Premium
TRACES OF ANCIENT COLOURS ON TRAJAN'S COLUMN *
Author(s) -
DEL MONTE M.,
AUSSET P.,
LEFEVRE R. A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
archaeometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.716
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1475-4754
pISSN - 0003-813X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-4754.1998.tb00846.x
Subject(s) - hematite , orange (colour) , geology , column (typography) , archaeology , mineralogy , art , geochemistry , chemistry , history , mathematics , geometry , food science , connection (principal bundle)
Recent restorations of Trajan's Column uncovered two marble fragments bearing traces of pigments, bright red (minium, hematite) in one case, and yellowish‐orange (minium, hematite, clay minerals) in the other. Both were applied to the marble surface on a plaster underlayer. The presence of an underlayer and of surfaces coloured according to subject tells us that the colours were applied deliberately. Although the use of minium plus hematite is confirmed by archaeological finds, there is only a good probability that the colours were applied on the column at the time of its completion.