AIC's 43rd Annual Meeting

This paper will focus on the Conservation Resources for Architectural Interiors/Furniture and Training (CRAFT) program at the Palace Museum/Forbidden City in Beijing, China sponsored by the World Monument Fund and Tsinghua University. The paper will draw on the experience of the author as the Conservator in Residence, the CRAFT program staff and International lecturers that have been involved with the program since its inception in 2010. Included in the paper will be discussion on what are the evolving educational goals of the CRAFT program, how the program serves collection needs and what the profession can gain from the CRAFT initiative.

Nonpresenting co-authors: Antoine Wilmering, Susan Buck, Meca Baumeister, Christine Thomson, Liu Chang, Henry Ng 

Knowledge base culture history of the vernacular architecture monuments, represents an important tool that can act in the forming of a new cultural domain that will be transmitted to the future generation. In the past few years the concerns for the preservations of wooden architecture monuments has increased in intensity. Wooden Churches from Buzau presents regional features from three Romanian provinces, Transylvania, Moldova and the Romanian Country, which are connected by the conception unit, typological forms, constructive elements, motifs. The architecture description broadly, both the exterior and interior, makes the vision of the whole assembly to have a perspective on the painted surface, on which is carried a certain iconography plan. All these details of the style, technique, iconography are correlated and analyzed simultaneously to provide a general description of the wooden churches of Buzau and establish the conservation status. In the folk art, under the strong influence of the local tradition, is crystallized the aboriginal style, the popular one; processing and interpretation of tradition, innovation and influence are through a rigorous process of selection and adaptation, the resulting synthesis being the local spirit. Each achievement carries the mark of the anonymous craftsman who, based on their experience, innovates and enriches the repertoire of his art In the southern region of the Carpathian Mountains, in the territory of Buzău County, the art of wood work has been preserved through a vast series of historical religious buildings. These historical monuments, less popular in this region, are part of the invaluable religious heritage, counting 32 churches of which 3 monuments are of A class. The artistic variety of these wooden churches and the richness of surrounding landscapes, are altogether part of the true values of Romanian culture, and should be continuously preserved and promoted. A comparative analysis of the conservation status and deterioration forms, has been made possible through research of the official monuments charts, dating from the 1960s, in the possession of the National Heritage Institute, in the Archives department. Also, in situ investigations realized in the summer of 2013, helped to the completion of this study. All the information regarding the evolution of the deterioration forms, identified on a few of these churches, represent an important stack of data which can help restorers to establish the adequate conservation and restoration interventions. The care for these churches, extremely vulnerable through the constructive materials, should be of constant awareness to the local, regional and national authorities, responsible with their administration. Of great concern should also be the numerous inadequate preservation interventions, realized by the administrative staff of the monuments. For the support of these wooden churches, many of them abandoned, rehabilitation and conservation-restoration programs could be developed, in order to reveal the beauty of mural paintings and architecture of these religious ensembles, contributing to the salvation of the historical monuments.

At approximately 6:30 PM Wednesday night April 4, 2012, a drunk driver, who had stolen a 2003 Subaru Legacy from Cape Elizabeth earlier in the day, crashed into the historic Marrett House in Standish, Maine. The impact tore a hole through the side of the building and into the parlor. The 1789 Marrett House is one of thirty-six historic house museums owned and preserved by Historic New England and this accident dramatically damaged a significant and intact historic building and interior that had not been altered since 1858. The accident required immediate disaster response to seal the building exterior, stabilize the structure and protect the objects in the parlor. Beyond the initial response, the project took more than a year to complete. Over the following 12 months, Historic New England worked closely with the insurance companies, outside contractors and our own carpentry and conservation staff to plan and implement a conservative conservation and preservation project with the goals to retain as much historic fabric as possible and present the interior much as we did before the accident. For the duration of the project, the collection objects from the parlor were moved to our collections facility in Haverhill, Massachusetts for safekeeping and treatment. Objects remaining in the intact sections of the Marrett House also required security as well as protection from dust and vibration during the construction phase of the project. Architectural work involved structural repairs to the timber frame, stabilization and conservation of the interior wood paneling, and stabilization and conservation of the plaster and lath with its wall paper still attached. This paper will be presented in two parts to discuss the project from the perspective and actions of both building and collections preservation beginning with the disaster response to the completion of the project and reinstallation of the parlor and it's furnishings from 1858.

