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Publication

The Egyptian Execration Figurines of the Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels: Conservation, Pigments and Digitisation

Journal Contribution - Journal Article

The Egyptian collection of the RMAH comprises about one hundred figurines made of unbaked clay, bearing curses written in hieratic script. They represent captured enemies and were buried ritually in order to symbolically neutralise foreign and domestic enemies and general threats. The red and black pigments used to inscribe these four millennia old objects are now, nearly 90 years after their discovery, faded or damaged. With these Egyptianexecration figurines as a case-study, an on-going research project aims to develop new imaging techniques (using interactive 2D, 3D and multispectral images) that can improve the legibility of faded inscriptions and decorations. One of the objectives is indeed to identify and evaluate the factors that may affect the reflection ofinfrared and ultraviolet light. For the development of these techniques, the project sets out from a comprehensive analysis of the state of preservation of the objects. This article therefore presents the preliminary results of a study of the preservation of the surfaces, the composition of the materials, the possible interventions that the artefacts may have undergone and other factors affecting the legibility of the texts. This report will furthermore elaborate on the conservation reports of the objects and their classification in conservation categories, and provides preliminary observations on the clay and the pigments based on the results of X-Ray Fluorescence analyses.
Journal: Bulletin van de Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis
ISSN: 0776-1414
Volume: 87/88
Pages: 5 - 29
Publication year:2018
Accessibility:Open