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econservationthe online magazine No. 19, April 2011
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Public awareness and the romantic view of restoration
Imagine that the next time when you open your morning newspaper you find a full page articleabout the heroic effort of an unemployed person, who after unsuccessfully struggling with the jobmarket, thought it may be best to open a conservation studio. Does it sound familiar? On furtherreading, you see how he came to make the decision ‐ most likely because he always liked to workwith his hands, used to fix things around the house and, of course he loves antiquities. At this mo‐ment, you probably jump into the quarter‐page photo that comes with the text and start analyzingthe image searching for details. Most likely, it will be a furniture restorer. Off he went to the nearesttool shop and set himself up in a studio or, why not, his garage. You will also probably read how, in afew months, he even developed his own secret formulas for paints and miraculous products to“properly” age materials. And as if this would not be enough, you will read all this through the eyesof the journalist who presents the story from the point of view of an heroic survivor of the unem‐ployment crisis who created his own job. A job that, in their words, is called conservation‐restora‐tion. How many similar stories have you already seen in newspapers, magazines or on television?
We conservators are aware that the reality of our job is nothing like that. But the general public isnot, and unfortunately this is the most direct way that the public is given a notion of what conserva‐tion is. To make matters even worst, this is a self‐sustainable mechanism. Most probably, thesepeople featured so often in newspapers, embraced this idea from some past news and that’s whythey nurture this romantic and erroneous view of conservation.
We do understand that conservation of antiquities is passionate. After all, at some point of ourlives, we probably had that same romantic view about works of art and shared that attraction toknow about the secrets behind the scenes, the alchemical products, the mysterious production offakes, and so on. However, not taking action against misleading the public is working against us,and even more in moments of economic crisis such as this. Limited public awareness will result inev‐itably in the maintenance of this status quo or even in its degradation.
In the wide spectrum, public awareness also raises attention in specific groups to the importance ofconservation, most notably in political groups. This is vital because often the resources needed forconservation are in the hands of a few decision‐makers and the public pressure may help to releasethem. Thus, and because one can not depend on chance, it is good strategy to reinforce attention inthis field.
So far I have seen three types of attitudes towards these issues: first, there is the majority of theprofessionals who would rather ignore these issues or that leave them to the big institutions to takecare of; then, there are those trying to maintain a high profile and raise awareness only among thepolitical class, ignoring or abhorring the general public opinion; and last but not least, there’s a fewwho are actually taking action on this matter. Although any kind of attitude is fundamental, whenwe depend on political will, it takes much longer to achieve any result and often the work of yearsmay change in a week.
Fortunately, there are already some initiatives leaded by professional associations that are takingmatters into their hands, trying to change this although it is surprising how this effort is not shared byall. Otherwise, what type of professional recognition can we expect?
Rui BordaloEditor‐in‐Chief
e‐conservatione‐conservation
NEWS & VIEWS 6
ARTICLES
CASE STUDY
40
O, Ethnographic Conservation, be some other name!
By Daniel Cull
REVIEWS
The 20th Anniversary Meeting of E.C.C.O.
Review by Rui Bordalo
Conservation and analysis techniques for the study and safeguard
of metallic heritage
Review by Ana Bidarra
“Back to the Roots”
Workshop on the Preparation of Historical Lake Pigments
Review by Martina Griesser
Educational Workshop:
Discovering Restoration, Treasuring the Original
Review by Anca Dinã and Teodora Poiatã
The 15th Symposium on Mediterranean Archaeology
Review by Hakan Öniz and Çiğdem Külekçioğlu
Conservation Matters in Wales
Review by Sarah Lawrence
UPCOMING EVENTS
May to June 2011
Old Interventions & New Possibilities
Applications of digital technology in re‐conservation
By Eleni Kotoula
Museums of Technology
Bridges of cultural identity
By Johannis Tsoumas
The Street in the Photography from the 19th and Early 20th Century
as Mean of Art or Science
By Maria Bostenaru
Scientific Study and Conservation of a Painted Enamel Qajar Pendant
By Wafaa Anwar Mohamed
EVENTS
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48
32
15
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25
36
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INDEX
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21
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sO, ETHNOGRAPHIC CONSERVATION, BE SOME OTHER NAME!
