The National Museum of Rome has an important collection of Mithraic sculptures found in the years 1973–1975 during the archaeological excavation under the early Christian basilica of Santo Stefano Rotondo on the Caelian hill in Rome. The sculptures excavated from this Mithraeum show many traces of gilding and polychromy, whose best example is the great bas-relief with Mithras slaying the bull discussed in this work. The analysis was conducted during a scientific campaign in the museum with portable instrumentation of the Institute for Conservation and Valorisation of Cultural Heritage, ICVBC mobile laboratory following a completely non-invasive approach. By means of a protocol based on the use of multispectral imaging, microscopy, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and fiber optic reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), this study allowed to better understand the technique used and to make comparisons with other representations of Mithras slaying the bull.

Excavations in the Roman villa of Aiano yielded twenty glass beads, a pendant, and a glass-recycling furnace, originally interpreted as a bead workshop. This article re-assesses the evidence of bead making in light of new data obtained thanks to recent progress in archaeological glass studies. A detailed study of the typology, technology, and chemical composition of the beads clearly excludes local production. Instead, two different forming techniques, four different base glasses (Roman, HIMT, Foy 2.1 and Foy 2.1/HIMT), and numerous colouring and opacifying materials point to a well-established and extensive network of the Roman bead trade, in which Aiano evidently participated. The majority of the beads can be related to the monumentalization of the villa in the fourth to fifth century ad and represent a sample of the ornaments worn by its inhabitants.

This study is concerned with recent analyses of seven marble statues from the imperial cycle of the Augusteum of Rusellae, in the south of Tuscany, Italy. The sculptures represent the deified couple Augustus and Livia, Livilla, Claudius, an anonymous young girl and a headless cuirassed emperor (maybe Domitian). In addition, a fragment of a leg, from another cuirassed statue, was also considered. All of them are preserved in the city of Grosseto, in the Maremma Archaeology and Art Museum. Still preserved traces of polychromy and gilding were investigated both in situ, using non-invasive portable techniques, and in laboratory, taking two micro-samples. The non-invasive approach was based on multi-band imaging techniques (Vis, UVL and VIL) integrated with analyses (XRF, reflectance spectroscopy). A portable optical microscopy was also used for documenting the analysed areas. Two micro-samples from the gilding decoration of the headless cuirassed statue were also analysed using EDS-SEM. Comparing the results from the analytical survey, important information about the use of ochres and Egyptian blue on the cuirassed headless Emperor statue has been highlighted with the presence of gilding in the cuirasses and in the mantle, enriching the knowledge of this important imperial cycle, in addition to contributing to the archaeological point of view.

The so-called "monochromes" on marble are twelve paintings on marble slabs from the Roman age, mostly coming from Herculaneum, and are now preserved at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and at the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna. These paintings were included in several publications. Despite that, they continued to raise many questions and there was a lack of studies focusing entirely on them. Furthermore, it had barely been clarified that, despite the name "monochromes", these works are completely polychrome. By combining the archaeological data and the information obtained from the non-invasive archaeometrical analysis, it was possible to achieve brand new results, which allowed for a better understanding of some aspects of these works, such as their iconography, the used pigments used and the clients’ choices.

Dal 2005, una missione belga-italiana dell’Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) lavora allo scavo di una monumentale villa tardoantica sorta in localita Aiano, sul territorio del comune di San Gimignano (Siena, Italia). Il complesso, fondato tra la fine del iii e l’inizio del iv secolo d.C., tra la fine del iv e l’inizio del v secolo d.C. fu impreziosito da un’ambulatio polylobata (un corridoio curvilineo) circoscritto ad una sala esalobata. Questo ambiente subi diverse fasi costruttive che lo portarono all’attuale planimetria triabsidata. La villa fu abbandonata alla fine del v secolo d.C. e, successivamente, nei suoi ambienti dismessi furono insediate diverse officine pirotecnologiche che, con sistematica operativita, riciclarono le decorazioni ed anche parte del materiale edilizio della villa tardoantica. Il sito fu poi definitivamente abbandonato alla meta del vii secolo d.C. Dalla campagna di scavo 2019 e stato parzialmente esplorato un nuovo settore del complesso, posizionato a Nord-Est dell’ambulatio polylobata. In quest’area sono stati messi in luce diversi dolia in situ i cui riempimenti archeologici non hanno restituito solo terra, ma anche materiali ceramici utili quali terminus post quem per la defunzionalizzazione di tali contenitori al vi secolo d.C. Questo contributo presenta dati inediti sulla presenza di dolia (sia in situ che frammentari) presso la villa tardo-romana di Aiano, tra tarda Antichita e alto Medioevo. Per lo stesso tramite si analizzera anche il grande ambiente a pilastri ove i dolia erano alloggiati al fine di esaminarne le funzioni.

The study of ancient sculptural polychromy increasingly relies on non-invasive analytical approaches capable of identifying pigments and reconstructing original decorative schemes while preserving the integrity of archaeological objects. This paper presents the investigation of the polychromy, extraordinarily preserved, on two Roman marble statues discovered in the forum of Formia (southern Latium) and currently housed in the National Archaeological Museum of Formia: a togate statue (inv. 147614) and a headless draped female figure (inv. 147680). Both sculptures retain exceptionally well-preserved traces of pigments, offering a rare opportunity to investigate materials and painting techniques applied to Roman marble statuary. The analytical protocol combined multiband imaging (Visible-Induced Luminescence and Ultraviolet Luminescence), optical microscopy, Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscopy (FORS), portable X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (Raman-SERS) applied to two micro-samples. The analyses allowed the identification of Egyptian blue, iron-based pigments, gilding, and an organic red lake on the palettes used for the statues. Raman-SERS measurements provided additional information on the composition of the organic lake detected on the female statue’s himation, supporting its attribution to a natural vegetal-derived dye, as madder lake. The results highlight the success of integrated non-destructive methodologies for the study of Roman sculptural polychromy and contribute to the reconstruction of complex decorative schemes on marble statuary.