Working in Cambridge recently I popped in to the Fitzwilliam to look at the wonderful Egyptian galleries there.
One of the mummy cases in the collection has been conserved recently, and, as was well publicised at the time, part of the treatment included the construction of an internal support, for a distorted and vulnerable area, using Lego. More detail about that can be found here:
The mummy case was made from cartonnage, a material consisting of layers of linen or papyrus mixed together with plaster, resin or stucco – the choice of adhesive varied over time. The resulting material could be molded into shape after drying, and painted or gilded. It was used in the construction of funerary masks or mummy cases.
I have had the privilege of working on two cartonnage mummy cases in Egypt, in the collection of the Gayer- Anderson Museum in Cairo, as well as on a beautiful mummy mask found on excavation in Luxor. The work on the mummy mask was mainly stabilisation and support (although not in Lego). The mummy cases required a surface clean to reduce the heavy layer of modern wax, which was full of dust and grime which covered and obscured the surface, stabilisation of flaking and cracks in the surface decoration was also undertaken.
An introduction to the Gayer Anderson Museum can be found by clicking this link: Gayer Anderson Museum . Below are some photographs of the projects:
