The Conservation of a Roman Egyptian Painted Shroud Fragment

A literature review of analytical techniques for materials characterisation of painted textiles—Part 1: categorising painted textiles, sampling and the use of optical tools

“…The use of X-rays has been widely used and documented for a range of objects from paintings to metal work and has also been recorded for use with textile objects, including painted textiles, to identify paint and to see differences in paint layers and condition. 83 Infrared reflectography (IRR) is a technique used to look through the paint layers, a technique commonly used in the study of stretched canvases. The degree of penetration depends on the thickness of the paint, the type of paint used, and the length of the wave of infrared radiation.…”

A literature review of analytical techniques for materials characterisation of painted textiles—Part 2: spectroscopic and chromatographic analytical instrumentation

“…42 GC has been used on a number of painted textiles to identify binding mediums. Bilson identified the binding medium on an Egyptian shroud to be an animal or fish glue with a small amount of unidentified wax using gas chromatography, 43 and Prikryl et al and Kleiner used it to analyse protein binders on paintings. 44 GC-MS analysis by Rogerson and Lennard revealed that two different banner makers both used partially heat treated linseed oil throughout the painted regions of silk marching banners they were working on, 45 and Rode used GS-MS to further categorise the bloom on a painted banner by identifying fatty acids-stearic, palmitic and myristic-and their proportions.…”