CT of African Masterpieces     •   Certificate of Merit Award   [Abstract]

The Africa-Museum, Tervuren, was founded in 1897 by King Leopold II to make the colonial Congo better known in Belgium. The king commissioned the purchase of ethnographic objects described at the time as curiosa. Those 180,000 curiosa are now believed to include some of the most valuable African pieces known to the art world.

CT appraisal gives unprecedented insight into the technical, functional and ritual aspects of 250 selected masterpieces. Used in conjunction with conventional CT-slices, 3D and 4D-CT pierce the mystery of long-hidden ritual treasures.

Following the RSNA 2004 Excellence In Design Award-winning education exhibit entitled “CT in Art Work Appraisal”, this year’s exhibit is groundbreaking in that it provides a fresh and interesting thematic context for appreciating artworks that were initially selected as examples of the superb quality and stylistic range of Central African cultures.

Marc Ghysels, Anne-Marie Bouttiaux, Emmanuel Agneessens, Jean Moreau, Donat Nicod, Thierry Puttemans, Jean-Hubert Vandresse & Jacques Mathieu

91st Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America • RSNA 2005 • Nov. 27 — Dec. 2, 2005 • Chicago, IL, USA

CT in Art Work Appraisal     •   Excellence in Design Award   [Abstract]

When a collector is interested in an art work, one of his primary concerns is to establish its authenticity. This is based on several subjective factors to which are progressively added, depending on the importance of the work, criteria based on a number of scientific studies: stylistic analysis, thermoluminescence or carbon 14 analysis, dendrochronological study, spectroscopic or microscopic analysis, etc.

Alongside these technical tests, which focus mainly on the visible parts of the work or on a few samples, CT has the advantage of describing the inner state of the object, examined this time as a whole, without damaging it in any way.

CT provides valuable information about the object’s background by: - revealing its contents, - showing how it was made, - clearing up doubts about its general condition, - generalizing the findings of one-off analyses, - revealing the nature and extent of restoration work, - supporting a conservation report, - detecting fakes.

Marc Ghysels, Emmanuel Agneessens, Jean Moreau, Donat Nicod, Thierry Puttemans, Jean-Hubert Vandresse & Jacques Mathieu

90th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America • RSNA 2004 • Nov. 28 — Dec. 3, 2004 • Chicago, IL, USA