International conservation project
2015 — 2016About the project
The work on the piece had continued for several months, from September 2015 till June 2016. The specialists from renowned museums and research institutions of Moscow, Paris and New York took part in the project.
Here you can learn about the shroud’s history, conservation, and more.
History
This burial shroud comes from the collection of the Russian Egyptologist and Orientalist Vladimir Golenishchev (1856–1947), a professional scholar who spent thirty years of his life collecting oriental antiquities, and in 1909 sold his collection to the Museum of Fine Arts. The Collection of Golenishchev contains about seven thousand objects, but this one is truly unique. There are only six such shrouds known in the world, and this is the only one depicting a woman holding a child by the hand.
Painted burial shrouds were made in Egypt in the Greco-Roman period (4th century B.C.– 4th century A.D.). The first examples of burial shrouds go back to the first century B.C., but their mass production was carried out in the second-third centuries A.D. Most burial shrouds come from the ancient necropoleis of Memphis (Sakkara), Thebes, and Faiyum.
Research
Just like most archaeological pieces the shroud has been subjected to conservation treatments more than once. In XIX century the shroud was lined and stretched on an underframe. The research had shown that gelatinous glue was used for lining. The natural aging process caused the glue to dry out. In its turn, it resulted in increased rigidity and brittleness of the threads, led to numerous fractures and deformations of the canvas, as well as to swelling and chipping of the paint layer. Besides that, the glue had soaked through the paint layers staining the surface of the shroud.
We must agree, however, that this unprofessional (from the point of view of the contemporary approach) conservation helped to preserve the piece in a relatively good state, despite the numerous losses.
Conservation
The biggest challenge during the first stage of the work was to remove the XIX century lining. A large amount of gypsum contained in the pigments made it impossible to use water-based solutions. For several months, the conservators had been removing the lining millimetre by millimetre with special spatulas.
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