Inner Cartonnage of Gautseshenu, 700-650 B.C.E. Linen, plaster, pigment, 64 3/16 x 14 15/16 in. (163 x 38 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund, 34.1223.

Lady Gautseshenu, who dates from around 700-650 b.c.e, was a descendent of a prominent priestly family and entered the Brooklyn Museum collection in 1934.  The mummy itself is sealed in a beautifully painted cartonnage that has never been opened.  The object had been x-rayed in the past, and from those results we could tell that there was an intact female body within the cartonnage.  The opportunity to CT scan her and discuss the results with the team at North Shore University Hospital gives us additional insight.  We were happy to work with the same group of doctors and technicians as our previous visit, namely Drs. Amgad Makaryus, Jesse Chusid, John O’Donnell, and Karen Lisk.  Some of the questions we hoped to answer – How old is she?  Are there any signs of trauma?  Do any internal organs remain?  Were there any unusual items buried with her?  What about her physical condition might tell us something about how she lived?

CT Scanning of Inner Cartonnage of Gautseshenu at North Shore University Hospital

While more detailed analysis of the CT scans is on-going, a preliminary review reveals that she is an adult female, with some signs of osteoarthritis in the pelvis and backbone. Dr. Chusid and his colleagues say that this might not necessarily mean that she was old – this could have been a condition that affects younger (adult) women as well.  The scans also show that her brain had been completely removed.  This was typically done through the nose, and this was confirmed on the scans by the fact that there was significant damage to her nasal septum.   As would also be expected, an incision was found on the left side of the abdomen.  This is where the internal organs would have been removed. Her heart was left in place during the embalming process, which, according to our curator Ed Bleiberg, would have been done in higher quality mummifications.   In turn, it appears that her lungs may also have been left in place, something that is much more unusual.  While there were no signs of trauma to her body, two of her ribs are cracked, though this probably happened post mortem.   Inside the chest area and inside near the incision, there appear to be a few amulets.  Further manipulation of the scans is needed to clarify which amulets these might be.   Our curators were also curious to know if there were differences in the mummification process between males and females.  We saw a few interesting things in the CT scans regarding that – once we do a little more research, we’ll let you know!

Please check back with us as we continue to work with North Shore University Hospital to interpret the data. Lady Gautseshenu will go back on display in the Mummy Chamber during the first week of May and you can check out more photos of her visit to the hospital on Flickr.

“To Live Forever” is finally up at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and they have done an amazing job posting a wealth of information on their website. The latest bit to go up is a Q&A session about the conservation of objects for the show. A big thanks to Richard McCoy, IMA objects conservator and his interns who came up with some great questions, put my garbled answers into legible form, and added fantastic links to illustrate what I was talking about. Also, thanks to everyone at the IMA who worked so hard to make this show a reality. One venue down, ten to go.

during treatment. the area to the right has been cleaned revealing the read lead paint and gilding

For the most part, the linens on Demetrios are in relatively good condition; however, the linens around the feet are unstable. There are large holes on the bottom and proper left side.

the condition of the linens at the feet before treatment

The BM does not have a textile conservator on staff, so we hired a specialist in this area to work with us. (Learn more about hiring a conservator through the American Institute for Conservation.) Kathy first patched the area with a piece of linen held in place with a piece of sheer material called Tetex (an open weave polyester material). While the linen material is very noticeable, it was needed to contain all of the powdering fragments of ancient linen. The Tetex material is very sheer – so you don’t really see it – but also very strong. By using Tetex to secure the linen (she sewed this to the new linen, then wrapped it around the feet and sewed the Tetex to itself) she did not have to sew through the ancient linen material which would cause further damage. Next, she covered the whole foot area with another piece of Tetex, also sewed to itself. Again, this material is strong enough to hold all of the loose linens in place, but sheer enough that you can see the underlying material. When you look at this object on display, it will not be that noticeable unless you are specifically looking for it.

