CONSERVATION OF A PAINTED WOODEN COFFIN AT DAHSHUR ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREA

Abstract

This paper aims to document the conservation processes of a polychrome wooden coffin in the Dahshur archaeological area dating back to the late period. The exterior part of the coffin is decorated with a painted layer. Visual observation, 2D Program, and Optical Microscopy (OM) were used. wood identification. The coffin was in a bad condition. It was covered with a thick layer of dust, losing parts of the painted and gesso layers, as well as other parts of these layers, were lost. Some parts were missing from the head area of the lid coffin. The conservation processes of the wooden coffin included mechanical and chemical cleaning, reattachment of the separated parts of the ground layer and painted layers, filling the edge of the painted layer, and consolidating the painted layer. The conservation process included mechanical cleaning using soft brushes, chemical cleaning using ethyl alcohol and distilled water for painting, stabilization of the separated gesso layer using Paraloid B72, filling cracks of the gesso layers using glass microballoon with Paraloid B72 and consolidating the painted layer with calcium oxide nanoparticles with Klucel G (hydroxypropyl cellulose) 0. 5%