Identification of the Painting Materials of a Unique Easel Painting by Mahmoud Sa'id

Abstract

The present study aims at examining a unique easel painting by the well-known Egyptian painter, Mahmoud Sa'id. It was painted over four years and displayed at the Agricultural Museum in Egypt. It experienced many deterioration phenomena. The study utilized some non-destructive and non-invasive analytical techniques, i.e. MA-XRF, SEM-EDX, ATR-FTIR, and GC-FID in addition to XRD and SM. Due to the case-study painting multilayers technique, the results of MA-XRF and EDX mapping and XRD patterns revealed using Ultramarine (Na,Ca) 8 (AlSiO 4) 6 (SO 4 ,S,Cl) 2 , yellow ochre (Fe 2 O 3 .H 2 O), red ochre (Fe 2 O 3), and a mixture of graphite (C) and bone black (C,Ca 5 (OH)(PO 4) 3) as a coloring pigments in the blue, yellow, reddish brown and black samples, respectively. Moreover, Barite (BaSO 4) and Zincite (ZnO) were used in the ground layer with Hydrocerussite (Pb 3 (CO 3) 2 (OH) 2) and Sphalerite (ZnS) in lightening colors. Linseed oil was asserted as the pigment binding media, while the binding media of the ground layer was not confirmed. Furthermore, fragility, brittleness, cleavages, peeling, cracks, macro cracks, stains, and ancient fault restoration were detected in the casestudy painting. Accordingly, it urgently requires treatment.

Investigation and Analysis of Two Coptic Textile Fragments in the Agricultural Museum in Egypt

“…The conservation plans of these degraded textiles and the similar ones are commonly based on these significant obtained results. 15 The conservation issues presented in this work arise from the abandonment of the archaeological and historical heritage collections held in the Egyptian Agricultural Museum. According to the museum catalogue, the museum houses thousands of different heritage objects, with a wide range of physic-chemical, biological, and manmade deterioration.…”