{"id":68517,"date":"2025-02-04T21:48:45","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T21:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/a-five-pound-hunk-of-the-worlds-oldest-known-synthesized-pigment-was-found-in-neros-palace\/"},"modified":"2025-02-04T21:48:45","modified_gmt":"2025-02-04T21:48:45","slug":"a-five-pound-hunk-of-the-worlds-oldest-known-synthesized-pigment-was-found-in-neros-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=68517","title":{"rendered":"A Five-Pound Hunk of the World’s Oldest Known Synthesized Pigment Was Found in Nero’s Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n \"Blue1\"
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The hunk weighs a whopping five pounds and measures more than six inches long.
\n Simona Murrone \/ Colosseum Archaeological Park<\/span>
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In the ruins of Rome\u2019s opulent\u00a0Domus Aurea<\/a> palace, archaeologists have uncovered an array of ancient pigments used by artisans to paint the walls of the emperor Nero<\/a>\u2019s stately marble home with resplendent\u00a0frescoes<\/a> some 2,000 years ago.<\/p>\n

Inside the remnants of workshops, the archaeologists recovered an amphora containing yellow\u00a0ocher<\/a> and small jars filled with reddish pigments like\u00a0realgar<\/a> and red ocher. They also came across basins where artisans would have mixed pigments with water.<\/p>\n

But the highlight of the haul is a solid hunk of\u00a0Egyptian blue<\/a>, a rare pigment prized for thousands of years for its shimmering and ethereal qualities.<\/p>\n

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\"Yellow\"

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Yellow ocher discovered inside a Roman amphora<\/p>\n

Simona Murrone \/ Colosseum Archaeological Park<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe fascination conveyed by the depth of blue of this pigment is incredible,\u201d says Alfonsina Russo<\/a>, the director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, which manages the Domus Aurea, in a\u00a0statement<\/a>, per a translation by\u00a0Gizmodo<\/em><\/a>\u2019s\u00a0Margherita Bassi<\/a>. \u201cThe Domus Aurea once again moves [us] and restores the brilliance of the colors used by the painters who skillfully decorated the rooms of this precious and refined imperial palace.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike ocher and realgar, which occur naturally, Egyptian blue is a synthetic pigment\u00a0produced<\/a> by firing a mixture of silica, limestone and minerals containing copper and sodium carbonate at high temperatures. It is considered the world\u2019s\u00a0oldest<\/a> known synthetic pigment.<\/p>\n

As its name suggests, the blue pigment originated in\u00a0ancient Egypt<\/a>. Dating to at least the third millennium B.C.E., it became an \u201cessential element\u201d in decoration and design, according to\u00a0La Br\u00fajula Verde<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Guillermo Carvajal. It provided the\u00a0subtle shading<\/a> on ancient Egyptian portraits and the vivid coloring of faience funerary\u00a0figurines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Roman architect\u00a0Vitruvius<\/a> recorded the recipe in his treatise De Architectura <\/em>in the first century B.C.E., reflecting how the color spread through the Mediterranean world and found a thriving home in the Roman Empire, where researchers have since identified Egyptian blue in the\u00a0Baths of Titus<\/a> and the walls of Pompeii<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Blue2\"

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Egyptian blue is the world’s oldest known synthetic pigment.<\/p>\n

Simona Murrone \/ Colosseum Archaeological Park<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Often, archaeologists discover traces of Egyptian blue that are all but\u00a0imperceptible<\/a> to the human eye. For instance, with the help of microscopes and luminescent imaging, researchers at the British Museum discovered that Egyptian blue once adorned the\u00a0Parthenon marbles<\/a>. In other cases, the pigment has been found in fine powders or small spheres, according to the statement.<\/p>\n

But what makes this discovery at the Domus Aurea all the more remarkable is the whopping size of the Egyptian blue ingot in question, which weighs more than five pounds and measures six inches long.<\/p>\n

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\"Tanks\"

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Basins where the pigments were hydrated and mixed with water<\/p>\n

Simona Murrone \/ Colosseum Archaeological Park<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The great size of this sample suggests widespread usage in the palace\u2019s frescoes, as well as the \u201cspecialized skills of the masters working on the imperial project,\u201d as\u00a0Artnet<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Min Chen writes.<\/p>\n

Archaeologists are investigating whether this sample of Egyptian blue was produced domestically\u2014in a place like\u00a0Cuma<\/a>,\u00a0Liternum<\/a> or\u00a0Pozzuoli<\/a>, which Vitruvius noted as a production hub\u2014or exported from an Egyptian city like Alexandria, according to the statement.<\/p>\n

Researchers once thought that the pigment’s recipe was lost after the fall<\/a> of the Roman Empire, only to be rediscovered in the 19th century by the British chemist\u00a0Humphry Davy<\/a>. But in recent years, Egyptian blue has been\u00a0found<\/a> in Renaissance artworks, including Giovanni Battista Benvenuto\u2019s 1524 painting\u00a0St. Margaret<\/em><\/a> and\u00a0Raphael<\/a>\u2019s 1512 fresco The Triumph of Galatea<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Galatea\"

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Raphael’s 1512 fresco The Triumph of\u00a0Galatea<\/em>\u00a0uses the Egyptian blue pigment.<\/p>\n

Public domain via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Artists like Raphael and\u00a0Domenico Ghirlandaio<\/a> were known to sneak into the ruins of Nero\u2019s home to admire and take artistic\u00a0inspiration<\/a> from the frescoes completed in the first century C.E., according to Artnet<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The presence of Egyptian blue in the Domus Aurea suggests a colorful past that inspired another generation of Italian painters to recreate the vivid blue in their own work. As the statement notes, the discovery provides another link between the art of antiquity and the art of the Renaissance.<\/p>\n

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