A team led by Washington State University has successfully recreated a millennia-old pigment first synthesized in ancient Egypt.
Egyptian Blue is considered the the oldest manufactured pigment in history. The pigment was widely used to adorn stone objects used in funerary rituals and to embellish wood objects. It later appeared in Roman art as well.
The process of producing Egyptian Blue pigment went out of practice sometime during the Renaissance, researchers said. Information about their efforts to replicate that process were first published in NPJ Heritage Science.
The scientists, working in partnership with the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute and the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, developed 12 separate recipes using varying combinations of silicon dioxide, copper, calcium, and sodium carbonate. The mixtures were heated at around 1,000 degrees Celsius for up to 11 hours, mimicking the conditions likely used by ancient artisans.
Researchers found that developing a blue hue that was chemically exact to the ancient one required only about around half of the blue-producing compounds. After their research was concluded, the scientists found that a potentially valuable aspect of the color, besides its ties to history, is that it activates while under infrared techniques that are typically used in forensics.
Samples are currently on display at the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh as part of a new exhibition on ancient Egypt.