TAA i.3.23.16.recto

<practice of employing animal skin

the existance^sic of animal skin has>
 

          This has been confirmed by a supplementary note from

D^R H. J. Plenderleith, of the British Museum Research Laboratory, 

who kindly examined some <more> specimens from the tomb for me.

In his note, dated August, 1933, he says: “The shrines were 

enriched by a covering of thin gold laid on a gesso consisting 

mainly of carbonate of lime. In the specimens examined 

the gesso varied in thickness from 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch, and 

the gold from the finest lee/<a>f to gold sheet or foil of about 

1/10 m.m. thickness … The gesso contained the remains of 

organic fragments, namely, that tissue which proved on 

examination to be animal skin. It was found possible 

to isolate the tissue and to confirm the identification by 

cutting a section. This showed the presence of several hair 

follicules^sic which may by easily seen in the accompanying 

micro-photograph. (1) / The outside of the hide was next the gold.

          The object of providing such a resilient cushion beneath

the gold is entirely a matter of conjecture, but it seems 

likely that it was to afford a suitable surface for tooling. 

If this be the case one sees here the genesis of a tech-

nique which was exploited to such advantage some 

hundreds of years later in the decoration of Persian and

other book-bindings.”

          In most cases the gold overlay is evidently of a very good quality,

for <generally speaking> <in most cases> it still retains its yellow brilliance and doubtless

corresponds to the “fine gold” referred to in the ancient Egyptian records. 

This <is also> probably due to the comparative thickness of the layer of gold used.