By Andrea Shea. From wbur.org. Posted on 6/14/18.
For a coffin, the Farnese Sarcophagus has had quite a life — beginning around 225 AD.
“It was likely quarried in western Turkey,” senior objects conservator Holly Salmon explained, steps away from the marble hunk of history. “It ends up in Rome. It goes into a tomb hundreds of years later.”
Salmon and her colleague Jessica Chloros have been cleaning, restoring and analyzing the Roman-sculpted sarcophagus — which in Latin means "flesh eater" — for months. And they’re learning a ton.
“This piece continues to surprise us,” Chloros said. The conservators discovered traces of a rare pigment known as "Egyptian blue" on its surface.
“It was likely quarried in western Turkey,” senior objects conservator Holly Salmon explained, steps away from the marble hunk of history. “It ends up in Rome. It goes into a tomb hundreds of years later.”
Salmon and her colleague Jessica Chloros have been cleaning, restoring and analyzing the Roman-sculpted sarcophagus — which in Latin means "flesh eater" — for months. And they’re learning a ton.
“This piece continues to surprise us,” Chloros said. The conservators discovered traces of a rare pigment known as "Egyptian blue" on its surface.
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