The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow is turning to crowdfunding to raise money to conserve a 2,000-year-old Egyptian shroud featuring a unique double portrait, of a woman and a boy, placed between images of the gods Osiris and Anubis. The piece, which was made between AD120 and AD130, is in urgent need of conservation. “We hoped that [treating] the paint layer would be enough,” says Natalya Sinitsyna, a fabric conservation specialist. “But the paint layer was applied without gesso, which significantly complicates things.” Sinitsyna says that the main aim is to remove the upper layer of the shroud from the canvas to which it was glued in the 19th century and to transfer it to another fabric. Around 70% of the money is in place, but the museum needs a further 200,000 roubles ($2,800). It is asking for public donations, with an appeal on its website.
