Another scientific analytical technique commonly used in art conservation is called Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy, or FTIR.  The Brooklyn Museum’s Paper Conservation Lab employed this technique to continue analysis of the Brooklyn Museum’s Book of the Dead of the Goldworker of … Continue reading…

One of the many scientific analytical techniques used in art conservation is called X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy, or XRF.  The Paper Conservation Lab here at the Brooklyn Museum is using this technique to study the Brooklyn Museum’s Book of the Dead … Continue reading…

Following Rachel’s previous discussion on pigments and inks used in our Book of the Dead of the Goldworker of Amun, Sobekmose, I will begin here our discussion of the different examination and analytical techniques we employ in conservation and the … Continue reading…

This is the third blog post on the Museum’s extraordinary New Kingdom papyrus, the Book of the Dead of the Goldworker Amun, Sobekmose.  My colleagues previously posted blogs on what exactly papyrus is, how it was made and formatted into … Continue reading…

Once a papyrus sheet was formed it was joined together with other sheets to form long rolls. The papyrus roll format dates back to ~3,000 BCE and there is little evidence individual sheets were ever used alone. Smaller papyrus documents … Continue reading…

Before we began treatment on the Book of the Dead of the Goldworker of Amun, Sobekmose papyrus scroll, the staff of the paper conservation lab decided to make our own papyrus sheets.  As with any conservation treatment that we do, … Continue reading…

Although the making of papyrus as a writing support is almost 5,000 years old, not a single written description by the Egyptians exist to explain their process. Pictorial displays in tomb murals and carvings never reveal the process of sheet … Continue reading…