Archaeometric Study of a Gilded Wooden Statue from the Ottoman Period Mohamed Moustafa 1 *, Ibrahim El Rifai 2 , Mohamed S.A. Khedr 3 , Naglaa Mahmoud 3 1 Wood lab, Grand Egyptian Museum, Giza, Egypt. 2 Digital Heritage Research Specialist, CULTNAT, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt. 3 Conservation Center, National Museum of Egyptian Civilization, Ministry of Antiquities, Egypt Abstract: This study aims to shed light on materials, decorating techniques, and previous conservation interventions used on a decorated wooden statue of a servant African woman dating back to the period of Mohamed Ali and his family. The studied object is made of gilded wood with a black face and multi colors on the gilded layer as a rare technique. Besides, it is designed to rotate 360 degrees. A combination of multispectral imaging technique (MSI), optical microscope (OM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier attenuated transform reflected (FTIR-ATR), and environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) supported with EDAX (ESEM-EDAX provides clear results regarding the botanical species of wood and the chemical composition of the originally painted layers and those added during the previous treatment interventions. Identification of wooden species revealed the presence of pines wood (Pinus spp.). Whereas, the analyses provided more information concerning the original materials such as vermilion in the reddish areas and cadmium yellow as previous interventions in a retouching area on the decorated body. Keywords: African woman; Pines wood; ESEM-EDAX; Multispectral imaging; Vermillion; Cadmium yellow Introduction Materials analysis has long been recognized as an essential component of archaeological research. It yields critical compositional information that may lead to object characterization, revealing ingredients and technologies used by craftsmen [1]. The statue studied here of a servant African woman, which was stolen from one of the Ottoman palaces, and found before an attempt to smuggle out of Egypt. It likely dates back to the period of Mohamed Ali and his family. The statue mainly consists of two pieces. The body has a black face and is decorated with multiple colors on the clothes and base, which was designed to rotate the body of the statue 360 degrees. The main component is wood covered with a prepared ground layer, then a gilded layer; multiple colors were applied to the gilded layer. The statue is about 200 cm in length and 65 cm in width (Figures1a, b). This study aims to combine environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) supported by EDAX (ESEM-EDAX), and multispectral imaging (MSI) to identify the originally painted layers and previous conservation interventions used in decorated areas. Besides, using x-ray diffraction (XRD), and FTIR– attenuated total reflection to identify the ground layer, binding media, and varnish covering the whole statue. Moreover, the identification of wooden species is included in this study. *Corresponding author: mohamed.moustafa223@yahoo.com