St. Paul’s Chapel in lower Manhattan was constructed in c.1766 and is one of the oldest surviving religious structures from the colonial era in New York City. The building has always been owned by Trinity Wall Street, an Episcopal parish that has been a part of New York City since 1697, and all work on the building is controlled by the Mission Properties division of the parish. The building has recently undergone several separate campaigns of restoration on portions of the exterior. The 2014 restoration included the primary, east elevation. A slightly larger than life-sized painted wood sculpture of St. Paul stands in a niche in the tympanum of the east portico. Through a combination of archival research and physical examination, it was determined that the sculpture was created and installed in c.1790, making it one of the earliest surviving American sculptures, and thus an enormously important historic and artistic artifact. This paper will focus on issues related to the conditions assessment and planned treatment of the sculpture. Trinity Wall Street was interested in keeping the sculpture in its historic location. Visual observation suggested that the finishes and the wood substrate of the sculpture were in extremely poor condition. Archival research indicated that an extensive treatment campaign in c.1930 had resulted in the removal of the original finish and application of a different, still extant finish. This treatment was of particular interest because it occurred at the same time as a significant alteration campaign on the building’s east façade, which resulted in a change in color scheme of exterior architectural elements, and because the decision was made during the 2014 restoration work to repaint exterior architectural elements to match their c.1930 colors. Given the significance of the sculpture and its seemingly poor condition and complex treatment history, it was critical to estimate the extent of intervention that would be needed to keep the sculpture in an uncontrolled and unprotected exterior environment. An investigation was conducted in order to develop viable options for treatment. The investigation included characterization of the existing finish and digital radiography to assess the condition of the wood. This paper will first describe the analytical techniques used and the reasons for their selection. Because of time constraints and logistical issues related to removing the figure from the building, the investigation was conducted in situ. The paper will then focus on issues related to development of treatment and exhibition options. Decisions involved important topics in preservation philosophy, including the concepts of whether to retain existing coatings or not; what date to interpret to for restoration if the piece was to be restored rather than preserved with its overpaints; whether the target date for the finish color of the sculpture needed to be the same as the date selected for painted exterior architectural elements; and whether to keep the work in its original location rather than providing more protection by relocating this important artifact of American history inside.

In 2012 the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco undertook an ambitious project to restore its 18th Century French period room – the Salon Doré from the Hôtel de la Trémoille, designed by the architect Pierre-Auguste Delapoize (? - 1799). The Salon was installed in the de la Trémoille family mansion in Paris in 1781 and served as the salon de compagnie, or a formal room for receiving guests.  Changing hands several times, crossing the ocean and eventually the continent, it was donated to the museum in 1959 by the Richard Rheem family.

The ultimate objective of this multifaceted undertaking was to return the Salon back to its intended character, that is - to recreate, as closely as possible, the environment and the atmosphere of its original installation. This included changing the floor plan, installing an 18th Century parquet floor, replacing wall vitrines with French-doors, creating a new coved ceiling, installing ambient lighting, as well as furnishing the room with appropriate furniture arranged as it would have been at the time. A large part of the project was dedicated to the conservation of the exquisitely carved and gilded paneling, or boiserie, which will be the focus of this paper.  The boiserie was dismantled and moved to the adjacent gallery, where a conservation studio was set-up with a viewing window for the public. There, a group of up to twelve conservators, gilders, and technicians worked over a period of fourteen months to return the boiserie to its intended glory.

The paper will briefly outline the history of the room, and then discuss in more detail the scope of the boiserie conservation, which included cleaning, consolidation, and loss compensation of badly deteriorated water-gilded surfaces; loss compensation of carved elements; structural repairs of the paneling; complete re-gilding of select areas; and cleaning and stabilization of painted areas. Both traditional and non-traditional materials and treatment approaches were used.

