| Egyptian Journal of Archeological and Restoration Studies

Authors:
Mohamed, W. ¹ & Mohamed, N. ² (*)

¹ Conservation dept, Faculty of Archaeology, Cairo Univ., Giza, Egypt.
² Conservation dept, Assiut Sector, Ministry of Antiquities, Assiut, Egypt

Abstract:
This research aims to investigate two treasured artifacts from the 19th century museum's collections in Cairo, Egypt. The first is an Indian Mughal enameled gilded silver tray from Aljazera Museum and the second is an Ottoman enameled gilded silver tray from the Faculty of Applied Arts' Museum. The trays showed two sophisticated methods of enameling: champlevé and peinture. Multiple colour tones of opaque and transparent enamels were used. To identify them different analytical techniques were utilized, Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). Results proved that the metal substrate in both trays is silver-copper alloy. Gold residues were found on the obverse and some other areas. The enamel contains the essential components of the vitreous material e.g., silica, soda, potassium oxide, calcium oxide and lead oxide with little to minute amounts of cobalt oxide, copper oxide, zinc oxide and iron oxide which are responsible for the colour tones, while lead arsenate is responsible for the opacity. The chemical composition of enamel material confirmed their origin and date.

Keywords:
Gilded silver Champlevé Peinture Trays pXRF, EDX

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