WARRINGTON Museum is looking forward to welcoming back one of its star attractions – after rather more than a facelift!
It’s taken more than plastic surgery or Botox to restore the 3-4,000-year-old Egyptian mummy case after the museum discovered it was being attacked by a mysterious white crystal growth on its surface.
Fortunately National Museums Liverpool were able to provide the necessary cosmetic treatment.
Conservator Tracey Seddon said: “The crystals were developing on areas of restoration carried out 30-40 years ago and were causing the paint to crumble and lift. Fortunately the ancient Egyptian paintwork was spared, but the ‘rot’ was disfiguring the coffin and threatening to damage the artwork of the ancient craftsmen.”
Careful conservation treatment has removed the crystals and the loose paint has either been secured with a conservation-grade adhesive, or removed if too crumbly.
The damaged areas have then been painted with a thin adhesive solution to prevent further loss and the patches have been re-integrated using archival quality paint.
Lost areas of the original paint scheme were not painted in as that could be misleading for gallery visitors and scholars in the future.
The original occupant of Warrington’s mummy case was a man called Pa-ikh-mennu, who worked at the temple of Amun in Thebe in modern Luxor. Parts of the case have been recycled from an earlier coffin because good quality wood was scarce in Egypt.
It was given to the museum in 1905 as a gift from the Egypt Exploration Society.
Facelift for museum mummy
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