Reconstruction of the so-called Chios Kore from the Athenian Acropolis

When the marble statue of a young woman (a type known as a kore) reconstructed here was discovered in 1886, the archaeologist Valerios Staïs described traces of color on the skin and blue and red on the clothing. Azurite, cinnabar, orange and yellow ochers, and lead white have all been confirmed with ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy. The reconstruction re-creates the statue’s blue undergarment, white skirt, and yellow himation. The colors and the adornment of the garments on the sculpture, which resembles those known to have been carved on the island of Chios, are remarkably sophisticated. Fine lines scratched into the pigment layer of the ornamental bands, now marble colored, were likely originally inlaid with gold.



"The statue depicts a young girl of elegant appearance who once held a sacrificial offering in her outstretched right hand. With her left hand she may have lifted her skirt slightly, as if to make it easier to walk. The statue had been dedicated to the city goddess Athena.

Traces of color on the flesh, as well as blue and red on the clothing, were detected by Émile Gilliéron at the time of the statue's discovery in 1886. Our investigation in 2010 using ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy) also confirmed the presence of azurite and cinnabar and many other colors, which served as the basis for the reconstruction. The girl's hair was painted with orange-yellow ocher. The diadem was decorated with a band of lotus and palmette against a blue ground, the disc earrings with spiraling volutes. The light yellow mantle was buttoned only on the right shoulder and upper arm, so that a blue undergarment with half-length sleeves is visible at the left shoulder. The mantle had a band with a blue border decorated with meanders, while the wide hem had the same pattern on red ground. The blue undergarment was decorated at the neck and along the shoulder seam with a broad red band with a meander pattern and rosettes. The skirt was white, with a wide strip in the middle once again decorated with meanders in an intense lead yellow on a red ground. Both her skirt and mantle were further decorated with a pattern of little crosses and blue double spirals. The color scheme clearly shows that the girl is wearing a white skirt and light-yellow mantle over the blue undergarment.

The coordination of the colors and decoration of the various garments is remarkably sophisticated. The skin is painted in a combination of lead white and red and yellow oxide, based on traces of skin color found in the ears of the original.

The Greek excavator on the Athenian Acropolis, Vasilios Staïs, described in 1887 the rendering of the skin on the Archaic kore. In the excavation reports in the Archaiologiki Ephemeris, the annual publication of the Greek Archaeological Service."

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann



Reconstruction 2012 (first version):

marble stucco on PMM, natural pigments (chromatographically calibrated) in egg tempera

H. 60 cm.

3D-printing in PMMA: Alphaform

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 707



Reconstruction 2012 (second version):

Vinzenz Brinkmann and Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann

marble stucco on PMM, natural pigments (chromatographically calibrated) in egg tempera

H. 60 cm.

3D-printing in PMMA: Alphaform

Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung (Liebieghaus Polychromy Research Project), Frankfurt am Main, inv. St.P 711



Scientific methods employed:

Ultraviolet-induced visible luminescence imaging (UVL) (Schott KV 418)

Ultraviolet-reflected imaging (UVR) (Schott UG1 or Schott BG12)

Optical stereoscopic microscopy (10–50x, Zeiss and Olympus)

Raking light imaging (Schott KL1500),

Visible-reflected imaging in black and white (VIS)

Visible-reflected imaging in color (VIS)

Photomicrograph (with microscope or macro objectives)

3-D scan in laser light

Ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy (UV-Vis spectroscopy)



Scientific evaluation:

Vinzenz Brinkmann, Ulrike Koch-Brinkmann, Heinrich Piening



Pigments used in the reconstructions:

blue: azurite; red: cinnabar; green: malachite; yellow: Cypriot ocher, lead yellow, dark yellow French ocher; white: kaolin, lead white; black: charred bone; flesh colors: lead white, red and yellow iron oxide



Acknowledgements:

Acropolis Museum, Athens

Museum für Abgüsse klassischer Bildwerke, München

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York