A pottery jigsaw puzzle: distinguish true and false pieces in two Apulian red figured vases by a poli-technique action plan

Abstract

Apulian red figured pottery is part of the most recognizable and appreciated artworks of Italian cultural heritage. The initial objective of the research was checking the non-authenticity of some parts of two important Apulian red figured vases, stored in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and subjected, through the ages, to several unrecorded restorations. The results obtained, in addition to achieve the set goal, revealed the non-authenticity of the whole upper part of one of the two vases, supplied further knowledge on nineteenth century restoration techniques, for these vases never adequately described, but mostly underlined how the answers to the archeological questions can only arise from a detailed characterization of the materials, succeeded by a scientific multi-technique strategy. Specifically, the complete chemical–physical characterization of the samples was accomplished by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies.