The Figurative Terracotta Figurines of the Egyptian Gregorian Museum

Dear Patrons and Friends,

Many of you know about the vast art collection of the Vatican Museums. Today we will enter the Gregorian Egyptian Museum to see the restoration of the figurative terracotta figurines.

Since the foundation of the Gregorian Egyptian Museum (February 16, 1839), the Vatican started playing an active role in consolidating the international archaeological movement, thanks to the birth of Egyptology scientific studies.

Situated in Pius IV’s former apartments in the Belvedere, the Vatican Egyptiam collection is unlike any other large collections of Egyptian artifacts because it has mainly gathered artifacts preserved in Rome since the time of the Roman Empire.

Each restoration project linked to this exceptional collection enables restorers to learn more and more about the age of the Pharaohs and becomes an important reference point for scientific and comparative research.

Let’s enter the department of Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities! At this time, we would like to extend a special thanks to the New York Chapter for funding this project!

The restoration work involved a group of figurative terracotta figurines dating from the Ptolemaic and Coptic periods (III B.C. – VI A.D.)

The state of preservation of these artifacts is very diverse, mainly due to the presence or absence of polychrome decorations and the inadequate reconstructions from recent times. The restorers monitor the operations by observation under an optical microscope for every specimen. Even those that appear without color traces.

The principal objective was to remove the materials of previous conservative interventions such as works of modern damaging materials (pins, adhesives, and stuccos), to treat the forms of alteration of the colors and earthenware mixtures, to clean and consolidate the traces of decoration, and to document and study the construction technique and painting technique together with the identification of the pigments.

Among the peculiarities of this collection, a great number of examples belong to the category of the “Grottesche” revealing the use of colors, including lacquer-based colors, for the preparation of the pink tonality in the complexions. In addition, there are numerous figurines with white traces. These terracotta surfaces are preparation for pictorial decoration, which is not in many specimens.

In collaboration with the Laboratory for the Diagnostics and the Restoration of the Museums, restorers analyzed the pigments used for the pictorial decoration. They detected most of the colors, although present in traces and imperceptible to the naked eye, and documented and analyzed them.