The paper will also address the challenges encountered while working on this project.

Since the 1952 isolation of plumbagin, a bioactive 1, 4-naphthoquinone in Diospyros hebecarpa , dozens of component chemicals and bioactive compounds have been identified and studied in the genus Diospyros . Many of these extractives are now known to be effective fungicides, termiticides, antiseptics, and free-radical reducing compounds. The genus Diospyros (syn. Persimmon, ebony) is widely distributed in most tropical areas of both hemispheres with over 300 species, and a long cultural and agricultural history on several continents .

The research presented will discuss the potential for an environmentally-friendly wood preservative that is effective against multiple agents, derived from the astringent persimmon fruit of Diospyros kaki . A review of current literature will cover both known traditional use as a preservative, patented experimental use, and known information on chemical components and derivatives of Diospyros . Laboratory testing of raw astringent persimmon juice and kakishibu—fermented astringent persimmon juice— are in compar ison to an uncoated control and a control coated with copper naphthenate comparable on seasoned, weathered, and historic wood s ubstrate. The samples are to be evaluated for effectiveness in short term exterior weathering, chroma change with age, soil block cultures for fungal testing, and leaching tests. While the fundamentals of these tests are defined by ASTM and AWPA standards for testing wood preservatives, their applicability to use with historic material requires the standards to be modified to fit application method.

The furniture of David Roentgen is considered to be among the most exceptional produced in Eighteenth-century Europe. His pictorial marquetry images, often featuring classical themes and architecture, in particular are regarded as the very best. These scenes have been referred to as “painting in wood” since the time they were made, an expression that reflects their exquisite detail and striking realism. The sole piece of marquetry furniture by the Roentgen shop in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art is a diminutive oval writing table with a scene of Aeneas fleeing the burning of Troy on its top. When this piece came into the collection in 1986 it was in need of a significant amount of conservation primarily to address losses in the marquetry image. Research into the treatment and Roentgen’s methods had begun very early, but it was the request for loan to the exhibition “Extravagant Inventions: The Princely Furniture of the Roentgens” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York last year that ultimately provided the opportunity to move forward and address the table’s issues. It was necessary to take an in depth look at the marquetry techniques employed to create the table top in order to compensate for more than ninety square centimeters of loss within the marquetry image. An examination of the physical evidence through x-ray and low power magnification alluded to a technique that appears to be much more freehand than previously thought. New marquetry had to be created to fill the loss. The method used to produce the fill was based on the evidence derived from the veneered table top and the area of exposed substrate. The exercise of creating a portion of the marquetry image provided a deeper understanding of how the tools and materials react, and possibly new insights into how the Roentgen shop approached the work. The opportunity was also taken to characterize the dye materials used by the Roentgen shop to create their striking scenes. Initially a non-invasive UV/Vis Spectrometry Analysis was performed by Dr. Heinrich Piening of the Bavarian National Museum. The results of this analysis contributes the growing body of knowledge of Roentgen’s wood dying processes, and made it possible digitally reconstruct the vividly colored image in order to give the public a sense of what this table would have looked like new. In 1779 Claude Pahin de La Blancherie, a prominent figure in the Parisian art world, described Roentgen’s his marquetry as “of a type completely different from that in use until now”1. The information gleaned from this treatment reinforces the assertion that his approach was completely different. It also begs the question; does the description “painting in wood” just apply to the impression of the finished product or to the process as well? 1 Remington, Preston. 1941. An XVIII Century German Desk Showing Chinese Influence. Bulletin of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Vol. XXXVI No.6. New York. June 1941, pg. 132,133

