Funded Projects

Faces Revealed Project

Investigating the faces of ‘Yellow Coffins’ through Photogrammetry. Comparison between 3D model and Digital twin for a new analysis of the manufacture, painting techniques and re-use.

Multimedia section

Principal Investigator
Stefania Mainieri

Scientific Supervisor
Christian Greco, Director of the Museo Egizio di Torino (Beneficiary), Kathlyn Cooney, Professor of Egyptology at the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Culture (NELC), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) (Host Institution) and Corinna Rossi, Professor of Egyptology at the Department ABC, Politecnico di Milano (Secondment)

Partner Institutions
Vatican Coffin Project; Gate of Priests Project; Getty Villa, Los Angeles; Gregoriano Egizio, Musei Vaticani (Città del Vaticano); Musée du Louvre, Paris (France); Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden (The Netherlands); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (USA); “Museo Egizio” di Firenze (Italy); Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, (Italy); Egyptian Museum Cairo (Egypt); Los Angeles County Museum of Art, (USA); The National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Cairo (Egypt); UCLA Digital Research Consortium; UCLA Library; Cotsen Institute, UCLA; 3x1010 srl; Robin studio srl.

The three-year research project Faces Revealed focuses on a feature that has never been analysed before: the geometry of the features which create the anthropoid forms. The approach adopted in this project combines digital technologies and traditional approaches and is opening new direction of research by providing important information on the production, style, chronology and ancient reuse of the “yellow” coffins. The study of a group of around 100 “yellow” coffins from the 19th (1290-1196 BCE ca.) to the beginning of the 22nd dynasty (945- 874 BCE ca.) demonstrated that it is possible to identify specific elements through the geometry of the coffins. It was thereby possible to suggest a contemporary (or not) production of coffins belonging to the same or different sets connecting to each other specific elements. The way the forms (i.e., mouth, ears, forearms, or hands) were rendered could indicate a specific production style and thus also corroborate a common origin for the material as well as also hinting at the possibility of identifying craftspeople operating in “workshops”. Moreover, the comparisons of the geometry of the coffins and its relation with the paint can help to identify a chronological sequence within the coffins (set) themselves and also clarify their reuse.

The Project has Five Research Objectives:

• create and analyse 3D models of selected anthropoid yellow coffin lids (RO1);
• understand how important the paint is when compared to the modelled/sculpted masks, alongside how faithfully it reproduces them (RO2);
• understand whether the different physiognomical sculpted traits of the faces can be linked to different “workshops” and/or can reflect the stylistic features of a certain period and whether the different features and proportions can indicate any reuse (RO3);
• create a database with new information and combine it with the latest non-invasive technologies applied to “yellow” coffins (X-Ray, CT-scan, fluorescence-XRF) in order to understand whether the plaster led to the creation of new forms and three-dimensionality and whether its thickness can be linked to the re-use of the mask (RO4);
• elaborate a new and more precise seriation of the “yellow” coffins combining all the data (iconography, texts, layout, morphology, and technical aspects) and organize a Digital exhibition (RO5).

Faces Revealed Project considers only the external upper part of coffin lids as far down as the lower part of the crossed forearms or, for the stola coffins, until the end of the collar (wesekh-collar). For each coffin the following phases will be accomplished:

