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Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Ancient Egyptians used epoxy religiously
Posted by:
Yucky73
()
Date: January 21, 2015 10:00PM
The blue and gold braided beard on the burial mask of famed pharaoh Tutankhamun was hastily glued back on with epoxy, damaging the relic after it was knocked during cleaning, conservators at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo said Wednesday.
The museum is one of the city's main tourist sites, but in some areas, ancient wooden sarcophagi lay unprotected from the public, while pharaonic burial shrouds, mounted on walls, crumble from behind open panels of glass. Tutankhamun's mask, over 3,300 years old, and other contents of his tomb are its top exhibits.
Three of the museum's conservators reached by telephone gave differing accounts of when the incident occurred last year, and whether the beard was knocked off by accident while the mask's case was being cleaned, or was removed because it was loose.
They agree however that orders came from above to fix it quickly and that an inappropriate adhesive was used. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisals.
"Unfortunately he used a very irreversible material — epoxy has a very high property for attaching and is used on metal or stone but I think it wasn't suitable for an outstanding object like Tutankhamun's golden mask," one conservator said.
"The mask should have been taken to the conservation lab but they were in a rush to get it displayed quickly again and used this quick drying, irreversible material," the conservator added.
The conservator said that the mask now shows a gap between the face and the beard, whereas before it was directly attached: "Now you can see a layer of transparent yellow."
Another museum conservator, who was present at the time of the repair, said that epoxy had dried on the face of the boy king's mask and that a colleague used a spatula to remove it, leaving scratches. The first conservator, who inspects the artifact regularly, confirmed the scratches and said it was clear that they had been made by a tool used to scrape off the epoxy.
The museum is one of the city's main tourist sites, but in some areas, ancient wooden sarcophagi lay unprotected from the public, while pharaonic burial shrouds, mounted on walls, crumble from behind open panels of glass. Tutankhamun's mask, over 3,300 years old, and other contents of his tomb are its top exhibits.
Three of the museum's conservators reached by telephone gave differing accounts of when the incident occurred last year, and whether the beard was knocked off by accident while the mask's case was being cleaned, or was removed because it was loose.
They agree however that orders came from above to fix it quickly and that an inappropriate adhesive was used. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of professional reprisals.
"Unfortunately he used a very irreversible material — epoxy has a very high property for attaching and is used on metal or stone but I think it wasn't suitable for an outstanding object like Tutankhamun's golden mask," one conservator said.
"The mask should have been taken to the conservation lab but they were in a rush to get it displayed quickly again and used this quick drying, irreversible material," the conservator added.
The conservator said that the mask now shows a gap between the face and the beard, whereas before it was directly attached: "Now you can see a layer of transparent yellow."
Another museum conservator, who was present at the time of the repair, said that epoxy had dried on the face of the boy king's mask and that a colleague used a spatula to remove it, leaving scratches. The first conservator, who inspects the artifact regularly, confirmed the scratches and said it was clear that they had been made by a tool used to scrape off the epoxy.
Re: Ancient Egyptians used epoxy religiously
Posted by:
Vexxxed
()
Date: January 22, 2015 03:29PM
What's your take on this?
Was this particular mask at risk during the looting...er...returning of historical artifacts to the people during the last regime change?
Was this particular mask at risk during the looting...er...returning of historical artifacts to the people during the last regime change?
Re: Ancient Egyptians used epoxy religiously
Posted by:
jccTc
()
Date: January 22, 2015 09:24PM
really. i thought it went on show in NY,NY and after that no one saw the real mask again
Re: Ancient Egyptians used epoxy religiously
Posted by:
trogdor!
()
Date: January 22, 2015 09:34PM
The first crime was the grave robbing part.
Re: Ancient Egyptians used epoxy religiously
Posted by:
nJCwp
()
Date: January 22, 2015 09:52PM
I suspect they used a 5-minute epoxy. Big deal. That will flake off in a few months.
If they had wanted it to stick, they should have used JB-Weld.
If they had wanted it to stick, they should have used JB-Weld.
Re: Ancient Egyptians used epoxy religiously
Posted by:
Vexxxed
()
Date: January 23, 2015 06:17AM
trogdor! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The first crime was the grave robbing part.
And so the curse continues.....
-------------------------------------------------------
> The first crime was the grave robbing part.
And so the curse continues.....