by Tessa de Alarcon Since we have posted often about visible induced infrared luminescence (VIL) and the equipment we use at the Penn Museum, we on occasion get emails from other conservators and museum professionals asking about what equipment to buy and the costs associated with this photographic technique. This technique is often used for imaging Egyptian blue, but it can also be used for Han blue and Han purple. Much of the same equipment is also used for infrared reflectance. E1827A-E multimodal data set including a visible image (left) and infrared reflectance image (center) and a visibl ..read more

by Tessa de Alarcon If you have visited the Museum recently, you may have noticed that The Artifact Lab is now closed. We believe that the Artifact Lab, or the “fishbowl” as the public conservation lab was affectionately called, was a resounding success, as it initially was intended to be a 1 year exhibition (opening in 2012) but was extended for a total run of 11 years! To be sure, there were shifts and changes to the space during that time, but the overall premise of having a space where visitors could come and see our work did not change at all in all that time. In order to prepare for even ..read more

By Lu Denegre All photos by Emily Hirshorn On June 4th, 2022, with the help of funding from the Museum Council of Greater Philadelphia, the Conservation and Learning Programs departments hosted “Caring for Culture”, a hands-on introduction to conservation for teens. We had a great time and got some good feedback, and look forward to welcoming another group of teens this year on June 3rd 2023! (If you’re a teen in the Philly area, you can register here for this year’s workshop) Last year, 24 students arrived at the museum for a day of activities. The workshop began with introductions and a pres ..read more

By Sean Billups “Technical analysis” is a term frequently used in the conservation field to describe the use of specialized techniques to examine objects. Those techniques can include using scientific instruments, special cameras, and lots of other equipment. Maybe that term sounds boring, but in addition to telling you a lot about an object, you can also sometimes find fun surprises.  This was certainly the case when I began some preliminary analysis on an alabaster bowl for the reinstallation of the Egyptian and Nubian galleries. The bowl dates from the Egyptian Early Dynastic peri ..read more

By Tessa de Alarcon We’ve had a few posts (this one by Chelsea Kim and this one by Christy Ching) on creating 3D models using photogrammetry, and I thought I’d give some examples of what we are doing with that data once it’s collected. For some objects we are creating ortho-mosaics and these 2D images are going into reports as after treatment images as well as going into the catalogue model as record photography that also shows up in the online collection database. This wooden coffin 2017-20-1.3 is an example of this type of imaging. 2017-20-1.3 after treatment photos created using ortho mosai ..read more

By Tessa de Alarcon Typically, at the Penn Museum when we are working on objects, even for display, we prioritize stability over aesthetics. This means that we are often do less cosmetic work than would be done at an art museum when it comes to putting in fills and toning out areas of loss. However, I recently undertook a project where I went further than I usually do to recreate lost material. This blog post is going to walk through why that decision was made in this case as well as some of the mysteries that I found along the way E1019 Before treatment. At this point the object was being tra ..read more

by Nylah Byrd This ancient Egyptian cartonnage funerary mask (L-55-289*) from the late Roman Period came into the conservation lab for treatment as part of the 2021-2022 curriculum internship in the conservation lab. It arrived on a backing board that was not adequately supporting the three-dimensional shape of the piece. The back of the head was the most damaged, and where I did most of the treatment work. I began the treatment by building a mount to support the mask from the front so I could remove the backing board and perform most of the treatment from behind. *L-55-289 is a loan object fr ..read more

By Chelsea Kim As an intern working with the conservation department, I have received the opportunity to work on many projects and experience things I never thought I would. Recently I have been working on this software called Reality Capture using photogrammetry. Photogrammetry is a process that uses an abundance of photographs to create a 3D model without any distortion from many overlapping images stitched together to form a detailed and geometrically corrected image called an orthomosaic. This process is usually used on larger objects, and this is because it’s too big to be in frame w ..read more

by Tessa de Alarcon with images by Alexis North, Molly Gleeson, and Christy Ching We recently de-installed two stone sarcophagi from Egypt from the upper Egypt gallery at the Museum: E15415 and E16133. These pieces are slated for reinstall in the new Egyptian and Nubia Galleries and will likely need extensive treatment before they go back on display. This is why they have come off display, so that we can access their condition and evaluate what needs to be done for the new gallery. For both pieces, we need to check the stability of the previous treatments. Both have previous joins and fills th ..read more

Written caption reads “Both stelae fully uncovered, bases visible beneath them” By Nylah Byrd In preparation for the new Ancient Egypt and Nubia galleries the conservation department began a survey of the current Upper Egypt gallery to understand the condition of the objects and anticipate treatment time. Part of this survey includes performing archival research on the excavation and exhibition history of the monumental pieces in the gallery. This research will help us better understand previous treatment and display decisions to inform future treatment decisions. One of the monument ..read more