The colours used by the ancient Egyptian
This topic has received special attention from archaeologists as well as art scholars. It is the materials and colours used in the past to colour the ancient Egyptian monuments, and we will also deal with the methods used in colouring. Colours have been used since ancient Egyptian times (prehistoric times) when the ancient Egyptian used to draw and record His daily work, which he used to do. He used to record religious texts on the walls of temples and cemeteries, as it was the doctrine of resurrection and eternity, so he was considered drawing and recording on walls, tombs and temples for two purposes, one of the religious and the other secular, and he was helped in this by the multiplicity of colours and colour sources from which the colour was extracted. The colours also became special symbols in ancient Egyptian; for example, the reddish-brown colour was used to draw the man’s skin where the man went out to work and was exposed to the sun’s rays, so the colour of his skin had to be different from the colour of the woman’s skin, whose skin colour was yellow, unlike the brown colour that was used to express the family Nubia and also the yellow colour was used the yellow colour of the sun and the green colour of nature, and the artist introduced the King of the south to colour the white crown wherever he was in The reality is unlike the King of the North, who wore a red crown.
The students have divided the colours used by the ancient Egyptian into two types: –
Colouring materials:
They are different natural mineral oxides particles, and these oxides may be mixed before colouring with liquid media, including gum arabic, animal glue, and egg white. These media are used in the case of tamping, and also these oxides are used with the solvent without using an intermediary, and in this case, it is called Fresco.
Pigments:
It is a solid colour extract that permeates into the material when applied directly or through a medium and is extracted from plants or insects that live on trees.
The ancient Egyptian was not satisfied with those colours, but he used to add to its industrial colours, the most famous of which are Egyptian green and Egyptian blue. Also, ancient Egyptians imported other types of coloured materials. The process of colouring scenes using coloured materials has developed continuously from one era to another; as we notice in the old country, the Egyptian artist used only five colours, namely red – yellow – white – brown – blue. In contrast, other colours were used in the Middle Kingdom era besides these colours, such as green, and the ancient Egyptian artist graded the colours extracted from natural mineral oxides.
We will discuss in detail the coloured materials and how to obtain them: –
Yellow-coloured materials:
This colour was used to denote the sun and gold, and it was also used to express the colour of a woman’s skin. This colour was used since the pre-dynastic era, and its use increased and reached the peak of its spread during the era of the modern state as well as the Sawy era, and it has several sources from which it is extracted, including: –
Yellow ocher
Yellow ocher is one of the most popular colours commonly used to obtain yellow colour. It is composed of goethite minerals in addition to silica and the minerals of the child. It is found in the form of the mineral limonite mixed with a percentage of calcite, quartz and clay and in this case, it tends to brown more, and yellow ocher is found in nature in stones. The sandy areas of the Western Sahara region in the iron mines in the Bahariya oases are also present, forming many of the cover rocks in the Eastern Desert. Among its characteristics is that it is not affected by dilute acids and alkalis. Still, it turns red if exposed to a high temperature where the hydrated iron oxides turn into hydrated iron oxides that are to be transformed into Limonite hematite.
Comment:
The ancient Egyptian used ornament from the Eighteenth Dynasty and it was called the royal yellow or the golden yellow, and it was called Lux ​​by the name of the yellow taraj. A bag was found from it in the tomb of Tutankhamun – the red coloured materials: – It is considered one of the main colours that were used in the paintings of ancient Egypt. It was the royal colour indicative of victory, and it was used in the writings on the walls and papyrus papers. It was used in certain writings, including the beginning of the seasons and the beginning of the paragraphs. It was coloured by the bodies of men and sometimes added to the mechanism of yellow colour and the bodies of women. The ancient Egyptian used red ocher as basic material. In red colouring, red ocher is the earthy form of the mineral hematite, which was abundantly found in Egypt, especially in the Western Desert in the Bahariya Oasis region near the iron extraction mines, as well as in dark red deposits in Aswan.- White-coloured materials: – White colour was known in ancient Egypt Since. Before the dynasties, it is one of the most important ancient colours and has signed with the ancient Egyptians. A, it was used in the late eighteenth dynasty to colour the background of the landscape, and it was used as an additive to decorate pottery vessels. Artists were able to obtain different shades of colour, and it was also used to dilute other colours.
The materials from which the white colour was obtained: –
• Gypsum: –
Gypsum was used as a white colourant in ancient Egyptian pictures. The artist used raw, untreated gypsum by burning after mixing with a solution of animal glue.
