Use silhouette, break, posture, surface, support and source in one restrained pass.
Torso of a standing-striding figure of Akhenaten, 1351-1334 BC, 18th century, limestone, ÄM 15081, in the Egyptian Museum of Berlin (01).jpg · image credit01
Trace the silhouette
Map shoulders, waist, hips and every visible cut edge.
02
Name the break
Describe texture and location without assigning a date to the fracture.
03
Test posture
Compare frontal and side views for lean, twist and weight.
04
Read the surface
Record garment, ribs, tool marks, paint and losses.
05
Check the mount
Note plinth, back support and the side the case hides.
06
Copy the label
Keep identity, attribution and period wording exact.
07
Leave the face absent
Write what a complete reconstruction would add, then do not add it.
08
Compare the stone
Record grain, polish and the colour difference between carved surface and fracture.
09
Write three lines
Separate posture, break description and sourced identity.
AFTER THE ROUTE
Let absence carry evidence
The torso route succeeds when the missing head stays visible in the note. Record the surviving silhouette, break texture, posture and support before copying the museum identity. A reconstruction can clarify a style, but it cannot prove that the missing face looked one particular way. Add dimensions, image credit and access date, then state which surface the display prevented you from checking. The useful output is a precise fragment with a sourced name and an honest limit. Keep a broad context image beside any close crop so the mount and object scale remain visible. Add the current gallery angle and the exact edge blocked by the case. If a catalogue reconstruction supplies a head or lower body, label it as a comparison and state what evidence links it to the fragment. The route should end with an incomplete figure, not a complete portrait borrowed from elsewhere. Add one precise question for a conservation or excavation source: whether the edge was cut, whether pigment survives or how the modern support attaches. A good next question keeps the missing parts open while directing later research to evidence that can actually resolve the break. Preserve the source date and any cautious attribution language when the museum updates the record.
ROUTE LIMIT
Keep the quick read sourceable.
A route records one viewing condition. It is not an official gallery map, object guarantee, conservation assessment or photography permission.
