
Adhesives and consolidants used in the conservation of paintings (e.g. for lining, the laying down of paint flakes, the application of temporary facings etc, can have very varying properties at the time they are applied. Over time, and under differing conditions, some materials can present concerns for the conservator including brittleness, yellowing and discolouration and difficulty in removal. The papers in this volume, presented at an ICON paintings group conference at the National Portrai... more...
Terrifying beasts, imaginary landscapes, portraits and ornaments - All Manner of Murals celebrates the many ways we have decorated our day-to-day lives with wall paintings. Murals by their very nature must remain in and on the structures for which they were designed, inextricably at one with their surroundings, and so offer glimpses of vanished ways of living. Whether painted in a humble cottage or a grand palace, they illustrate the march not only of history, but of our view of ourselves... more...
This volume aims to present the arguments concerning the trade in antiquities from all sides, airing the conflicts which exist between archaeologists, conservators, dealers and collectors. It also provides information on many of the legal aspects involved. Reviews The major achievement of this book for the conservation world is that it calls attention to the responsibilities of the conservator and the consequences he or she may face when treating artefacts and antiquities of unknown o... more...
Bibliophiles in Europe at the end of the nineteenth century began to take a serious interest in the manuscripts of the Middle East and the paper on which they were written. Perhaps the most important of these men were C.-M. Briquet working in Geneva, and J. Wiesner and J. von Karabacek working in Vienna. All three were concerned with the burning topic of the moment: Was oriental paper made of cotton? Within the space of two years these three writers published seminal articles for the European st... more...
Archaeologists now face a myriad of digital ways of engaging with the public – social media, online TV channels, games, etc. It is critical that this potential and its limitations are closely assessed and utilised to make archaeology a genuinely public activity. Archaeology and Digital Communication examines how archaeology engages the public in the rapidly changing world of communication. This volume proposes digital strategies of public engagement that will be of interest to archae... more...
Architectural paint research is a field that has grown and expanded beyond painted finishes into the wider realm of architectural finishes. As research continues in the field, periodic paint research conferences help disseminate this information and allow the international community interested in this field to discuss their findings and research. The 2008 International Paint Research Conference in New York City brought together researchers, conservators, historians, curators, and architects fro... more...
Much was written in mediaeval times concerning the preparation and use of artists' materials, and we are fortunate that many of these manuscripts survive. They vary from lengthy treatises to a few lines scribbled in a margin, and from the accurate and practical to the purely literary. These sources have been used for many years by art historians, practising artists, conservators and restorers as guides to the techniques of medieval artists and artisans. This book explores the history and inte... more...
Recipe books, treatises and manuals on artists' materials, tools and methods are of fundamental importance for an understanding of how art objects were made. Historically accurate reconstructions on the basis of these sources provide insight into the original appearance of an object, as well as workshop practices, and provide models for understanding material degradation. The interpretation of artists' intent rests on this kind of basic knowledge. It could be said that the three pillars of th... more...
Mounting and housing of works of art on paper have always had an important influence on both the survival and the appreciation of the work. Many dangers of a physical, biological and chemical nature await unprotected works of art on paper and specialist mounting provides the primary way of safeguarding them. Also, since the way in which works are presented to the public affects their perception of them, mounting of works of art can contribute significantly to the success or failure of an exhibit... more...
The study of art technology has gained importance in recent decades as a relevant source of information, not only for determining the material history of an art object, but also for contributing to cultural aspects concerning its creation and use: aesthetic, economic, social, religious, etc. Often the results of such investigations are carried out within a narrow discipline and are only made available within it. The success or failure of multidisciplinary approaches depends on the capacity to sh... more...
To identify exactly what constitutes an artwork's 'authentic' state can be problematic and challenging; maintaining or displaying it as such even more so. 'Authenticity' is one of the most influential factors that determine a course of action for a work of art in need of conservation. It is also one of the most contested, and currently subject to critical revision, reinvestment, and redirection. The papers presented in this volume focus on a series of conservation 'flashpoints' - painted work... more...
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, although artists' colourmen sold oil paint ready-prepared in bladders, artists were still accustomed to purchasing pigments, oils, and other components for their paint separately, combining them according to published information, experiment, personal preference or hearsay. By the close of the century, however, artists' colourmen were providing tube paints for export worldwide and artists, now dependent on the colourmen, were calling for product labell... more...
The overall theme of this volume is the artistic process as manifested in the artwork itself and as documented in visual and written sources. While many of the papers look at the work of 19th and early 20th century painters, other topics include Baroque decoration, the controversy about paints in Germany in the early 20th century, and non-traditional oils in artists’ oil paints. The many editions of Theophilus' Schedula diversarum arcium and Alessio Piemontese's Secreti are liste... more...
Between the late sixteenth century and early nineteenth centuries the artist's world underwent great and significant change; by the end of this period the transition from mediaeval to modern colours was well under way. R.D. Harley's book applies itself to a detailed and comprehensive examination of the primary documentary sources of this crucial period, providing an invaluable complement to the work of analytical scientists concerned with the identification of pigments. In the opening three c... more...
This is the first volume in the series Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of their History and Characteristics published by National Gallery of Art in association with Archetype Publications Ltd. The first three volumes were reprinted in 2012 so the full set is available for the first time: 9781904982746 Artists' Pigments Volume 1 Robert Feller (ed.) 9781904982753 Artists' Pigments Volume 2 Ashok Roy (ed.) 9781904982760 Artists' Pigments Volume 3 Elisabeth West Fitzhugh (ed.) 9781904982234... more...
This is the second volume in the series Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of their History and Characteristics published by National Gallery of Art in association with Archetype Publications Ltd. The first three volumes are to be reprinted in 2012 so the full set will be available for the first time: 9781904982746 Artists' Pigments Volume 1 Robert Feller (ed.) 9781904982753 Artists' Pigments Volume 2 Ashok Roy (ed.) 9781904982760 Artists' Pigments Volume 3 Elisabeth West Fitzhugh (ed.) 97... more...
This is the third volume in the series Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of their History and Characteristics published by National Gallery of Art in association with Archetype Publications Ltd. The first three volumes were reprinted in 2012 so the full set is available for the first time: 9781904982746 Artists' Pigments Volume 1 Robert Feller (ed.) 9781904982753 Artists' Pigments Volume 2 Ashok Roy (ed.) 9781904982760 Artists' Pigments Volume 3 Elisabeth West Fitzhugh (ed.) 9781904982234... more...