In the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art since 1986 is a pair of commodes (chest-of-drawers) in premier- and contre-partie Boulle marquetry with rounded cylindrical ends and three drawers in its main carcass. Given the importance of André-Charles Boulle (1642-1732) as one of the major ébénistes working in the late seventeenth-early-eighteenth centuries—he was named King’s Cabinetmaker, Chaser, Gilder, and Engraver in 1672—the two commodes and their history have long been a source of interest. Based on visual observation, it has been suggested that the commodes in Philadelphia underwent major changes and alterations, although the dates of these restorations were unknown. This paper presents the comprehensive examination beginning in 2013 that was undertaken to clarify questions regarding the date, history, and condition of the commodes. Commodes that correspond to the Museum’s model, described as ‘in two cylindrical sections,’ are mentioned for the first time in an inventory of Boulle’s property taken in 1715 as part of an act of renunciation drawn up for the benefit of his sons. The pair of commodes included in the inventory, which are described as having two drawers, were said to have been commissioned by François de la Croix. Contemporary designs that relate to the commodes with rounded ends include two undated chalk drawings attributed to Boulle which are now in the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (ca.1690) and the Hermitage Museum in Saint-Petersburg (ca. 1725), and a plate in Nouveaux Deisseins de meubles et ouvrages de bronze et de marqueterie inventés et gravés par André Charles Boulle (c. 1725-30). To date, the only eighteenth-century mention of commodes of this description aside from that in the Boulle inventory is a pair sold at auction in Paris on March 27, 1787 to the dealer Jean-Baptiste Lebrun. This is likely the same pair that in the nineteenth century was in the collection of Alexander Hamilton Douglas, 10th Duke of Hamilton, and which possibly were purchased for Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild through the agent C. Mellier and Co. in 1882. Of particular interest to the comparative study of the Museum’s commodes was the stunning similarity of a pair of commodes in premiere-partie at the Wallace Collection in London, which are believed to have been made in the nineteenth century. Together with art historical research, an in-depth technical study and analysis of the carcass, marquetry, and ormolu mounts was carried out. A coherent picture of the commodes condition as well as evidence of later alterations and treatments was drawn up and compared with pieces of clear attribution. This interdisciplinary research allowed the dating of these commodes within the first half of the 18th century.

As part of a large refurnishing plan at the Josiah Quincy house in Quincy, MA, Four chairs and a settee were selected from Historic New England's permanent collection to be installed in the house. The new Quincy furnishing plan was based on detailed documentary photos taken in the 1870's by Eliza Quincy, granddaughter of Revolutionary War hero Josiah Quincy about whom the house was originally interpreted. The images included a set of nearly identical bamboo and rattan furniture that had disappeared from the family collections long ago. After America entered the China Trade, bamboo and rattan garden furniture became popular in the eastern United States. The chairs in this treatment were made in China around 1800 and were given to Historic New England in 1940. The structural elements of the chairs area composed of several lengths of bent bamboo pinned together. The backs and sides of the chairs consist of "windows” of narrower bamboo filled with decorative rattan elements. The four chairs were structurally sound but many of the "windows” were missing several, if not all of their decorative, bent rattan elements. Several decorative bamboo elements were also missing. In addition, the surfaces of the chairs were quite dirty and weathered, and an original coating was present but fragile, disfigured and deteriorated. Treatment involved replacement of large areas of the decoratively shaped rattan, surface cleaning and protection of the original coating.

In 1997 the Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington Delaware USA acquired two similar, if not matching, chairs that are documented to the group of Pre-Raphaelite artists, William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Rossetti who commissioned them for their residence in Red Lion Court. The design is attributed to Morris and the painted decoration to Rossetti. http://articles.philly.com/1998-01-23/living/25747926_1_chairs-small-museum-regional-museum Not long after this acquisition and attendant publications and symposia highlighted them, a third, undocumented chair surfaced in Bruxelles via a circuitous route, which included a disappearing owner who abandoned the chair with a restorer. A painted scene on the back panel, similar in conception to Rossetti’s paintings on the DAM chairs was quickly determined to be a modern enhancement, but after it was removed by a Belgian conservator, what remained was painted decoration on the legs, of much older execution, similar to the design on one of the DAM chairs. The Third Chair is of the same unique and idiosyncratic design and construction as the other two, but also diverges in significant ways, such as materials and construction decisions that make it an intriguing puzzle to the historian. Easily dismissed as a “fake” (like the paint on the back panel), more considered analysis forces a reconsideration of this dismissal. In fact, an argument can reasonably be made that it may actually precede the other two and was at least fundamentally tied to them in the period. This presentation offers points of analysis, deduction and conclusions and invites participation from attendees to affirm or reject the overall conclusion that the three chairs are closely related.

