Probing Art with CT Scans : A New Look at Two Masterpieces from Central Africa

by Anne-Marie Bouttiaux & Marc Ghysels

Arts & Cultures, 2008, p. 230-249

This brief review of a Yaka fetish and a Luba water pipe taken from the Ethnography Division of the Tervuren Museum gives a glimpse of the many possibilities opened up by the use of CT scanners to probe art works. This sophisticated, non-invasive method of investigation yields slices and three-dimensional images that reveal unexpected facts and answer a number of questions. It lays bare earlier repairs and restoration work and shows up extraneous elements concealed within objects made from materials of all kinds.