Pigments on Terracotta Figurines of the Hellenistic Period from Piraeus: Non-Destructive Chemical Analysis with XRF and Raman Spectroscopy

The rescue metro excavations in Piraeus, begun in 2012, revealed, in addition to architectural remains significant for housing design and development, a great number of mobile artifacts, among which included many terracotta Hellenistic figurines. This paper aims to present the preliminary results of a study, carried out for the purposes of my master’s thesis, on the materials used to decorate ten of those figurines. The objects are of well-known Hellenistic-era figurine types, such as deities, heroes, theatrical forms, and sitting figures, showing rich polychrome surfaces. Non-destructive, spectroscopic, portable XRF and Raman devices were employed to analyze these colours. Among the pigments identified are realgar, yellow ochre, red ochre, copper-based blue, lead white, gypsum, magnetite, and madder.