Treating ancient Egyptian coffins is always a challenge for a
conservator. The problems that they present are largely the result
of how coffins were made and the extremely dry environment in which
they were preserved. The base of Iufenamun’s coffin was no
exception to this and its conservation required more than 100 hours
of detailed work to prepare it for display.
Construction of the coffin
The coffin base was built from many pieces of wood that were
probably joined together with wooden pegs. This type of
construction was typical of Ancient Egyptian coffins because of the
scarcity of wood. Both the inner and outer wood surfaces were then
coated with a brown mud plaster in order to smooth out the joins
between the wooden pieces. A fine white gesso-like plaster was
applied to the outer surface next, followed by the colourful and
elaborate painted images and hieroglyphics.
Decoration on the coffin
Although the paint on Iufenamun’s coffin base has not yet been
analysed, it is likely that the red is a natural earth pigment like
red ochre, while the black could be based on carbon. The blue-green
colours contain a special type of pigment, which is called
‘Egyptian blue’. It is the earliest type of synthetic pigment known
and is made from a glass-like substance. The pigments which make up
paint need to be held together with a binding material, and plant
gums such as gum arabic were often used as paint binders in Ancient
Egypt. Lastly, a yellowish coating, which is probably a natural
resin, was applied to the outer surface.
Damage to the coffin
Although the arid climate of Egypt preserved Iufenamun’s coffin
base, it also had a harmful effect on it by permanently shrinking
the wood. Because of this shrinkage, the many joins throughout the
coffin’s structure have opened up and moved a bit. This has caused
the layers of mud plaster and painted white plaster to crack and
lift in many places and even to fall off entirely.
After the coffin was removed from its tomb, attempts were made
over the years to stop the joins from opening further and
continuing to move. For example, a protein-based glue was applied
to the joins, iron straps were fixed to the wood across some of the
inside joins, and iron screws were used to reinforce the attachment
of the coffin’s base to the side walls. Areas of loss where the mud
plaster and the painted white plaster had detached from the inner
and outer surfaces were also filled. Modern materials such as
a grey cement-like substance and plaster of Paris were used, which
were sometimes painted to try to match the original decoration.
The images below to see the condition of the coffin before and
during conservation. Click on the thumbnails to see a larger
image.
Conservation work
One of the most delicate and time-consuming parts of the
conservation work was stabilising the cracking and lifting painted
plaster by setting it down and securing it in place with a dilute
adhesive. Knowing that the binder in the paint was probably a plant
gum, a cellulose-based adhesive which would not adversely affect it
was chosen to stabilise the flaking paint.
First the lifting paint was softened a little bit with a solvent
and then the adhesive was fed into the cracks with a fine
paintbrush. The tricky part came next as the flakes had to be
carefully manipulated to re-attach them to the underlying surface
without breaking them. If necessary, this was followed with the
application of gentle pressure to hold them in place until the
adhesive set.
The second biggest problem to be addressed by the conservation
treatment was the loss of the mud and painted plasters. In many
places, the broken edges around the losses were vulnerable to
further damage. An effective way to prevent this from happening,
however, is to fill the losses. Two types of fill materials were
used: one made up of tiny glass spheres called ‘microballoons’,
which are so small that they appear like a powder, and the other
based on paper pulp. The advantage of these materials is that they
create extremely light fills, which are not too heavy for the aged
wood. Both of these fills were also held together with the same
type of cellulose adhesive that was used to stabilise the painted
plaster, making them compatible with the original materials used in
the construction of the coffin. Once the losses were filled, they
were painted to match the background colour surrounding them so
that they are less obvious to the viewer.
The images below show the conservation work in process. Click on
the thumbnails to see a larger image.
Returning the mummy to the coffin
At the end of the conservation treatment of Iufenamun’s coffin,
the mummy was to be put back inside it. Before this could happen,
however, a barrier layer was made to separate the mummy from the
coffin floor. This was done to protect the mummy from the iron
straps which had been previously fixed across joins on the bottom
of the coffin. Over time, these straps had corroded and caused some
of the textile wrappings to come away from the underside of the
mummy and stick to the straps. The barrier layer would stop this
from happening, as well as protect these pieces of textile. It
would also help to keep intact the remains of embalming resin,
which had leaked out of the mummy and pooled onto the coffin floor,
as well as other pieces of the textile wrapping, which had become
stuck to the resin.
With the stabilisation of the damaged plaster surfaces completed
and the barrier layer set into place, Iufenamun’s mummy could once
again be returned to its proper resting place.