This is the fourth volume in the series Artists' Pigments: A Handbook of their History and Characteristics published by National Gallery of Art in association with Archetype Publications Ltd. The first three volumes were reprinted in 2012 so the full set is available for the first time: 9781904982746 Artists' Pigments Volume 1 Robert Feller (ed.) 9781904982753 Artists' Pigments Volume 2 Ashok Roy (ed.) 9781904982760 Artists' Pigments Volume 3 Elisabeth West Fitzhugh (ed.) 978190498223... more...
Barkcloth or 'tapa' has a history that spans centuries, countries and a multitude of uses: from ceremonial dress in Papua New Guinea and Tahiti to a low-status substitute for woven cloth in Ghana. Its production has been recorded widely from Pacific and central America, Africa, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, Oceania and New Zealand. The chapters of Barkcloth cover the preparation, decoration, and conservation of tapa with particular reference to the material's deterioration and the ... more...
Big pictures offer challenges far greater than an enlarged surface area and outsize dimensions, and this publication documents situations faced by both conservators and curators when working with paintings ranging in scale from unusually large portrait miniatures to panoramas. Solutions for the problems presented by pictures too large for lorries, unable to fit through windows and doors, and beyond the dimensions of any lining table are described in detail, discussing work in a range of forma... more...
In the natural world, blue rocks from which objects can be fashioned are rare - a few marbles, lapis-lazuli and related rocks, and minerals containing copper. However those which, once ground, can be used as pigments are exceptional. Only lapis-lazuli and azurite come to mind. The long absence of blues from the palettes of our distant ancestors is therefore easy to explain as is the fact that blue pigments have always been an expensive commodity which became the objects of a very lucrative trade... more...
This bulletin, the first of an annual series which Archetype Publications publishes in association with the British Museum, offers a new forum to show a dynamic behind-the-scenes glimpse of the current work of curators, conservators and scientists conducted on a range of artefacts and materials across the collections at the British Museum. ... more...
This bulletin, part of an annual series which Archetype Publications publishes in association with the British Museum, offers a new forum to show a dynamic behind-the-scenes glimpse of the current work of curators, conservators and scientists conducted on a range of artefacts and materials across the collections at the British Museum. Reviews This new publication series from the BM will certainly be a standard bearer in developing professionalism of museum-based science...In short, th... more...
This bulletin, part of an annual series which Archetype Publications publishes in association with the British Museum, offers a new forum to show a dynamic behind-the-scenes glimpse of the current work of curators, conservators and scientists conducted on a range of artefacts and materials across the collections at the British Museum.... more...
This bulletin, part of an annual series which Archetype Publications publishes in association with the British Museum, offers a new forum to show a dynamic behind-the-scenes glimpse of the current work of curators, conservators and scientists conducted on a range of artefacts and materials across the collections at the British Museum.... more...
This bulletin, part of an annual series which Archetype Publications publishes in association with the British Museum, offers a new forum to show a dynamic behind-the-scenes glimpse of the current work of curators, conservators and scientists conducted on a range of artefacts and materials across the collections at the British Museum.... more...
This bulletin, part of an annual series which Archetype Publications publishes in association with the British Museum, offers a new forum to show a dynamic behind-the-scenes glimpse of the current work of curators, conservators and scientists conducted on a range of artefacts and materials across the collections at the British Museum.... more...
Three hundred conservators, conservation scientists, curators, art historians, and students from twenty-two countries assembled at The Art Institute of Chicago in October 1999 for a conference entitled The Broad Spectrum: The Art and Science of Conserving Colored Media on Paper. Drawing on their wide range of expertise, participants expressed their varied approaches to the investigation and custodianship of art in the papers published in this volume. A consideration of the materials and t... more...
Today, 15th-17th-century oil paintings usually look different from the way they looked originally due to the ageing of the pigments and media used by the artist. While some areas of the painting may have become darker, others may have faded or even changed colour entirely. The present colour range and modelling in an old picture may deviate greatly from that which the painter intended. As this can have far-reaching consequences for our interpretation of an artist's pictorial, illusionistic and a... more...
Este libro es una guía que introduce a los restauradores en todas aquellas cuestiones científicas implícitas tanto en los mecanismos de deterioro que experimentan las obras de arte como en las materiales y métodos empleados en los diferentes tratamientos de restauración.... more...
There is no layer of a painting where we are fully satisfied with our present understanding of its material structure, and its deterioration over time. Most research carried out today into the materials of paintings concentrates on their properties in order to further understand the consequences of conservation treatments - both immediate and long term - and the effects of earlier treatments. This book contributes significantly to the selection of appropriate and controllable cleaning methods fo... more...
This volume contains papers from the 12th meeting of the Seventh Century Syrian Numismatics Round Table held in Cambridge in April 2009. The study of the so-called Arab-Byzantine coinage struck in Syria (modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, The Palestinian Territories and Jordan has made great strides forward in the last 30 years with the publication of catalogues of collections in the Ahli Bank in Amman, the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the Khalili Collection in London, the Dumbarton Oaks Collecti... more...
This publication is intended to provide a quick overview of well-known dyestuffs that can be found in objects of cultural value in order to contribute to the knowledge of historic textiles and their preservation. Aimed mainly at conservators, conservation students, curators and textile historians, the book presents information on the most relevant dyestuffs used for dyeing textiles, the relation between dyestuffs and organic pigments in paintings and their historical relevance. Emphasis is place... more...
This book is designed to aid conservators in understanding the materials used in the conservation and restoration of glass objects. Principles and methods involved in the cleaning and restoration of historical and archaeological glass objects are addressed, including aspects of deterioration, the ethics and aesthetics of restoration, and proper conditions for storage and display. There is also a discussion of techniques for repairing broken glass and for filling gaps in colorless and colored gla... more...
While the public art field has grown rapidly over the last three decades, little attention has been paid to preservation. Artworks that were installed with great effort are now suffering the ravages of time, sending conservators and commissioning agencies into a vigorous search for solutions. Conservation and Maintenance of Contemporary Public Art is a collection of papers based on presentations delivered at a conference held in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2001. Among the contributors are... more...
