Preliminary investigation of the materials and techniques used in a decorated wooden stick of king Tutankhamun

Ahmed Abdrabou; Medhat Abdallah; Eman Nabil; Yasunari Matsuda; Hussein M. Kamal

doi:10.14568/cp2017033

Authors

Ahmed Abdrabou Grand Egyptian Museum- Conservation Centre, Remaya square, Giza, Egypt https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3423-3884
Medhat Abdallah Grand Egyptian Museum- Conservation Centre, Remaya square, Giza, Egypt
Eman Nabil Khufu Boat Museum, Archaeological Pyramids Area, Giza, Egypt
Yasunari Matsuda Toyo institute of Art and Design, 2-6 Tomihisa-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Hussein M. Kamal Grand Egyptian Museum- Conservation Centre, Remaya square, Giza, Egypt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14568/cp2017033

Keywords:

Tutankhamun, Decorated wooden stick, Gilded bark, Wood identification, X-ray fluorescence, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Abstract

The focus of this work is to shed more light on materials and decorating techniques used on a decorated wooden stick of king Tutankhamun. Moreover, the authors were interested in using a developed methodology to unfold the cylindrical decorations of the stick. The botanical species of the wood and bark samples were identified by observing thin sections under an optical transmission light microscope; the decorating materials layered on the wood surface were analyzed by scientific and analytical techniques including optical microscopy (OM), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The analyses provided new information concerning the materials and decorating techniques that varied from top to bottom of the same stick. The characterization of this stick represents a first step in determining the materials and decorating techniques used to produce this particular kind of sticks during king’s Tutankhamun period.

Received: 2017-5-27
Revised: 2017-12-1
Accepted: 2018-1-25
Online: 2018-3-3
Publication: 2019-1-10

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