• High-resolution photogrammetric survey in situ following a precise and ad hoc protocol and instruments to for a digital reconstruction accurate to 0.001(m) and to have a precise reference system that defines the plane on which the orthophotos are then projected;
• 3D photogrammetric data elaboration using the software Agisoft Metashape Professional 1.8.3. and strictly follows the photogrammetric pipeline: i) photo-alignment at high resolution; ii) automatic recognition and manual check of circular and cross non-coded targets; iii) scaling; iv) dense cloud reconstruction in “medium” or “high” quality and data cleaning; v) mesh model in “medium” or “high” quality; vi) texturing; vii) exporting high-resolution orthophoto textured and non texture;
• Construction, comparison and overlapping of different layers. The 3D models are fundamental since they represent the only way to export identical and high resolution images of an object, both textured and non textured. These images represents the first two “layers” created for each coffin: the Visual appearance “layer” (the orthophoto with texture – “layer”1) and the Physical geometry “layer” (the orthophoto without texture – “layer” 2). The two models exported have an identical orthogonal projection and can be accurately overlapped. Another two “layers” for the objective analysis on how the decoration is applied on the three-dimensional features are created: one “layer” is dedicated to tracing the decoration (considering only the elements which are objects of the study and not the full decoration – “layer” 3) while the other “layer” to highlight the geometry through points (“layer” 4) have been created. These two “layers” can be overlapped in transparency on the solid model, on the texturised model and also between them, thereby maintaining the same orientation and the same proportions. This image overlapping enables a more precise inspection of objects and tracing the conformity of the two layers giving an insight into how ancient artists applied the coloured features on the three-dimensional masks, analysing any possible corrections that were applied to the geometry through the paint.
• The morphometric approach, markers, variables and types. This part of the work draws inspiration from the Morellian Method based on the concept that ‘incidental details of the way a particular artist portrays ears and hands, might be used to attribute unsigned paintings or sculptures to known artists’. Following this approach, repeated patterns could correspond to habitual techniques that could be associated with a workshop or individual artist. To try to answer to this question, the coffins were digitally "dissected", taking into account fixed variables, equal both in Visual appearance and Physical geometry. Seven variables were identified for Visual appearance and nine for Physical geometry. Once isolated, each variable was analysed following a morphometric approach, starting from the forms, with the measurements, to better classify shapes and to understand the proportions of each part related to the general dimension of the object. By combining drawings, points and considering the measurements, the main variables were categorised and then, a Closed Vocabulary with short codes corresponding to specific Types was created.
• Developing a Compare Spreadsheet/Database. The previous steps were fundamental because allowed the construction of a Compare Spreadsheet/ Database with all the coffins and their categorised variables. The Compare Spreadsheet identifies which and how many common features the coffins share - considering both visualisations - highlighted in different coloured boxes. This categorisation allows a reliable and consistent inspection of all the variables which the comparison objective, further it enlarges the comparison itself to all the corpus because it enables a contemporary comparison of the variables of all the coffins, highlighting the common ones and then making it easy to identify links and differences. The precise connection between these objects enables one to ascribe the sets to the same production style, and speculate on a possible common "workshop"/ artist, a contemporary time of production or perhaps the existence of a “reference model” for the production of coffins in a specific place or time.

Faces Revealed has produced significant results and deepened our knowledge of yellow coffins. Specifically: their production, chronology, and reuse thereby going well beyond the state-of-the-art.

The project has demonstrated that the masks and their facial features were created through a close attention to detail and were subjected to specific "styles", as was also the case for Egyptian statues. Through the variations in geometry it is possible to follow a chronological line and isolate specific markers that link different objects to each other, thereby suggesting specific styles and speculating upon as to whether they have the same provenance in terms of production. Moreover, it is possible to identify contemporary production within the coffin set and establish whether each object forming the set was built at the same time; simultaneously, the presence of specific markers in the geometry makes it possible to establish a relative dating.

Among the project’s main results is the evolution of the forms over time, where a change is visible from the precise and detailed to the more schematic. This change is not abrupt but gradual, and in some cases, does not run simultaneously with the paint but occurs more slowly over time. Moreover, the existence and the coexistence of different styles, types, and a kind of autonomy in the rendering of forms and physiognomic features can be observed which make it difficult (but not impossible) to find two objects pertaining to different sets with identical or, at least, very close features. This variability of forms and individualism that characterize the coffins of the 21st Dynasty seems to stop abruptly at the beginning of the 22nd Dynasty when the stola coffins appear. Unlike the coffins of the earlier period, the stola have recognizable and standardized geometric features which affect all the pieces forming the set, from the outer coffin to the mummy boards. The stola coffins, are thus interchangeable objects, with such a specific and fixed style that they might suggest (for the first time) the existence of a possible "serial production" or their production by a unique craftsman/common “workshop”.

The project has also highlighted the importance of using 3D models as a research tool for their ability to make visible the invisible, an undervalued ability at least until the submission of the project in 2019. The instruments and the methodology can also be easily reused, further developed, and applied to other classes of material or to coffins from other periods and places. Expanding the application of the methodology to anthropoid coffins from the previous and later periods, for example, might allow us to analyse in greater depth the development, evolution, and the changing of forms over time and to understand better the production of anthropoid wooden coffins from the first to the last one to appear. Finally, the implementation of the instruments and the methods used in the Project, and the use of Artificial Intelligence in the future could help in the automatic recognition of facial features on 3D models or in the connection of all the information that we have, which is sometimes difficult to manage with a traditional database.

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