The papers in this volume, presented at the conference Conservation in the Nineteenth Century, suggest that we should not think of the nineteenth century as a time solely marked by conservation activities that should be be criticised, but as an interesting confluence of various attitudes out of which modern conservation trends emerged. The conservation profession has its roots in the intellectual movements of the first half of the 19th century, following the Enlightenment. Scholarly study of ... more...
The 1966 Florence flood revolutionized the field of art conservation as had no other single event, and served as a catalyst for the development of new materials and methods of restoration, particularly for mass and large-scale treatment. The lessons learned extend far beyond a list of approved materials and techniques or of approaches to avoid. The papers in this volume not only give us a record of the conditions at the time, but also allow us to be better prepared to face such a disaster again,... more...
As long ago as the 1850s, an attendant in the Printed Room at the British Museum devised the sunk mount to protect the stored prints and drawings from the adverse effects of handling. Mounts of this kind are now in universal use. Attention to detail in the long-term care of prints and drawings has characterized the British Museum to the present day. In this book, the author and her colleagues have given us a rare and detailed insight into the workings of a practising mounting studio within a ... more...
Behind each archaeological shipwreck recovery lies a team of highly skilled specialists: divers, archaeologists, engineers, scientists, conservators, curators, historians, designers etc. While each boat found presents a unique combination of problems to be overcome, the most challenging aspect of all these projects has been the conservation of the degraded wood, iron and other materials that make up a ship’s hull and its contents. The materials and techniques used in this branch of conservatio... more...
Until fairly recently geological specimens were considered to be safe in collections. This publication addresses the problems of deterioration which can arise through casual handling and poor storage conditions. It also covers the deleterious effects of certain previous conservation treatments. Guidelines are given for safer handling techniques and storage conditions and recommendations made for good cleaning and packaging practice. Potential serious health risks to researchers in contact with c... more...
Dramatic paintings on vaults and walls visualized the biblical history to the congregation in the mediaeval church. Today, a fraction of these fragile paintings still survive but are constantly at risk and deserve expert attention and care. This book contains a set of scientific papers which establish the state of the art for conservation of al secco murals. The book is richly illustrated with examples of Swedish and foreign mural paintings. Archetype Publications distributes this t... more...
Gustav Berger is internationally recognized as one of the most innovative thinkers in the field of paintings conservation. As an active contributor to professional conferences and publications over the past forty years, he is best known for the development of BEVA, the widely acclaimed adhesive specifically formulated for use in the conservation field, and for his groundbreaking research in the cracking of paint. With this long-awaited book, Berger offers the reader fresh insights into his de... more...
The recently established Institute of Conservation Science (ICS) celebrated its formation with a conference held in Edinburgh in May 2002, attended by conservation scientists and conservators from European, American and Australian museums, archives, universities and research institutes. The energy of formation of ICS, supplemented by support from the National Museums of Scotland, Action G8 of COST (European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technological Research) and Historic Scotla... more...
Conservation Science 2007 was organised jointly by the Institute of Conservation (Icon) Heritage Science Group (formerly the Institute of Conservation Science, ICS, at the time the conference was first planned), the Politecnico di Milano, Italy, and the University of Milan, Italy, and held at the Politecnico di Milano 10-11 May 2007. This was the second ICS conference: Conservation Science 2002 (Archetype Publications 2003) was held in Edinburgh, UK, in 2002. Conservation Sci... more...
This three volume title, published by IPCI-Canada in association with Archetype Publications, has 150 articles, 1600 pages and over 1300 illustrations and will be an invaluable resource for both conservators and craftspeople. The outcome of a rigorous selection process by an editorial board of prominent experts, it emphasizes conservation-minded techniques, presents alternative approaches to a wide range of repair issues and is groundbreaking in the extensive attention that it gives to the bo... more...
From monumental tomb paintings to delicate ivories, ancient Egyptian objects are some of the most complex and fragile encountered by archaeologists, curators and conservators. Those who examine, analyse and treat them face a number of practical and ethical challenges. This volume of papers, by an international group of experts, focuses on decorated surfaces including polychrome wood, coloured basketry, patinated metal and painted textile. Aspects of technology, investigation and treatment are... more...
Will Europe please raise its hand! Europe - What is it? A land mass (plus a few islands) stretching from Portugal to the Russian Urals? Or to the Turkish Bosporus? A continent with a common history? A common language, culture, religion? A common anything? Most members of the European Union assume Europe is their exclusive club of going-on 25 countries. A Briton goes there on holiday. People from a wannabe EU country know that Europe is not synonymous with the Union, but they too are... more...
Wir können nicht behaupten, mit unserem gegenwärtigen Wissen über Materialstrukturen von Malschichten und deren zeitbedingtem Abbau wirklich zufrieden zu sein. Der Großteil der heutigen Forschung, die sich mit den Materialien von Gemälden befasst, konzentriert sich auf den Wissenszuwachs bezuglich der Materialeigenschaften dieser Bereiche, mit dem Ziel, sowohl kurz- und langfristige Auswirkungen von Konservierungsmassnahmen, als auch jene fruherer Behandlungen besser zu verstehen. Diese... more...
This ever popular handbook is aimed at students and others who wish to learn the techniques of artefact illustration, regardless of their level of ability or previous experience. It has been written and illustrated by three experienced practitioners who, since 1984, have conducted an annual Summer School course 'Drawing Archaeological Finds' at the Institute of Archaeology, London. The text includes comprehensive advice on many aspects of archaeological artefact illustration from the equipmen... more...
This book provides an outline of the story of Danish travellers in Greece, illuminating aspects of both the cultural history of Greece and the period of the Danish golden age in the first half of the nineteenth century. In treating this hitherto underexamined subject, Dream and Reality makes a contribution to the general study of European culture in the nineteenth century.... more...
Interest in all aspects of dyestuffs has grown considerably since an informal meeting of researchers twenty years ago developed into the annual meetings of Dyes in History and Archaeology, with the journal of the same name publishing a selection of papers presented. Analysis has revealed that the early 20th-century clothing and textile designer, Mariano Fortuny, used natural dyes for his glorious silks and cottons. Natural indigo is still used in some parts of the world, but dyeing wit... more...
Indigo has a powerful hold on the imagination - as evidenced by the traditional picture of Ancient Britons coloured blue with woad indigo - but, until now, the actual application of the dye and possible explanations underlying the practice have rarely been considered. The dyestuff is equally fascinating to the scientist, to Adolf von Baeyer in the 19th century, or to the modern chemist using modern instrumental methods for its characterisation. Indigoid dyes are not the only blues and purples, h... more...