the foot, after treatment

The next step was to create a display board that he could also travel on so that handling would be minimal. How objects are handled plays a huge role in their long-term preservation. A bed of polystyrene balls and polyester batting was sealed within a giant bag, and covered with display fabric. Demetrios was then placed on this. The polystyrene balls conformed to his shape, fully supporting him and helping to absorb any vibration as he travels. The installers can handle Demetrios by the support board rather than having to lift his actual body at each venue. This drastically reduces the possibility of damage to Demetrios. That’s it for the conservation treatment! Demetrios will then get crated by a special art packing company, and head to the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Look for him there beginning July 13.

the support board

Demetrios on his support board

Today, there is a greater appreciation for the importance of these portraits in their original context so for this current exhibition we have decided to reunite the portrait with the body. In order to do this, objects and paintings conservators worked together. A silicone support was cast to conform to the shape of the back of the portrait panel. This provides a rigid support for the portrait that can help absorb any vibration that may occur while traveling and is easily reversible in the future. The portrait, on its new support, was placed back onto the mummy of Demetrios. Using the old photograph as a guide, some new linen fabric, toned with paints to match, was added to recreate how the portrait originally appeared on the mummy. As with any conservation treatment, we carefully documented this process and used appropriate materials so that future generations of conservators and scholars will be able to distinguish between the original ancient Egyptian materials and our modern additions, and be able to remove our additions if necessary. In the next blog, I’ll talk about the next phase of the conservation treatment – how Demetrios was cleaned and areas of torn linen repaired.

the portrait associated with the mummy, as it appeared in the 1930’s

the mummy with portrait removed

the portrait exhibited on its own Lisa and Carolyn hard at work

the portrait and mummy reuinted

Sorry for the delay in this post, but it was a long process organizing the CT scans. When we unpacked Demetrios, we were happy to find that the packing supported him well, and he had survived the trip on the LIE. We had a great time at North Shore Hospital with Dr. Boxt and his colleagues.

Photo by Adam Husted

First of all, we were able to confirm that Demetrios is an adult male. Next, we were able to tell that he was in very good physical condition when he died, indicating that he was probably a lot younger than we had previously thought. Dr. Boxt could find no indication of foul play involved in his death, and remarked that his bones showed no signs of degenerative disease. So for now, how old he was when he died and what he died from continues to be a mystery.

When you look at the cross section of Demetrios above, you can see some of the things we did find out. Two of his ribs were broken during the mummification process (#5). There is an unidentifiable bundle in his chest, and it is possible that the ribs were broken to place this bundle (#8). This could be anything from more linen to soft tissue of the body, to papyrus. And finally, he was buried on a wooden plank wrapped within the linens (#6). Within the next few months, we plan to work with other physicians and Egyptologists who can help us further decipher the CT scans. In the meantime, we also have to prepare Demetrios for loan. The next few blogs will discuss and track the conservation treatment of Demetrios. I’ll be on leave for several months, so my colleague Lisa will be taking over the blogs -enjoy!

A sample of linen near the feet was taken for C14 dating.

Marc will send this sample to the NSF Arizona AMS Facility at The University of Arizona. This will give us a ballpark date of how old the linens are, and by association, how old the mummy may be. While we know stylistically it is between 30 B.C. and 395 A.D., we may be able to get a narrower date with C14 dating. We also wanted to find out more about the mummy itself. Is Demetrios really a man? Across the linens, in gilding just under his name is written 89 years. Does that mean he was 89 years old when he died? What did he die of? Is there anything else wrapped up with him in the linens? In order to answer some of these questions, we decided to have Demetrios CT scanned. CT scanning, or computed tomography, is another non-destructive technique that allows us to see beyond the linen wrappings, without having to un-wrap Demetrios. A three-dimensional image is generated using X-rays. This was carried out at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset New York.

Lisa, a BM objects conservator, makes sure Demetrios is securely packed before his big trip. Photo by Adam Husted.

Before Demetrios could travel to Long Island, we needed to make sure he was stable enough to withstand the truck ride. One of our art handlers, Jason, constructed a custom made box with foam padding so that Demetrios wouldn’t shift in transit. We used a special art packing and shipping company, Marshall Fine Arts, to transport Demetrios to the hospital. Their tucks are climate controlled and have “air ride” suspension to give the mummy a nice, smooth, cool ride. This was also an opportunity for us to give Demetrios a “trial run” to see if any damage will occur during transit. While we take every possible precaution to avoid damage to our objects, sometimes there are unforeseen problems. Demetrios hasn’t left the BM since he arrived in 1911, and while he was only going to Long Island for this trip, he will be traveling to 11 different museums across the US as part of the exhibition To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum. If any problems occur during this quick trip, we can address them before he goes out on the road for over 3 years of travel. Check back next week to read about our adventures in CT scanning!

