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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
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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

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