David Saunders is an honorary research fellow at the British Museum, having been keeper of conservation and scientific researchthere for ten years, until 2015. He was previously in the Scientific Department at the National Gallery in London. He is a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and vice president of the International Institute of Conservation. In 2015-16, he was a guest scholar at the Getty Conservation Institute, conducting the research that underpins much of this book.