Palmyrene Polychromy: Investigations of Funerary Portraits from Palmyra in the Collections of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen

Abstract

The current study is the first comprehensive investigation of the polychromy of Palmyrene funerary portraits. It presents the technical examinations of six portraits (ca. 150–250 CE) from the collection of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, illustrating the marvellous splendour of the cultural heritage of ancient Palmyra. The six portraits were examined with various analytical methods, including microscopy, ultraviolet-induced visible fluorescence imaging and visible light-induced infrared luminescence imaging, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Finally, two samples were collected for liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry to obtain the amino acid sequence information. Various pigments were detected in the polychromy including lapis lazuli, pyromorphite, mimetite, yellow ochre, red ochre, a red lake, lead carbonate, zinc oxide, bone black, and charcoal black. The proteinaceous binding medium was identified as collagen-based and possibly also keratin-based animal glue. The examinations of the Palmyrene portraits in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek have proven that these artefacts, despite their current uniform, white appearance, originally presented themselves in a wealth of colours. This is illustrated by the digital reconstructions carried out of two of the examined portraits, which show how the original painting of these portraits would have given them an entirely different expression from what we see today.

An Achaemenid God in Color

“…Since ancient Egypt and the Middle East have always tended to be colorful in Western minds (witness the admiration for the painted bust of Nefertiti), what has jolted scholars and the public alike has been, primarily, the realization that much of the white marble sculpture of ancient Greece and Rome was painted. However, there have also been detailed studies of the original coloration of monuments in Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Iran and popular digital attempts to recreate their former appearance [16][17][18][19][20]. Glaring gaps in our knowledge persist, but Classical antiquity has been pulled out of what one might be tempted to term its splendid isolation and reintegrated into the more colorful universe of which it once was a part.…”