Lisa and the guys from Marshall Fine Arts load Demetrios into the truck. Photo by Adam Husted.

On July 5, Marc Walton, a scientist with the Getty Conservation Institute came to examine one of our mummies, knows as Demetrios. He brought a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) machine with him. With this non-destructive technique, he can take readings of different inorganic materials on the surface of our mummy, which will tell us the chemical make-up. Marc wanted to compare both the red lead and gilding found on our mummy, Demetrios, to the red lead found on the Getty mummy, Herakleides. It turns out that the red lead and gold are very similar – they have similar trace elements. The Getty is continuing their research to find out what that all means, but it is possible that these all came from the same workshop. There is also evidence to suggest that the lead used to make the red lead pigment may have come from a silver mine in Spain. When silver is smelted from the ore, lead is a common by-product. The lead would have been used to make the red lead paint. The Getty is also researching this further to determine whether the red lead pigment was made in Spain then traded to Egypt, or if the raw lead was traded to Egypt and the pigment made there. It is also unclear why the color red was chosen. Perhaps it was because the color red was thought to ward off danger. Sometimes, the more we find out, the more questions we have – there is still a lot to learn about our mummies! Check back next week to find out what other techniques we are using to learn more about Demetrios.

 I would like to introduce you to Demetrios. Demetrios is a mummy in the Brooklyn Museum collection that will be traveling across the country starting summer 2008 along with over 100 Egyptian artifacts from our collection in an exhibition entitled “To Live Forever, Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum“. Demetrios was excavated from a Roman cemetery in Hawara, Egypt in 1911, and is believed to date between 30 B.C. and 395 A.D. After its excavation, it came directly to the Brooklyn Museum. We know the mummy is that of a man named Demetrios, due to the style of the wrapping, and that his name is gilded across the linen wrappings. Also, Demetrios’ portrait was painted on a wooden panel, and inserted into the linens over his face. This is very typical of these Roman Period mummies. What is not very typical of the Roman Period mummies is that the surface of Demetrios’ linens has been covered with red lead paint. There are less than a dozen of these so-called “red shroud mummies” known to exist in the world. The J. Paul Getty Museum in California also has one of these red-shroud mummies, named Herakleides.

The Getty has started to research these mummies, and is visiting collections all over the world to have a closer look. Check back next week to learn about the Getty’s visit to the Brooklyn Museum to look at Demetrios.

Above is an image of a virtual reconstruction of the portrait where it was originally, within the linens of the mummy, as well as a close up of the portrait. The portrait was actually removed from the linens in the 1930’s because the wood was starting to crack and conservators needed better access to treat it. It was then decided to put the portrait on display – and put the mummy back into storage. I’ll discuss our efforts to reunite the two in subsequent blogs.

Lisa is on vacation this week, so I’ll be updating the blog in her absence. We apologize to everyone who came out to see our talk on Saturday. Due to the rain showers, we had to cancel, but we hope to reschedule soon. On Sunday and Monday, the UPH Projects team applied the final green acrylic paint layers, and Lady Liberty looks fantastic! As Lisa mentioned in an earlier blog, the color was chosen based on the color of Lady Liberty on Bedloe’s Island. Some of you may wonder why she looks different from her big sister. The Bedloe’s Island Liberty is made from copper alloy sheeting, which has developed the green patina over time through a chemical reaction of the metal with the atmosphere. It is actually a stable green colored corrosion layer that has formed on her surface, and there is some natural mottling in color. The Brooklyn Museum Liberty is made from zinc and galvanized steel sheeting that was then painted to achieve the desired color imitating the lady in the harbor. As the paint surface weathers, it will also become more mottled. We’ll be putting the finished touches on during the next few days so check back soon for some final pictures.