This talk will give an overview of the conservation treatment and extensive technical examination of the MFA’s fourteenth century minbar doorway which was recently completed and was undertaken in the public “Conservation in Action” gallery to allow museum visitors to follow the various stages of the conservation process over the course of this six-month project. It was probably constructed out of fragments of Mamluk (1250–1517) woodwork in Cairo during the 1860s or 1870s. It arrived in the US in 1876 for the first US World’s Fair in Philadelphia, where it was exhibited in the Egyptian Section. Following the fair, it was acquired by the MFA in 1877. However in the latter part of the twentieth century, the minbar seems to have been placed in storage, possibly due to condition problems. To allow its safe travel for an upcoming loan, it required extensive conservation to stabilize its overall structure and the many applied elements and inset ebony and ivory decorations. Major structural stabilization of the large frame of the doorway, constructed using mortise and tenon joinery, as well as the large, heavy, and precariously attached cornice at the top was required. Other major stabilization was required on the mashrabiyya (wood lattice) panels, inset into the frame beneath the cornice and due to their instability, also removed during their stabilization. These delicate turned and jointed wooden elements, which form an intricate geometrical background for applied strips of ebony with inset ivory stringing, were by far the most fragile and unstable elements on the entire minbar. Following the major structural treatment there was extensive work required to stabilize inlayed surface decoration and applies ivory elements. In parallel to the conservation treatment, we had a unique opportunity to study the technical and material aspects of the minbar. This provided crucial information for the ongoing curatorial study of the origins and history of the object. We knew that the central panel within the doorway had been assembled from many individual decorative carved ivory elements to form a single panel. Originally this space would have housed two doors but was modified to hold a single panel prior to its display at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition. To help determine if all of the different components of the minbar were of the same date and constructed from similar materials, we undertook extensive analysis of all of the materials in the minbar, including wood identification and analysis of colored fill materials used on the ivory relief decoration. The Minbar was also X-rayed to determine its overall construction and possible alterations and wood samples from different parts of the minbar were sent to a lab specializing in the dating of organic samples using C-14 dating. Although the conservation treatment is complete, research into the minbar continues with study of comparable objects in American and European collections to allow us to increase our understanding of this fabulous example of Mamluk woodwork.

This paper will describe a recent multidisciplinary project to investigate and preserve beautifully decorated wood funerary artifacts at the site of Abydos, Egypt. The project focused on artifacts from the Abydos Middle Cemetery (AMC), a part of the site that contains monumental tombs of elite officials from the mid-third millennium BCE. Dry desert conditions like those found in Egypt often result in excellent preservation of organic materials like wood, but artifacts from the Middle Cemetery have suffered both insect and fungal attack. Most are so fragile that they can barely be touched without crumbling, yet they often retain their three dimensional shape, an outer shell of gesso and pigment, and decorative elements such as textiles and metal and stone inlays. With funding from the American Research Center in Egypt and the United States Agency for International Development, an interdisciplinary research team led by conservators at the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology investigated the artifacts’ original materials; the factors involved in their deterioration; and developed best practices for their excavation, conservation, and restoration. The majority of the project activities were conducted onsite during the 2013 AMC excavation season. Conservators on the team field-tested a variety of excavation methods to improve recovery outcomes for highly-deteriorated wood. They also developed innovative consolidation and compensation approaches for treating artifacts post-excavation. Because Egypt rarely allows samples to leave the country, all technical study by the team’s scientists was also conducted onsite. This included identification of the wood species, investigation of the deterioration mechanisms, and characterization of the remaining substrate, which now includes frass and sand along with friable wood. Pigments, binders, and other materials were identified with portable X-ray fluorescence, portable (bench-top) Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and micro-chemical tests. This talk will present the team’s findings as well as describe ongoing work with wood artifacts at the site. It will also discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by intensive, onsite technical studies in remote locations.