At what point does romantic invention become tradition, legend blend into historical fact? Surely the tartan of Bonnie Prince Charlie, that epitome of folklore, was dyed in the colours of mists and heathers with local Scottish dyestuffs? The truth is more prosaic, but no less interesting: archival research and analysis of dyestuffs used in 18th- and 19th-century tartans suggests that, while some local plant dyes may have been used, Scottish dyers were importing a range of widely available brilli... more...
Until the 19th century, the dyes available to decorate all the objects of art and everyday life were obtained from naturally occurring raw materials. It was well known that some were better than others and from early times the necessity of assessing quality and avoiding falsifications was recognised. Following developments in synthetic organic chemistry, a vast number of new dyestuffs appeared; these also varied in quality and permanence and required testing. Historians, archaeologists, chemists... more...
The trade in dyestuffs has played an important role in the economic history of many nations. In medieval Europe this is demonstrated by the important place held by woad in the economy of many countries, but while the woad industry of Toulouse or Erfurt is quite well know, that of Catalonia and Roussillon is rather less familiar. Other aspects of medieval woad dyeing are equally interesting: it is known that the vat contains indigo-reducing bacteria, but how do these bacteria interact with the in... more...
This book provides a comprehensive history of the early development of extractive metallurgy, and has become the standard textbook for many students of ancient metallurgy. The author draws on historic documentary sources, laboratory investigation, archaeological discoveries and experimental replication from across the world to provide a comprehensive description of the mining and smelting of metals. For millennia, technical advancement has been intimately linked with the production of metals ... more...
A key consequence of the western discovery of sixteenth-century Japan was the emergence of workshops producing lacquerware for the European market. As with East Asian porcelain, Japanese lacquer quickly became an absolute must-have, its gold-on-black pictorial schemes enriching the sumptuous interiors of the aristocratic and wealthy. The Mazarin Chest, which was made in Kyoto in the late 1630s to early 1640s and has belonged to the Victoria and Albert Museum since 1882, is the largest and most s... more...
This book brings together what is known of the material aspects of the paintings of East Asia (China, Japan and Korea), covering the components used, painting structures, certain aspects of painting techniques, and the mechanisms of deterioration. It concentrates on those works in the mainstream of art history, largely paintings on flexible supports and typically mounted as scrolls. The author bases his account on what is known from the available historical literature, on research published by c... more...
The many pieces of embroidery by Mary Queen of Scots or by Elizabeth Countess of Shrewsbury ('Bess of Hardwick') are among the best-known and most fascinating examples of historical embroidery. However, many questions surrounding their meaning and purpose - and, above all, the sources and patterns used for their imagery (including birds, fish, flowers, monograms, emblems and other devices) - remain unanswered. In 1548, the five-year-old Queen of Scots left her native Scotland to begin her Fre... more...
The art of East Anglia was pre-eminent during the late thirteenth and the first half of the fourteenth century. Wooden screens with painted panels were one of the most essential fittings of late pre-Reformation churches, serving both to protect the high altar and to define the division between the chancel and the nave and aisles. Whereas very few screens dating from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries survive, the extant fifteenth-century rood-screen paintings in East Anglia form the largest... more...
This book, published by Archetype Publications in association with HES & DE GRAAF Publishers, surveys the history of the techniques of engraving, etching and plate printing - ie that of manual intaglio printmaking processes - from its beginning in the 1430s until today. These developments are observed in the light of the coherence between the technique of the intaglio print (such as its materials and methods of production); the ‘style’ or outward appearance of the print; the creator of the ... more...
Ceramic objects form a substantial part of museum collections world-wide. The survival of so many ceramic objects might suggest that they are relatively durable and do not demand the same level of care and conservation compared with other types of material. However, inappropriate environments, careless handling and unsuitable treatments can bring about the deterioration of these objects. The last three decades have seen the growth of ceramics conservation as a specialised subject. It is now a... more...
During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, painting on textile supports was carried out side by side with panel painting all over Europe. So few works survive that this important aspect of artistic production has been overlooked, especially in Italy, and the appearance of these rare paintings is frequently misunderstood. This volume of essays by conservators and art historians adopts an interdisciplinary approach to visual and written evidence in order to reconstruct what can be known abo... more...
Prevention costs so little in comparison to the cost of recovery and the health hazards that will ensue from a fungal infestation. Many of those involved in the care of collections have experienced fungal infestations ranging from localised outbreaks to major catastrophes brought about by flood or the aftermath of fire. This book aims to provide collection managers, conservators, and museum and gallery personnel with biological information on fungi and strategies for both preventing infestat... more...
The papers in this volume consider the existence and preservation of modern materials in the textile field. This publication presents modern textiles as a subject in its own right and the content is intentionally multidisciplinary to demonstrate the wide spectrum of subjects involved in their preservation. Papers are authored by artists, curators, anthropologists, conservation scientists and conservators while topics cover the creation, collecting, interpretation, detrioration, analysis and cons... more...
Gold has been celebrated as a symbol of luxury, wealth, and power throughout history and around the world. This rare metal is prized for its color, its unique luster, its special working properties, and its permanence. The technique of gilding, creating a thin layer of gold over a less valuable material, developed to satisfy the desire for gold. Through this lavishly illustrated volume, readers will discover how various cultures created golden surfaces and how the allure of gold inspired new ... more...
This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the techniques and materials used in a range of monumental paintings from the Late Classical to the Graeco-Roman period reflecting the Hellenistic culture. Information is drawn from scientific technical studies, archaeological and art-historical documents and the surviving texts of ancient writers such as Theophrastus (end of the fourth century BC), Vitruvius (first century BC), and Pliny (first century AD). Based primarily on the technic... more...
H.C.P. Bell, the first Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon from 1890 to 1912, was also an authority on the remote Maldive Islands. Self-taught and sublimely self-confident, he began the official survey, excavation and conservation of the buried cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa and of the extraordinary rock fortress at Sigiriya. His work in the Ceyolon jungles was often carried out 'single-handed', but he once declared, 'It is good to be a Head Man even in Hell'. In old age he realised hi... more...
In the decades since it was first used to examine works of art and archaeological pieces, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has become an essential tool in any museum or gallery laboratory, allowing details of the surface and the way in which it has been modified - for example by manufacturing or during conservation - to be scrutinised. The possibility of applying microanalytical methods within the scanning electron microscope, most notably energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, has greatly in... more...
