Discoveries of Egyptian blue pigment at the British Museum

Egyptian blue is possibly the earliest artificial pigment ever produced. It first appeared in Egypt and Mesopotamia around 2500 BC and then spread throughout the Mediterranean world where it was widely used until around AD 800. It is a bright blue crystalline material, made by mixing sand, lime and copper or copper ore and heating them to around 850-1000°C.

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An ancient Egyptian lump of Egyptian blue pigment
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Hunting in the Marshes, fragment of a wall painting from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun
The areas of Egyptian blue show up very clearly in the image on the right.
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Iris, a messenger goddess from the west pediment of the Parthenon.
The bright white line around the belt in the infrared image on the right shows the existence of Egyptian blue pigment.
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Warrior from the Amazon frieze of the Mausoleum at Halikarnassos.
It has long been known that this warrior held a painted sword. However, the infrared image clearly shows the minute remains of a sword as bright white, indicating Egyptian blue.
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Marble head from the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.
Some pink paint remains on the head, particularly on the proper right cheek, but no blue was visible until tiny amounts were found in the eyes, which must have once been a vivid blue.
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Horse’s head from the Palace of Sargon at Khorsabad, in northern Iraq.
Much of the harness must originally have been painted with Egyptian blue.
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A technique developed by scientists at the British Museum allows us to discover traces of Egyptian blue on ancient objects that no longer have their original paint finishes intact. To look for traces a red light is shone onto the object. Egyptian blue has a very unusual property that causes it to give off infrared light when red light is shone onto it. This is called luminescence. This luminescence cannot be seen by the naked eye, but can be recorded using a device which is sensitive to infrared light (such as a night vision camera).

Using this technique Egyptian blue has been found on a number of sculptures from the Parthenon, including the messenger goddess Iris from the west pediment. It has also been found on other objects such as the ancient Egyptian wall paintings from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun, and a stone panel from the ancient Middle East.