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All Essays

Scientific Research
Series
Announcing the International Conference on Indoor Air Quality in Heritage and Historic Environments (IAQ 2024)
The Department of Scientific Research at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is pleased to organize IAQ 2024.
October 2, 2023
Macro image of a tapestry labeled with the colors "Gray, Red, Green, Yellow, Light Green, and Dark Green."
Identifying Natural Dyes to Understand a Tapestry's Origin
The dye used in a Latin American Colonial textile from the sixteenth to seventeenth century is examined in order to determine the textile's origin.
Nobuko Shibayama, Elena Phipps, and Lucy Commoner
August 29, 2023
Detail of a large 18th-century Cuzco School painting depicting the Virgin of Valvanera. She holds the Holy Child with her right hand and a bouquet of flowers in her left
Plant Ash in Ground Preparations
The study of material derived from ash used in the ground preparations of paintings by both Spanish and Latin American artists in the Baroque period sheds new light on the spread of artistic practices beyond Spain.
Silvia A. Centeno, Federico Carò, José Luis Lazarte Luna, and Dorothy Mahon
August 29, 2023
A closeup of bronze minerals
Casting for the King
An archaeological excavation discovered the location of the first historical bronze workshop in all Southeast Asia.
August 29, 2023
A cart on wheels with scientific machinery is parked in the middle of the sunlit American Wing sculpture courtyard; a grid of shadows from the overhead skylights creates a grid pattern on the polished stone floors.
Indoor Air Quality in the Museum Environment Workshop (IAQ 2020)
In February 2020, The Met hosted a workshop to develop a collaborative agenda for the field of indoor air quality (IAQ) in museums focusing on preserving art.
August 29, 2023
Microscope on a small work of art on paper
Interdisciplinary Fellowship in Paper Conservation, Drawings and Prints, and Scientific Research
In 2022, The Met offered for the first time a fellowship designed to bridge the worlds of curatorial practice, and the scientific study of art.
Olivia Dill
May 31, 2023
Benchmarking the Oddy Test: Development of Damage Thresholds and a New Tool for Standardizing Material Tests for Cultural Heritage Institutions
Developing new approaches in assessing the use of conservation materials for displaying, transporting, or storing art.
Julia Bakker-Arkema, Rose King, and Eric Breitung
April 7, 2023
Triptych showing a scientist at work, small glasses with colored contents, and a vitrine display.
Preventive Conservation Science Laboratory (PCSL)
The PCSL focuses on understanding the environmental factors that affect works of art.
January 25, 2023
Cutting Through the Fat: Animal Species and Food Processing Techniques of Residues Found in Nineteenth-Century Edgefield Pottery
Following analysis of food sources in stoneware vessels from the Old Edgefield District, South Carolina, an innovative approach probes the composition of trace food residues through close collaboration of The Met’s Department of Scientific Research and the University of Bordeaux through ARCHE.
Julie Arslanoglu
January 20, 2023
The Inside (and Outside) Scoop: Scientific Analysis of Food Residues Inside the Jars from Old Edgefield, South Carolina
Learn about the intensive analysis undertaken by The Met’s Department of Scientific Research to determine what foods were stored in nineteenth-century stoneware jars produced by enslaved artisans from Old Edgefield, South Carolina.
Adriana Rizzo
January 20, 2023