The coffin of the “unknown” is an example of the anthropoid (human-shaped) type used in the late Third Intermediate period, this coffin was found in the basement of the Egyptian Museum of Cairo in two pieces without any kind of information regarding the province. Basically, one half of the coffin is considered to be well preserved comparing with the other half that have a severe damage. Although only a limited range of colors, green, black, red and white - are used on this coffin, it is done with very good effect. The typology of the constitutional material is: wood , textile, preparation layer” gesso” and the pigment. The damage varies between partial and total loss in the two pieces. The type of wood will be determined later after investigation but it’s condition is apparently weak as it had a biological damage. There is areas of losses, detachment of fragment, disjoints, alteration, abrasion, cracks and losing is the structural cohesion especially in the second half. The two halves were preserved in an oxygen-free case for 21 days, it’s currently under investigations and analysis to know the type of the wood, the manufacture technology to determine if the two halves belong together or not. Non-invasive imaging analysis will occur to explore more about the Egyptian Green and other pigments. For the 3D documentation, photogrametry will be applied to help in matching the two halves through the edges. An environmental monitoring is currently ongoing to compare the environmental conditions in the museum basement and in the conservation lab using dataloggers for a course of one month. An intensive conservation treatment will be implemented later especially for the second half to consolidate the fragile parts and rejoin the parts together. This paper will discover the difference between the theory and implementation in the conservation approach and highlight the challenges to work with very low-coast and limited tools to perform a good case. This object is not registered yet or published before, It will be very beneficial for Egyptologists to discover more about the ancient language and figures characteristics as a good model to study after the conservation will be finished.

The Sacred Cross of Motupe is located in the department of Lambayeque, Peru. It has been worshiped since l868, when it was found inside a natural cave, in the Chalpon Mountain, Motupe. It was venerated by thousands of believers every day and every year, coming from different parts of the country. The cross measures: horizontally 1.50 m., vertically 2.26 and diameter 0.26 cm. A century ago, it was totally covered with silver and gold rings, donated by its worshippers. Unfortunately, the Cross was stolen on July 5th, 2011. The population tried to find it around the mountains and everywhere, and after two days, it was found on the ground and its gold and silver ornaments had disappeared. What is worst, it had been cut with a hand saw in five sections, damaging its most critical parts and stability. The cross is made from trunks of guayacán wood, in its natural state and its branches are like those of a common tree, with a simple structure. History tells that it was found in the 19th century by a hermit who put together both branches to make the Cross. From that date its structure had been maintained untouched, until the date it disappeared and was found cut in five pieces. These cuts gave us the opportunity to observe the internal structure. The wood is preserved and in good conditions. We think the perfumes spilled over the cross by its believers, due to the alcohol contents might have avoided the presence of xylophages. A multidisciplinary team was in charge of its restoration. Its purpose was to join the sectioned parts and recover its original shape. Its original dimensions were maintained, as well as its asymmetric shape and patina acquired with time. Only guayacán wood was used, similar to the original cross in color, dryness and consistency. During the restoration no metal, such as nails or screws, was used to assemble it; only pieces of guayacán wood adhered with Milano glue, were introduced to fill gaps. Polyvinyl acetate was used to fix the parts and recover its capacity, structure and strength. For the reintegration pigments were used and its surface was protected with a layer of Paraloid B72 to 3%. All the nation and the community were on the alert waiting for the treatment results. The cross has spiritual strength all over the Nation. On August 5th. 2011 the Cross was exhibited completely restored, during a ceremony lead by the highest hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Peru and with the attendance of about 20,000 people. Apart from the spiritual aspect of the Cross of Motupe, its restoration has returned to the region the economical life connected to the tourist trade: hotels, transportation, restaurants, artisans.