In ancient Egypt, color expressed both symbolic and aesthetic value. For decorating purposes, the ancient Egyptians used an intensive chromatic palette based on a broad source of natural and artificial origins. Beside dyeing, decorating textiles in ancient Egypt had different forms, such as embroidery or the painting of a smooth coating applied on the textile matrix. Physical analytical approaches are an essential request prior any restoration project. In this chapter, the benefits of a wide range of non- or micro-destructive methods to study the physiochemical behavior of pigments used in ancient Egyptian painted textiles are presented. To garner data concerning the ancient materials, special techniques are used, such as the environmental scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (ESEM-EDX), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), micro-Raman spectroscopy (µ-Raman), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR), colorimetry, and visible reflectance spectroscopy (vis-RS).
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The ancient Egyptians were familiar with their polychrome objects, tombs, and temples. In ancient Egypt, textiles enjoyed different forms and applications, even though the majority of the surviving ancient Egyptian textiles are not colored. Broadly, the ancient Egyptians used flax plants (Linum usitatissimum) for manufacturing and weaving different textile objects, such as garments, mummy wrapping, etc. (Clark, 1944; Vogelsang-Eastwood, 1992). To decorate the textile fibers, dyeing techniques were usually applied, most significantly using vegetable dyes (Ahmed, 2009). Iron oxide (red ochre) was a leading material used since Early Dynastic period for dyeing linen fibers (Wouters et al., 1990). In effect, the colored traces found on the Tarkhan dress (late fourth-millennium BC, preserved at the UCL Petrie Museum), which was excavated by Flinders Petrie in 1913 in the cemetery of Tarkhan (about 50 km south of Cairo), are clear evidence on this kind of dyeing with iron oxide minerals. Other examples on this technique were reported in textile fragments from the Workmen’s Village at Amarna, from the 21st Dynasty (1069‒945 BC) and the Ptolemaic period (Nicholson & Shaw, 2009; p. 278). It is said that surviving fragments of painted linen shrouds from the 18th Dynasty (1500 BC) with texts from the ‟Book of the Dead’’ are a significant example of the functional application of painted textiles in numerous funeral-purpose objects.
Figure 1 shows examples of different forms of painted textiles from various chronological periods. For polychrome surfaces, micro-equipment’s allow a complete structural-chemical image about each single pigment and the underlying layers. Further, scientific analyses help to understand any modifications that occurred to the original materials or old materials used in previous restorations. For this goal, special techniques are used, namely the environmental scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (ESEM-EDX), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), micro-Raman spectroscopy (µ-Raman), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy-attenuated total reflection (FTIR-ATR), colorimetry and reflectance spectroscopy (vis-RS). Following the above, this chapter will cover the upcoming issues:
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Background on textile painting technique,
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Pigments on the ancient Egyptian chromatic palette,
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Micro-invasive and non-invasive methods for pigment analysis, and
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Future research directions.
Figure 1. a) The linen shroud of Hori (1295–1070 BC), (source: Metropolitan Museum assoc. No. 44.2.3), b) A painted linen fragment (1292–1190 BC) (source: Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, assoc. No 1915-24-1-a), c) A close-up view of a Roman painted fragmentary linen from Antinoopolis (A.D. 170–200) (source: Metropolitan Museum, assoc. No. 09.181.8)