| Abstrakt: | SUMMARIES. A nineteenth-century mummy pigment (Hafkenscheid paint material collection) was analysed by direct temperature-resolved mass spectrometry (DTMS) and gas chromatography /mass spectrometry (GC/MS, Py-CC/MS, Py-TMAH-GC/MS). Megilp and asphalt (Hafkenscheid collection) reference samples were analysed under similar conditions. The mummy pigment investigated is complex. Py-GC/MS data indicated a pre-treated asphalt, i.e. only (di)benzothiophene- and traces of hopane-asphalt markers were left in the sample. DTMS, GC/MS and Py-TMAH-GC/MS results for the pigment pointed to the presence of slightly aged mastic resin and conifer resin and a complex lipid fraction. A poorly oxidized linseed oil and additions of beeswax, seen as long chain normal fatty acids, and another fat of a bacterial, fungal or human origin showing myristic acid, C6:1-Cl6:1 and C18:1 mono-unsaturated fatty adds, iso and anteiso fatty acids were found. The main components, mastic resin and linseed oil, suggest a megilp combined with a black mummy-like pigment. In spite of the degraded asphalt, the unusual fat and the beeswax found, a connection between Egyptian mummies and the Hafkenscheid mummy pigment cannot be proven.
CONCLUSION. The composition of the mummy pigment from the nineteenth-century Hafkenscheid collection is quite complex. The presence of linseed oil, mastic and conifer resins, asphalt, beeswax and perhaps human fat was proved. Only the last three components point directly to a mummy constituent of the pigment. The origin of the asphalt is unclear and might suggest the use of fake mummy in place of an Egyptian mummy. The analytical evidence tells the restorer and conservation scientist that nineteenth-century mummy pigments contain so many components that their characteristics are not sufficiently unique to discriminate the pigment from other materials on paintings. |
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