Calcite:
Lux was able to identify a white colour of calcium carbonate in the tombs of the Fifth Dynasty and used in the Middle Kingdom. Saleh mentioned that he was able to identify calcium carbonate used as a basic colour in many tombs during different eras and mentioned that it is difficult whether the ancient Egyptian used lime as a white colour because the current material is in the form of calcium carbonate, whether it was originally from limestone powder or resulted from Calcium hydroxide is converted to calcium carbonate by the action of carbon dioxide. It is used after the pure limestone is washed with water, then the granules are floated in water to separate the fine grains from the coarse, and then the fine granules are taken and dried and used with the medium.
Hunnet metal: –
The ancient Egyptians had used the Huntite (which is calcium and magnesium carbonate), and this mineral appeared in the era of the modern state. It was used to colour the clothes of the gods as it is brighter than calcium carbonate. However, through his research, Saleh confirmed that this mineral exists as an impurity in carbonate Calcium used as a white colour and not as a substance known to the ancient Egyptians and used it deliberately, confirming Frank.
Lead white (basic lead carbonate): –
And it is found in nature in the form of the mineral cirrus.
Blue coloured materials: –
The colour blue was known in ancient Egypt, and it was used in cemeteries to express the blue waters of the Nile. It was also used in the colouring of the bishop to express the clear sky, and it was also considered a sacred colour, as it was a symbol of the sacred truth, which is the colour of life, as the god of life and reproduction coloured it.
And he has several sources, including: –
Azurite (basic copper carbonate):
It is one of the oldest sources to extract the blue colour, and it is found in its natural state in Sinai and the Eastern Desert; and among its characteristics is that it is characterized by chemical stability in natural conditions, but it is affected by heat, which makes its colour tends to black and is also affected by alkaline solutions and also dissolves in acids.
Egyptian Blue:
This colour is not natural, but it was produced industrially due to the lack of azurite in Egypt. One of the examples that were coloured in this colour is the Meidum Oz painting. This colour is evidence of the progress of the ancient Egyptians in the manufacture of colours. This colour has occupied many scholars in his study to reach the composition and manufacture (Many opinions on this topic). This colour was found to be a component of copper and calcium silicate. This colour may be distinguished by stability in other conditions such as high temperatures and high humidity because this colour is equivalent to the effect of all alkalis and acids. Especially important for the ancient Egyptians, as it represented the eternal nature that the ancient Egyptian believed in and worked hard for it. This colour was also a sign of resurrection and was also a sacred colour, as it was used in colouring trees, papyrus plants and flowers, and it symbolized youth and vitality. And he has several sources, including: –
Malachite 🙁 basic copper carbonate)
It is one of the important secondary copper ores. It is widespread, as it is found in the upper parts of the oxide region of copper veins associated with the mineral azurite and sulfur. This mineral is found in the Sinai Peninsula, in the Eastern Desert and various places in the Western Desert, and this colour has been used since before the dynasties.
• Egyptian Green: –
The ancient Egyptian prepared a green-coloured material industrially, and it was used either alone or with copper chloride. This type was popularly used in the tombs of the Middle Kingdom and was also used in the early era. The Egyptian green is similar to the composition of Egyptian blue. Still, it differs in the temperatures required for the manufacture, which are higher than 950 m In a reduced environment. Black coloured materials: – The ancient Egyptian used the black colour as the main colour, as it was used to colour the hair of women and wigs, and it was also used as an eyeliner around the eye for adornment, and the ancient Egyptians were used as a funeral colour that expresses resurrection and immortality, so it was used a lot for this purpose in Funerary rituals inside cemeteries, as well as by the ancient Egyptian expressing the black soil of Egypt, for which Egypt was called for some time under the name of the kit, meaning the black soil, and the main mineral forming this colour is carbon and is found in several pictures, including: –
• Smog: –
The ancient Egyptian used soot, which was taken from the surfaces used for cooking food, or it was produced in another way, which is burning resins, which resulted in soot that was received on polished surfaces and then removed from these surfaces and then it is used. As a black colour after mixing it with gum arabic to link its grains and between it and the ground on which it is painted.
• Charcoal:
Also, charcoal was used as a black colour after mixing it with animal glue, and it is less pure than soot. We will talk briefly about the damage factors affecting the coloured materials.
An overview of the factors that lead to damage to coloured materials: –
Internal factors:
These include the difference in the nature and properties of the wall texture components of the inscriptions (the photographic carrier – the preparatory layers – the colour layer), the presence of salts in the building materials, defects in the technique during the implementation process, the effect of groundwater, seepage water and bleaching, human and biological damage.
External factors:
They include temperature differences, relative humidity, wind erosion, natural disasters, torrential rains and air pollution.