Radiography of a Baining Mask

After rehousing some 15 Sulka masks, we set our sights on the museum's collection of Baining masks.  But before we could break out the power tools and begin rehousing, we decided to X-ray one of the Baining masks in order to better understand its structure.

One of the complications that arises from X-raying sections and stitching them together is geometric distortion of the image.  The shape and size of the mask gets distorted at the edges of the X-radiograph as a result of the way the X-ray beam is emitted from the tube.  Think of the way hand puppet shadows look depending on the distance between the flashlight and your hand.

What made this digital image patchworking more precise and easier to put together were fiducials! (What a fun word, right?)  Regenstein Conservator J.P. Brown first came across fiducial “CT-Spots” during a recent CT scanning project in collaboration with Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn.  Fiducials are basically stickers that contain a high attenuating material which will appear white in the X-radiograph. These stickers were placed on the cheesecloth wrappings, and these areas were overlapped so that the fiducials appear near the edges of each X-radiograph section.

As you can see, the X-radiograph shows us the internal framework of the mask and provides information on how it was constructed.  Understanding the mask’s structure will help us develop storage mounts which adequately support and protect the masks for long term storage.