Twenty years ago, when I started working in Egypt as an epigrapher, I wasn’t given too many guidelines regarding how to do the best job when documenting a painted tomb. Our Hungarian project leader wanted to have the most detailed, most faithful, most informative, and most complete documentation that was accessible to everyone, while useful for an art historian (or for that matter any person with a general interest) just as much as it was for us, scholars. In 1998 personal computers were already mainstream but were scarcely used in my field of interest – drawings were created facsimile, most often copied directly from the walls by using transparent material that was directly attached onto the decorative surface. I remember admiring the Epigraphic Survey (Chicago House, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago) for its alternate methods and precision, but I also remember thinking that I’ll never have the resources to implement their technique in my personal projects. With no experience whatsoever, I did what I thought was best: pulled out large sheets of transparent paper and hand-copied every bits and traces of pigment I could find on the wall. The results were regular penciled drawings including painted outlines, damaged areas, traces of preliminary sketches, and labels for each and every color on the wall. Hundreds and hundreds of identical transparent sheets would be filled with information in the next ten years..
Thursday, November 1, 2018
Digital Epigraphy In Association with the Epigraphic Survey
Digital Epigraphy In Association with the Epigraphic Survey
Labels:
Egypt,
Egyptology,
Epigraphy
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