Understanding the choices, materials and techniques involved when an object was originally put together and the repair and renewal processes that it has undergone can be vital for both the curator and the conservator. For the curator, knowledge of the construction and ancient repair methods is essential to understanding possible social and economic implications in the study of the cultures that originally made, and subsequently preserved, the objects. For the conservator, the importance of such ... more...
Identification of plants or parts of plants is essential to disciplines ranging from forensic science to paper technology and art conservation. In this book the microscopical characteristics of ten of the most widely used commercial fibres are presented. Features which are useful for identifying fibre cells are described in detail and explained by reference to the anatomy of the living stem or leaf from which the fibres are extracted. Photomicrographs and line drawings illustrate the descrip... more...
Preprints of the Contributions to the Kyoto Congress 19-23 September 1988... more...
Preprints of the Contributions of the Madrid Congress 9-12 September 1992... more...
Preprints of the Contributions to the Ottawa Congress 12-16 September 1994... more...
Preprints of the Contributions to the Copenhagen Congress 26-30 August 1996... more...
Contributions to the Dublin Congress 7-11 September 1998... more...
Contributions to the Baltimore Congress 2-6 September 2002... more...
Contributions to the Bilbao Congress 13-17 September 2004... more...
Contributions to the Munich Congress 28 August-1 September 2006... more...
Contributions to the London Congress 15-19 September 2008... more...
Contributions to the Istanbul Congress 20-24 September 2010... more...
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The price listed is per set of Volumes 1-10. Archetype also has a very limited supply of individual issues (Volumes 1-10), which can be purchased for 10.00 GBP each.... more...
In Artists’ Footsteps explores the technical study and reconstruction of Old Master paintings and pigments from the medieval to the modern period. The contributions from experts in the fields of technical art history and conservation reflect a broad spectrum of current research and investigation worldwide. The authors address the making of historically informed reconstructions as a way of informing the conservation process, assisting in the training of conservators and understanding ... more...
There is no need to delve deeply into English history to appreciate the importance of the horse and its saddle. Saddles carried Roman, Saxon and Norman invaders across Britain, sustained the peripatetic English monarch and court, and advanced Tudor trade and Stuart civil war. From the 18th century the English saddle developed rapidly into the world's leading design and remains pre-eminent today. It is not difficult to find recent books describing the classic English saddle of the 19th and 20t... more...
The volume Innovative Approaches to the Complex Care of Contemporary Art contributes to the debate on the care of the most recent cultural heritage - modern and contemporary art. A new understanding is required, which takes into account the care and conservation of both the tangible and intangible aspects of visual art. The paradox of current conservation practice has been that despite adopting the new concept of heritage, the aims and methods of conservation have remained the same, evol... more...
In recent decades great progress has been made in developing new techniques to identify stones used in ancient monuments and artifacts, and the conferences of the Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity (ASMOSIA) have constituted the most significant international forum for presenting and discussing these techniques. At the fifth conference, held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1998, geologists, chemists and physicists, art historians, archaeologists, and conserva... more...
Chalks and pastels are particularly appropriate materials for portraits because they appear effortlessly to convey the warm tones and soft, matte velvety surface of skin. Portraits and head studies therefore figure prominently in histories of pastel. The Invention of Pastel Painting describes the relatively sudden emergence in the later seventeenth century of sets of friable pastel sticks and a new artistic practice of painting in pastel. The author reconsiders the use of natural and ... more...
This book will be of interest to all who seek to further their understanding of iron artefacts, their corrosion, conservation and pigments based on iron compounds, which mankind has used for millennia. The authors take the reader through some of the latest observations on the occurrence and role of compounds of iron - from the hot water undersea vents where the presence of iron pyrites is thought to be vital to the emergence of life on Earth to the discovery of jarosite on the surface of Mars, p... more...
The aim of this book is to publish the results of research into the nature and characteristics of Islamic paper, as gleaned through the systematic analysis of over 1000 dated samples. The study has shown that it is possible to establish a tentative typology of paper according to a comprehensive list of objective standards. Descriptions of the physical characteristics of papers originating from Persia, Syria and Egypt, from the 12th until the 19th century, provide a means by which papers are comp... more...
The drawings discussed in this book, published in association with the British Museum, were included in the exhibition, Fra Angelico to Leonardo: Italian Renaissance Drawings, held at the British Museum, London and the Uffizi Gallery, Florence in 2010-2011. Technical studies of 47 of the British Museum's finest Italian Renaissance drawings are given based on non-invasive and non-contact examination and analysis. Great emphasis has been placed on how the results from such examination and a... more...
The papers in this volume were presented as papers or posters at the ninth meeting dedicated to the use of lasers in the conservation of artworks (LACONA), hosted by the British Museum and University College, London. They focus not only on the fundamental scientific research behind the use of laser technology, but also on the application of lasers in the treatment and analyses of cultural heritage in a way that is directly applicable to conservation practice. The papers illustrate three broad th... more...
The papers in this volume go some way to correct some of the misinterpretations presently found in archaeological reports. Contributions cover many aspects of research into the evidence from prehistoric, Roman, medieval and early modern periods as well as descriptions of traditional techniques still used in different parts of the world today. Whilst the emphasis is on the interpretation of the evidence for leather tanning surviving in the archaeological record, other aspects such as standing ta... more...
Leather Wet and Dry: Current Treatments in the Conservation of Waterlogged and Dessicated Archaeological Leather presents some new ideas, as well as reviews of established methods, on the preservation of leather. Topics discussed include: -How to accurately assess the condition of a leather collection as a whole -Current waterlogged leather treatments and how they compare with earlier treatments -The role played by mineral contents in terms of preservation or decay -How to stabilise ... more...
The Conference on Comparative Lining Techniques held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich is legendary. It was the first major conference solely concerned with the structural conservation of paintings and, by bringing together a distinguished international group of practitioners to discuss lining paintings, it changed the nature and status of the debate. The Conference responded to a period of accelerating change, especially the introduction of new materials and technologies, and the paper... more...
This book comprises papers presented at a one-day seminar at the Museum of London, which highlighted change and development in the field of the scientific analysis and conservation of coins. The papers are diverse and reflect a multi-disciplinary approach to the subject. Reviews ...a useful guide to the processing of coins from excavations, which will be valuable reading for conservators and archaeologists, together with some museum curators. It is a book to dip into...and Archetype P... more...
