AIC's 46th Annual Meeting

This study discusses the conservation of a pair of composed sandals of king Tutankhamun which considered unique and one of the kind, made of three principle materials; leather, gold and papyrus. some conservation treatments were applied on the sandals at the discovery process in 1922 which caused rigidity, fragmentation and darkness in the leather, buckling in the golden belts that surround the base, golden ornaments felt of the sandals as a result the sandals were categorized as a material for study and not for exhibition. a full documentation study was applied by digital photography and Auto-Cad program for making deterioration map for the sandals. Some microbiological test swaps were taken to test the sandals beside some investigations and analysis were executed; FTIR for identifying previous conservation materials and XRF for recognizing the metal type used in manufacturing of the sandals. Then several steps of conservation were applied; mechanical cleaning and consolidation for each piece of fragment. In order to prevent any possible new damage for the fragments the reassembling of the fragments was tried first by Photoshop before the actual procedure as each pair of matched fragments were signed with special symbol, the pieces then were adhered by Klucel G and support of Japanese paper. The Japanese paper was died first with a natural black dye to make the support suitable in color with the sandals but still can be recognized. A second layer of acid free cardboard was used to support the sandals from the bottom without adding adhesive. The conservation treatments extended the lifetime of the sandals and stabilized their condition. For the correct dealing and handling of the previous sandals, a plexi glass holder was designed as a final step.