Boschloos, Vanessa

Hameeuw, Hendrik

Van der Perre, Athena

Ghent University Academic Bibliography

Journal of Ancient Egyptian InterconnectionsTHE MULTISPECTRAL PORTABLE LIGHT DOME: DOCUMENTING THE EGYPTIANEXECRATION FIGURINES OF THE ROYAL MUSEUMS OF ART AND HISTORY, BRUSSELSAthena Van der PerreRoyal Museums of Art and History, BrusselsHendrik HameeuwRoyal Museums of Art and History, BrusselsUniversity of Leuven, Faculty of Arts—Near Eastern StudiesVanessa BoschloosRoyal Museums of Art and History, BrusselsArchaeology Department, Ghent UniversityThe execration figurines of the Royal Museums of Artand History (RMAH, Brussels) were discovered atSaqqara in the 1920s.1 The collection comprises over ahundred (fragmentary) figurines and three smallrectangular coffins, all made of unfired clay and dating tothe late Middle Kingdom. The figurines are covered withexecration texts: hieratic inscriptions in red or black, listingnames of foreign places, rulers and/or individualenemies.2 By focusing on the direct neighbors of Egypt—Libya, Nubia and the Levant—as well as on Egyptianenemies, these figurines are often regarded as crucialprimary sources for our knowledge of the politicalgeography of the region. Their study is mainly hamperedby the poor state of conservation, while a second challengeis the only partial preservation of the ink traces, resultingin a great loss of information. The figurines were selected as a case study for theEgyptian Execration Statuettes Project of the RMAH. Theproject is involved in the development of a multispectral,multilight and easily transportable imaging system, theMultispectral Portable Light Dome (MS PLD), incollaboration with the KU Leuven’s Digital Lab and ESAT-VISICS.3 The MS PLD offers an approach requiringminimal handling of the object while delivering maximaloutput for research and conservation purposes. Thesystem, originally developed for the documentation ofcuneiform tablets,4 has now been adapted to createmultispectral 2D+ images of small, decorated (and oftenfragile) artifacts. The relief and texture/color values areinteractive data based on a recording process usinginfrared, red, green, blue and ultraviolet light spectracomputed with photometric stereo algorithms.5Preliminary tests on a selection of figurines with thissystem delivered very promising results. The readabilityof the red inscriptions, representing the vast majority ofthe texts, was significantly improved, enabling thedecipherment of parts of an inscription previouslyconsidered to be lost for good.6 The geometricalcharacteristics of the figurines can be interactivelyvisualized by the viewer system of the PLD, enabling thestudy of the manufacturing process and other technical artstudies (Fig. 1).7While the main goal of the project is to develop new MSimaging techniques, it also includes a comprehensiveanalysis of the state of preservation of the objects, essentialfor the development of these techniques. Furthermore, thechemical composition of the clay and the pigments wasdetermined by handheld X-ray fluorescence, confirmingthe presence of red ochre pigments and carbon black.8It is generally stated in studies on the multispectralimaging of parchment, papyri and ostraca that black(carbon) inks tend to give the best results in the infraredspectrum, whereas visualizing red ochre inks is oftenproblematic.9 The MS PLD tests on the clay figurines,however, indicate the contrary. The black ink inscriptionsgave very poor responses in the infrared spectrum, thusconfirming the new insights that carbon black pigmentsand clay have nearly the same reflectance response in bothvisible and infrared spectral bands. Therefore, the contrastbetween the pigments and the clay is not sufficient todistinguish zones with pigment from those without.10Reaching its final stage of development, the entirecollection of the Brussels execration figurines will bedocumented and the PLD tested on a wider range ofmaterials. Further non-destructive analyses on thematerials are also considered. The MS PLD project thusenables a renewed and in-depth study of this valuablecollection by Egyptologists, archaeologists and curators.Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections | http://jaei.library.arizona.edu |vol. 11 (December 2016) | 21–221 For a detailed description of the origin andacquisition, see Georges Posener, Princes et pays d’Asieet de Nubie. Textes hiératiques sur des figurinesd’envoûtement du Moyen Empire (Brussels: FondationÉgyptologique Reine Élizabeth, 1940) and Athena Vander Perre, Dennis Braekmans, Vanessa Boschloos,France Ossieur, Hendrik Hameeuw, and LucDelvaux, “The Egyptian Execration Figurines of theRoyal Museums of Art and History, Brussels:Conservation, Pigments and Digitisation,” Bulletin desMusées royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Bruxelles 85 (2014) (inpress).2 Partially published in Posener 1940.3 Coordinated by Luc Delvaux (RMAH) and financedby the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo):BRAIN.be (BR/121/PI/EES) and IAP VII/14: GreaterMesopotamia.4 Hendrik Hameeuw and Geert Willems, “NewVisualization Techniques for Cuneiform Texts andSealings,” Akkadica 132/2 (2011): 163–178.5 Athena Van der Perre, Hendrik Hameeuw, VanessaBoschloos, Luc Delvaux, Marc Proesmans, BrunoVandermeulen, Luc Van Gool and Lieve Watteeuw,“Towards a Combined Use of IR, UV and 3D-Imagingfor the Study of Small Inscribed and IlluminatedArtefacts, in Proceedings Lights On… Cultural Heritageand Museums! Porto 2015 (forthcoming).6 Van der Perre et al. 2015 (forthcoming).7 Tests were undertaken on several objects of theEgyptian collection, e.g., a Fayum portrait (AthenaVan der Perre and Hendrik Hameeuw, “La creationd’images multi-spectrales: les portraits romains duFayoum,” in Luc Delvaux and Isabelle Therasse (eds.)Sarcophages. Sous les étoiles de Nout [Brussels: Racine,2015], 164–165), a Ramesside decorated vase (LieveWatteeuw, Hendrik Hameeuw, Bruno Vandermeulen,Athena Van der Perre, Vanessa Boschloos, LucDelvaux, Marc Proesmans, Marina Van Bos and LucVan Gool, “Light, Shadows and SurfaceCharacteristics: The Multispectral Portable LightDome,” Applied Physics A 122 (2016): 976.doi:10.1007/s00339-016-0499-4). The preliminaryresults provided information on underdrawings,previous restorations and the general state ofconservation.8 For a detailed report on the examination of thepigments, see Van der Perre et al. 2014. The clayanalysis will be published in Dennis Braekmans,Vanessa Boschloos, Hendrik Hameeuw and AthenaVan der Perre, "Chemical Characterisation of AncientEgyptian Execration Figurines through Non-Destructive X-Ray Spectrometry Analysis,"(forthcoming).9 E.g., Roger Macfarlane, Thomas Wayment, StephenBay and Gregory Bearman, “Exploring theLimitations and Advantages of Multi-SpectralImaging in Papyrology: darkened, carbonized, andpalimpsest papyri,” in Vessa Vahtikari, MikaHakkarainen and Antti Nurminen (eds.), Eikonopoiia:Digital Imaging of Ancient Textual Heritage, (Helsinki:Societas scientiarum Fennica, 2011), 95.10 Van der Perre et al. 2014.22Van der Perre et al. | The Multispectral Portable Light DomeFigure 1: Verso of figurineE.7608. Interactive imagesproduced by the PLD systemreveal different aspects of thesurface and topography/relief: a) color-sharpen filter, b)shaded filter, c) normal filter (©RMAH; PLD).

The multispectral portable light dome : documenting the Egyptian execration figurines of the Royal Museums of art and history, Brussels

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The multispectral portable light dome : documenting the Egyptian execration figurines of the Royal Museums of art and history, Brussels

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