The articles in this volume circle around an area of study that has become known informally as 'technical art history'. It is a wide-ranging, inclusive vocation of the making of art and the means by which we throw light on that process. Although concentrating on painting techniques, materials and studio practice it goes far beyond the material into how concepts are translated into substance - how invenzione becomes disegno and colore. In this volume we travel in a great swee... more...
The origins of metalpoint (silverpoint, goldpoint, etc.) drawing are widely thought to lie in classical antiquity. The Luminous Trace investigates the artefactual and literary evidence for the use of metalpoint through the ages from earliest times up to its revival, particularly in the United States, in the later 20th and early 21st centuries, reviewing the history and historiography of metalpoint and its use for drawing and writing. Metalpoint drawings are the central objects of this stu... more...
The first edition of this book was welcomed not only by the conservation profession but also by those working in archaeology and museums who need to know from what materials objects are made, the compounds that are associated with them or the characteristics of the materials used to package or store them. This second edition includes modifications to several of the procedures described - tests for metals, inorganic compounds, organic and synthetic materials as well as several tests that help ... more...
The anonymous Montpellier Liber diversarum arcium (‘Book of Various Arts’) contains the most complete set of instructions in the craft of medieval painting to have survived to the present day. Its comprehensive summary of the state of the art of painting in the workshops of the fourteenth century will be of great interest to art historians, conservators and historians of artists’ technology. This long-overlooked manuscript provides a complete practical painting course: drawing, w... more...
This collection of writings on the subject of medieval painting and polychromy in northern Europe celebrates the 70th birthday of Unn Plahter, Professor at the University of Oslo. Throughout her long career, Unn has assumed many roles, among them prolific scholar, tireless promoter of education in conservation and active participant in the international conservation community. The contributions in this book have been chosen to reflect Unn's wide range of research interests in the field of mediev... more...
This volume presents the proceedings of a conference held in September 2001 in conjunction with the conservation of two reliquary shrines of the 11th and 12th century at the Musée d'art et e'histoire in Geneva. The papers present an overview of the state-of-the-art of conservation and technological studies of medieval precious metalwork in Europe. Le colloque dont les contributionssont réunies dans cet ouvrage fut organisé en septembre 2001 en marge d'importants travaux d... more...
The papers presented here provide a good overview of the breadth and depth of current archaeometallurgical research related to Asia and beyond. Many of the issues raised in this book, such as the beginnings of bronze metallurgy in China, the early history of lost-wax casting in Asia, the development of early steel-making technology in Europe and Asia, and the role of the steppe influence in metalworking in Eastern Zhou China, will continue to attract substantial research interest. The important ... more...
In the 30 years since the first British Museum volume dedicated to the scientific study of early metallurgy, there has been great progress in understanding the diversity of processes by which ores were mined and smelted as well as significant advances in the methods of study of these. In particular, the experimental replication of ancient processes has assumed ever greater importance. This volume arose from the conference Metallurgy: A Touchstone for Cross-cultural Interaction which... more...
Parchment in the form of manuscripts, scrolls, charters, book covers and substrata for artworks, makes a major contribution to the most valuable objects of European cultural heritage. Large collections exist in varying degrees of preservation in public and private libraries, archives, museums and in diverse religious foundations. The degradation of parchment involves the decay of the intact fibre structure through different stages of alteration to a terminal stage when the fibre structure is ... more...
Methods of retouching, or inpainting, vary according to personal preference - the media, pigments and techniques used are each chosen to suit the individual object. A wealth of options is available to the practising conservator, many of which are covered in this volume. The history, development and method of application of each technique is discussed and illustrated, while additional papers explore practical and theoretical aspects of colour matching. The three sections of this book (Egg t... more...
The conservation of contemporary art should not be a static process carried out behind closed doors but dynamic and open to discourse. New media and new materials constantly present issues which traditional conservation methods cannot address and a continual search for new techniques is therefore required. This dynamic research may include interviews with artists; documentation of artists' materials; the recording of image, word or sound of performances; installations, temporary and 'permanent' ... more...
Moving Collections: Processes and Consequences is the result of an initiative from the Norwegian section of the Nordic Conservators Association (NKF-N) which organised a conference entitled 'Planning to move? Processes and consequences for collections, objects and society' in Oslo. The articles in this publication are based upon the presentations at that conference. Working with cultural heritage objects requires knowledge-based decisions on transportation on a regular basis whether mo... more...
Along the great Silk Road, numerous objects of cultural heritage survive as witnesses to the mingling of indigenous cultures with 'foreign' cultures. One type of surviving witness is mural painting and the papers in this volume are witnesses themselves of a colloquium on the subject of 'Mural Paintings of the Silk Road' attended by art historians, historians and archaeologists, scientists and conservators from East and West, held in Tokyo in 2006. A newfound recognition of the vastness of the... more...
At a time when more and more plants and animals are threatened with extinction by humanity's ever-increasing pressure on the land and oceans of the planet, this book sets out to record sources of colorants discovered and used on all the continents from antiquity until the present day. Some 300 plants and 30 animals (marine molluscs and scale insects) are illustrated and discussed by the author, whose passion for natural dyes, with their colours of unequalled richness and subtlety, has taken ... more...
The eleven wall painting fragments from the tomb-chapel of Nebamun that were brought to the British Museum in the early 19th century have long been recognised as some of the finest examples of ancient Egyptian art and have been considered among the greatest treasures of the British Museum. This book places the paintings in their historical context and provides an account of the work of the team of curators, conservators and scientists to examine and conserve the painting fragments before prepari... more...
The four paintings investigated in this book all depict Christ driving the traders from the temple. They are alike yet different with echoes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Hieronymous Bosch, but all were presumed to have been painted in Antwerp in the 16th century. Over the past 300 years, each painting has found its way to a collection in a different corner of Europe: the Kadriorg Art Museum, Tallinn, Estonia; the National Gallery of Denmark; the Glasgow Museums, and a private collection in Lo... more...
Over the past twenty years, architectural paint research has developed rapidly as a discipline that provides insights into the use of historic paint and the history and development of historic interiors, and is now recognised as an important tool in the conservation of historic buildings. This volume of papers presented at the conference Architectural Paint Research in Building Conservation held at the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, provides a unique overview and discussion of... more...
