Mineralogy, Vol. II (McGraw-Hill, NY, 1974).Google Scholar