Study of the degradation of 18th century alabaster sculptures through accelerated aging on test samples

Two alabaster sculptures dating from the late 18th century show an unknown superficial degradation characterised by striated erosion, whose cause seemed to be water condensation or, alternatively, rain water. To test these two hypotheses, accelerated aging tests were performed on alabaster samples, and the morphology of the degradation layer and its composition were characterised. The results suggest that the condensation conditions were the main cause of the alteration.