This handsome, lavishly illustrated, three-volume boxed set is the culmination of research by an international team of art historians and scientists. Painted altar frontals from the Middle Ages are rare. Thirty-one painted altar frontals, tentatively dated on stylistic criteria to the period 1250-1350 and originating from parish churches in Norway, are still preserved - mainly in the museums of Bergen and Oslo. The frontals, the largest group of medieval panel paintings in northern Europe of... more...
Who's Running This Show, Anyway? Governance - the word has become common currency. Does the world dance to the tune of an unelected few? Who holds those who 'governance' us to account and how legitimate are their decisions? While such questions are being pondered worldwide in universities, research centres and think tanks, practitioners on the ground - politicians, business-people and other members of civil society - are grappling with the very real challenges of the 21st century. The stat... more...
Pest Management in Museums, Archives and Historic Houses is a practical working handbook for the conservator and all persons concerned with the care and management of collections. An essential guide to the recognition of inset, rodent and bird pests with advice on the practical steps required to present and control damage to collections, it incorporates many recent developments in Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in the heritage sector. Presenting invaluable new information on the trap... more...
This book is the result of a study of cultural practices related to the uses of colouring materials in the South American Andean region during the colonial period (sixteenth–eighteenth centuries) and their 'powerful' presence in the images of the conquest. It offers the reader a new insight into the techniques and use of colour in Andean colonial painting. A material history of color in Andean workshops (the 'making'), leads the reader to the exchange of ideas between different parties suc... more...
In Pigments of English Medieval Wall Painting, Helen Howard demonstrates that the techniques of wall painting in medieval England were far more complex than had previously been supposed. This is the first systematic analysis of the pigments employed in medieval wall paintings in northern Europe, covering an extensive selection of schemes from a variety of sites including parish churches, cathedrals and abbeys (Canterbury, Westminster, Norwich, Winchester, St Albans, Sherborne and Durha... more...
The authoritative guide to the identification and care of plastics, including classic collectables from Bakelite radios to Barbie dolls. -History of plastics -Plastic collectables -Identification of plastics -Caring for plastics -Latest research into degradation and conservation Intended as a guide for collectors and conservators, this book considers specific problems of storing, displaying, cleaning and conserving 'plastic' objects. This title is published by the National Museums o... more...
Over the course of the past 150 years, the development and use of artificial plastics has burgeoned. Plastics are now ubiquitous and unavoidable, from the plastic bag and other items with functional uses - such as household, office, electrical appliances and clothing - to works of art including sculpture, tapestries etc. The myriad of different plastic-based materials and the ways in which they have been treated before, during and after manufacture can leave the conservator, artist and collectio... more...
For centuries the world's art and artifacts have been brought into museums and collections in an attempt to preserve them and the cultural history they represent. Yet it has become apparent only with the benefit of hindsight and, increasingly, with today's technological advances, that the environment designed to protect can also be putting these precious and vulnerable objects at risk. The environment in which artifacts are housed continually acts on them: it can alter them chemically, accele... more...
The aim of Practical Gilding is to demystify the processes of gilding. Descriptions and explanations of the materials, equipment and traditional, professional methods of oil and water gilding are clearly set out in a manner that can be understood both by craftsmen and those who wish to understand and apply these methods today. Originally conceived as a pamphlet for musical instrument makers, the authors soon discovered that by expanding the text they had written a book that would be an... more...
Born from a workshop series entitled 'The Practical Impact of Science on Field Archaeology', this volume presents the ideas of students and researchers from North America, Europe and Israel on the growing impact of science on archaeology in the eastern Mediterranean. Its main focus is to promote interdisciplinary approaches to archaeology, with special attention to the sciences and to demonstrate the wealth of knowledge that can be obtained when these ordinarily isolated subject areas are combi... more...
Popular literature on the prehistoric Caribbean is dominated by the colonial myths of Caribs and Arawaks. Although there is good contact period ethnohistorical evidence from some islands, mainly in the Greater Antilles, reliable evidence for the prehistory of small islands in the Caribbean can only be obtained through archaeological fieldwork. This volume outlines recent fieldwork on Barbados, Tortola and the Cayman Islands. The main topics covered are: -the cultural background -unoccupied isl... more...
The aesthetic qualities of a painted work of art are determined by composition, the colours used and the application method. Equally important are the support and its preparation. Preparatory layers are fundamental to the creative process and to the perception of the work: they influence the final surface texture, the paints' luminosity and the durability of a painting. For centuries painters were well aware of these facts and took great care in this stage of the process. These papers were pr... more...
This book is designed to help collections managers, conservators, curators, collectors and students (of materials and material culture) to understand the properties of the materials (containing protein fibres) from which various objects have been manufactured. The author illustrates the wide range of historic, ethnographic and natural history objects, made of fibrous protein material, which is found in collections. She explains why understanding the chemical and phsyical structure of the fibr... more...
Retouching, the process employed by paper conservators to replace damaged or lost areas of media, is carried out directly on the original item or on paper infills. Interventive retouching on an original surface requires the consideration of several important ethical issues such as reversibility and authenticity. The use of retouching on infills, which could be termed non-interventive, is easier to accept, as it can always be made reversible and can normally be easily identified as a later additi... more...
Papers in this volume cover various aspects of the deterioration of textiles and the different scientific techniques that can be applied to investigate the characteristics of historic textiles, their fibres, dyes etc. The authors include textile, paper and painting conservators, conservation scientists, chemists, archaeologists, engineers, biochemists and a zoologist. This is the first of a series of three volumes of papers emanating from the conferences of the AHRC Research Centre for Textil... more...
The realm of Asian art is vast, covering half the world, from the edge of Europe east to the tip of North America and from the Artic Circle south to the equator. In time, too, its spread is huge, ranging from the Neolithic to the present day, and examples of the art of Asia are almost infinite in their variety. Chinese bronze and iron, Himalayan and Cambodian sculpture, Japanese paintings, jewelry from East Asia to Europe, materials from jade to feathers, glass beads to ceramic tiles - all are t... more...
The use of scientific methods to study works of art began at the Freer Gallery of Art in 1951 with the work of R. J. Gettens. While Mr. Gettens was active in many fields of research, his landmark publication was the volume of technical studies on the Freer Chinese bronzes, a collaborative effort by scientists, conservators, and art historians. These proceedings, and their companion symposium, commemorate that work and also present recent studies on ancient Chinese bronzes and Southeast and West... more...
