The analysis of the original polychromy of the Proconsul Gregory’s ciborium from Archaeological Museum Zadar

Sa？etak Those few traces of the original polychromy that remain on the medieval stone sculpture to the present day are very important for picturing its possible original appearance. Over the past century, most of the paint was lost when layers of plaster, soil and other sediments were improperly removed. When medieval sculptures with the relief interlaced-ribbon pattern were made, the final layer of paint was used to underline this motif. Therefore, when observing this artifact, we should keep in mind that we cannot see it in its original painted condition anymore. Although traces of the original Pre-Romanesque polychromy are indeed rarely found on the fragments of liturgical furnishings in the Eastern Adriatic, the analyses that were carried out did yield some crucial pigments that helped us reconstruct the supposed original appearance of Gregory’s ciborium from Zadar. During the research, the following methods were used to document the samples analyzed: photographing the traces of the original polychromy (micro and macro photographs), carrying out chemical analyses (FTIR and SEM/EDS) and uploading their results into a sample database, and computer reconstruction of the supposed original appearance