The CAMU keeps in its collection three wooden funerary Egyptian portraits of the Roman era. In 2023, a program of archaeometric study and conservation was launched, in collaboration with the National Archaeological Museum, Athens (NAM).
For the study of the painted surface, a variety of imaging methods are employed, such as multispectral imaging (MSI), reflectance transformation imaging (RTI), radiography (XRAY), alongside non-invasive archaeometric methods of analysis, e.g. X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF).
Archaeometric data gathered with the above techniques are posted on the APPEAR (Ancient Panel Paintings: Examination, Analysis and Research) online database (https://www.getty.edu/projects/appear-project/), which has been created by the initiative of the J.P. Getty Foundation. In the APPEAR project, museums and research organizations from around the globe take part in the interdisciplinary study of Egyptian funerary portraits of the Roman era. The results from the examination of the CAMU portraits will be published in scientific journals and editions of the CAMU.
The research program is implemented at the Department of Conservation, Chemical and Physical Research and Archaeometry of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. The archaeometric study is carried out by Mr. I. Panagakos and Mrs. K. Tsakri and the conservation by Mr. P. Lazaris, under the general supervision of the Head of the Department Dr. G. Moraitou. We sincerely thank the National Archaeological Museum for the fruitful collaboration. (https://www.namuseum.gr/syntirisi/meletes/programma-appear/).
Images of the funerary portrait Δ2574 (https://camu.gr/item/portraito-gynaikas/?from=period&id=74) with various techniques, which provide information about the pigments used in its decoration and about previous interventions carried out on the portrait (Images by the Department of Conservation, Chemical and Physical Research and Archaeometry of the NAM).