Asian ceramics in their many forms and functions - utilitarian, aesthetics, and religious - are the subject of this volume. Through analysis of their composition, technology, typology, and use, researchers from all over the world who met for a conference at the Freer Gallery of Art define ceramic technologies, examine thier similarities and differences, and explore broader questions regarding their historical and cultural context, such as trade and technology tranfer between East and West Asia. ... more...
Investigations into a variety of materials and techniques used in creating pictorial art from various parts of Asia are presented in this volume: painted reliefs in a Cambodian temple; wall paintings in India; panel paintings in the Philippines; the figures of gods and guardians in a Japanese temple; paintings on silk and several papers covering aspects of the materials, pigments, painting and printing techniques used in works of art on paper. This preponderance of investigations relating to pap... more...
Throughout Asia's history, sculptural arts have encompassed a variety of processes, including carving, modeling, casting, and assembling. Scientific investigations presented in this volume include studies of Southeast Asian jade, Chinese bronzes, Mongolian deer stones, Japanese polychrome sculpture, and others. Scientific study of sculpture helps us learn more about why, where, and how thse works were made as well as address concerns about the state of their preservation and conservation. Thi... more...
The papers in this volume focus on the exploration of artists' practice found in the evidence recorded in visual and written documents, treatises, manuals, correspondence, ledgers, diaries and journals, paintings, drawings, cartoons, prints, photographs, as well as from the testimony of collections of pigments. Early accounts are compared to the latest analytical findings, and past deductions about art technology are questioned and critically assessed. Topics include: techniques used by 15th-... more...
State Beds and Throne Canopies: Care and Conservation is the first publication to concentrate solely on state beds and throne canopies in England, covering not only their historical and stylistic developments and the role that they played in the theatre of courtly ritual, but more importantly focusing on the surviving objects themselves and the care they now receive. The specific subjects of this book are the state beds and throne canopies at Hampton Court Palace and Kensington Palace.... more...
Published information about the restoration of paintings prior to the twentieth century has been very limited despite the fact that extensive documentation exists in the archives of royal, public and private collections throughout Europe. Studies in the History of Painting Restoration reveals an interesting and detailed account of the materials and methods used, the interaction between restorer, curator and collector and the different philosophical approaches towards restoration and the c... more...
***** This book is now available only from JG Publications (www.jgpubs.com) *****... more...
This is the first volume of Occasional Papers on the Samuel H. Kress Collection and is published in the memory of Mario Modestini who died on January 28, 2006 in New York. The book marks the tenth anniversary of the advanced training in Old Masters conservation sponsored by the Kress Foundation at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University. The first part of the book is an overview of historic approaches to the conservation of European paintings and the conse... more...
The papers in this volume constitute a substantial body of work that provides a wide-ranging overview of current research on the technology and practice of Old Master paintings, covering some 700 years of European painting, from the thirteenth century to the early twentieth century, including works by Guido da Siena, Bellini, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Fernando Gallego, Holbein, Caravaggio, El Greco, Rubens, Murillo, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Whistler, van Gogh and Munch. Six of the contribu... more...
This publication focuses on the interrelationship between archival and bibliographic research and the study of extant objects. Papers consider how archival and bibliographic research can inform our knowledge of textiles and dress in terms of their production, consumption, dissemination and deterioration and in turn, how the study of extant objects can give added depth to this analysis. The authors include conservators, curators, historians and conservation scientists. These postprints are th... more...
'Textiles in Trust' celebrates the centenary of the National Trust and contains much of interest to anyone concerned with the care of historic textiles - upholstery, embroidery, costumes, curtains, carpet and tapestry. The papers presented in this volume demonstrate the tremendous ingenuity, skill and painstaking care of the conservators who undertake work for the National Trust in its continuing endeavour to preserve the contents of historic country houses for the future. This volume present... more...
The papers in this volume, from the Hildesheim symposium, Theory and Practice in the Conservation of Modern and Contemporary Art: Reflections on the Roots and the Perspectives, confront the theoretical foundation and the ethical and aesthetical principles of the conservation of modern and contemporary art, testing the limits and possibilities of the development of established positions and seeking new challenges. The authors tackle the crucial question - whether there should be specifi... more...
This manual is a comprehensive illustrated overview of the minerals and textures seen in polarized light microscopy of cultural artefacts. It focuses on the specific applications of thin-section petrography to the study of cultural materials made of stone (as found in architecture, sculpture, tools etc.) and ceramic objects (earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, brick and tile, etc.). The reader can learn the techniques used to identify and characterize such materials; to differentiate between them... more...
In May 1994, the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to Its Countries of Origin or Its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation recommended that the Director-General of UNESCO be invited to have specialised studies made by experts to clarify issues in cultural objects that are disputed or unclear. Collectors (both public and private), dealers, archaeologists, conservators and other specialists around the world were consulted either in person or by corres... more...
Where did artists buy their materials? Who prepared them? What did they cost? Where did they come from, and how? This volume draws together the international research in this new and rapidly developing field of interdisciplinary enquiry by historians, conservators, scientists, economic historians and historians of trade. The evidence concerning supply and distribution, availability, cost, quality and value of artists' materials is fundamental for interpreting surviving objects in a wider sense. ... more...
The heyday of detaching and transferring wallpaintings is over, a result of shifting values in conservation and the development of solutions for in situ treatment. Transfers were carried out in the past for a number of reasons - some of which may seem frivolous or unethical today. The frequency with which transferring was resorted to reflects the prevailing attitudes and limited treatment methods at that time. The transfer of a wall painting is a difficult and risky operation that affe... more...
Turquoise, as a gemstone or as a decorative part of an object, has a fascinating history of discovery and use in Mexico and North America. This blue-green opaque mineral has been highly prized in antiquity and even now, its compelling colour tones and attractive textures are much sought after for quality jewellery. Like the mineral itself, this volume Turquoise in Mexico and North America: Science, Conservation, Culture and Collections is distinguished by its variety, with something of in... more...
This book (first published in the Netherlands as Op de keper beschouwd. Handboek voor het behoud van textielcollecties), sets out to present the basic information necessary for the professional safekeeping of textile collections. Aimed at curators and owners of textile collections, collection management staff, conservators and conservation students, it contains: -An overview of the most common textile fibres, production processes and techniques of decoration. -A description of the de... more...