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The Ohara Museum of Art (Kurashiki City) has had a collection of Egyptian antiquities since earlier times in Japan. Those antiquities were purchased in Europe and Egypt between 1919 and 1921 and 1922 and 1923 by Torajiro Kojima (1881-1929), a painter who studied painting in France and Belgium under the patronage of Magosaburo Ohara (1880-1943). Those antiquities are housed in the Ohara Museum of Art and the Nariwa Museum (Takahashi City). The small, blue-green head is conserved in the Nariwa Museum (Inv. no. 119). It shows the typical features associated with a group of terracotta figures known as Tanagra figures. The material, which is made from the head, has been considered to be an Egyptian glazed faience, as noted by KOJIMA. SEM morphological observation and EDS analysis were performed on samples of the blue-green layer, which were taken from the removed surface of the head. The SEM photograph revealed that the head is not made of faience but of ivory. By EDS analysis, several main elements of ivory, Mg, P and Ca, were detected. S, Cu, Zn become the state of sulfate that has been the cause of the blue-green colour in the head. As a result of hydrochloric acid treatment, a tiny amount of oil was observed in the sample. The oil may have been applied to the surface of the ivory head to achieve a similar brightness to the faience.
Research papers (publications of university or research institution)
