We continue the series of artifacts prepared for the exhibition that will highlight one of the most beloved collections in the MNIT heritage – Collection of Egyptian pieces, activity within the Project „Gods and Mortals of Ancient Egypt”#zmeaonline with a representative piece, a statuette Ushabti – that is a funerary mummy statuette.
Semen-Ptah-Psamemmetik is the name of the deceased inscribed on the statuette in the MNIT collection. This type of statuette is familiar to those visiting museums that exhibit Egyptian artifacts, but few know that they are known as Ushabti – a word usually translated as „answer.” , modeled in the form of a mummy, were found in large numbers in the ancient Egyptian tombs. The statuette of Semen-Ptah-Psamemmetik has a circular inscription, consisting of 9 lines from Chapter VI of the Book of the Dead. The purpose of a Ushabti was to act as a substitute for the deceased in case the gods would ask him for possible tasks in the afterlife. Our piece, dated 525-404 BC, belongs to the late period, Dynasty XXVII, when such statuettes become a routine in the funeral ritual, and their quality shows a complete mastery of the technique of pouring and perfecting the glaze.
When analyzing the state of preservation, it was found that the piece shows a structural reunion by gluing a fragment (with material loss) in the area of the head, back. Also, deposits of dirty dust located in the pores were identified, with deposits on the back, inscription, legs, the area of the consolidation solder. An ocher-green color deviation of approx. 20% of the surface, erosion of the glaze in the area of the hands and head as well as earth deposits in ditches, cracks, inscriptions.
The curative conservation-restoration activities aim at carrying out minimal interventions on the cultural property. Thus, the nature of the deposits was analyzed by the Analysis Bulletin carried out by the Zonal County Museum of Conservation Restoration and Conservation Laboratory, using X-ray fluorescence spectrometry, a non-destructive analysis, using a portable spectrometer model Bruker S1 TITAN SP. It turned out that the deposits were largely clayey in nature, probably traces of old attempts to make molds.
For cleaning were used: surgical vacuum cleaner, soft brush for dry / wet removal of poorly adherent deposits. For the strong adhesives, the mechanical removal of the deposits was done with bamboo stick and fiberglass rod and steel wool 0000. The traces of adhesives on the base were cleaned by local abrasive methods. The patina was made locally using a natural wax product.
Gods and Mortals of Ancient Egypt (ZMEA), funded by the RO-Culture Program, contract no. RO-CULTURA-A1-2 / 2020 / 31.01.2020.
RO-Culture program https://www.ro-cultura.ro/
Project Management Unit – PMU https://www.umpcultura.ro/