Within the field known as ‘ethno‐
graphic conservation’ the word eth‐
nographic has long been considered
by many to be a millstone around
our necks thwarting effective work
and progressive development of the
field. This idea was made explicitly
clear in Tharron Bloomfield’s key‐
note address to the 2008 ICOM‐CC
Triennial Conference in New Delhi,
in which he labelled this term "at
best old fashioned and inadequate,
and at worst offensive and racist".
In his keynote address Bloomfield
further called for "conservators who
work with cultural material to find
another, more appropriate name for
the material they work with". The
ICOM‐CC Working Group on Ethno‐
graphic Collections have taken this
critique on board and launched a
‘name change committee’ which in
turn recently published a discussion
document intended to further these
discussions [2].
The word ‘ethnography’ comes from
the Greek words ethnos, meaning folk
or people, and grapho meaning to
write, ethnography simply therefore
means to write about people. In an
academic sense ethnography is taken
to mean both the method of study
(the research method of cultural
anthropology) and the written re‐
"O, be some other name! What's in a name? that which we call a rose. By any other name
would smell as sweet." ‐ Juliet, in "Romeo and Juliet" (Act 2, Scene 2) [1]
By Daniel Cull
cord of that research. Traditionally ethnographers
have been outsiders engaged in ‘participant ob‐
servation’, it is from this tradition that ethno‐
graphy has for many communities who were the
focal point of such studies come to be seen as
offensive and/or racist. Ethnographers seek to
discover the emic (insiders) perspective rather
than their own etic (outsiders) perspective,
however scholars have come to realize that the
researchers own cultural biases and ideologies
have played a significant part in many of the
ethnographies produced. In the most extreme
cases we can see how racist ideologies such as
social Darwinism, colonialism, and white suprem‐
acy fed a cultural anthropology that believed in
the destruction of indigenous peoples to make
way for white, Christian, patriarchal, capitalist,
heteronormative, euro‐centric “civilization”, com‐
menting on this time period it has been wryly noted
that “ethnology is thought of as archaeology by
anticipation” [3], all of which goes someway to
suggest Tharron Bloomfield may be understating
his case!
Despite the inherent biases of those conducting
ethnographic research, it could conversely be
argued that the ethnographic method retains
value for the conservation field. The field of an‐
thropology has come a long way since the plun‐
derous activities that created the collections in
which we work, today there exists academic fields
such as critical ethnography, feminist ethnography,
and anti‐racist ethnography, which often have an
auto‐ethnographic focus in which the observer be‐
comes participant, and the participant observer,
e‐conservation
blurring or removing the distinction between emic
and etic perspectives. These auto‐ethnographic
approaches have been considered “the postmod‐
ern successor” of ethnography [4]. These develop‐
ments have become important tools for subaltern
groups to subvert the established power structures
and to gain a voice; to, as it were, tell their own
stories. These methodologies are being utilized
within the conservation field in the form of com‐
munity consultations, collaborative and partici‐
patory conservation [5]. Which counter to Bloom‐
field’s argument would suggest that ethnography
has much to teach the conservation field about
counter‐hegemonic discourse and the potentials
of first person narrative and collaborative working.
The final decision on the name is perhaps insigni‐
ficant compared to the opportunity afforded to
discuss our own personal relationship with the
terms we use to describe our field. Initially the
thought of changing the name threw me into
confusion, it seemed to me that like it or not the
word ‘ethnographic’ is the essential point of ref‐
erence for those of us who practice this field of
conservation. Moreover, I feel a great deal of af‐
finity for the contemporary ethnographic method,
and I feel the world “collections” in the working
group title is as, if not more, “offensive or racist”
associated as it is with the same colonial agendas
and concepts of categorization and control. How‐
ever, on further consideration, I came to realize
that the name must change not because I feel it
personally objectionable, but because many in
our field, and many with whom we work, do. As
such we need to find a method of self description
that is tolerable, and preferably useful, to the
most people possible, and continue our dialogue
in as many forums as possible to ensure that we
confront the real issues that brought these discus‐
sions to the fore and not resort simply to finding
a more pleasing sounding name.
Notes:
1. W. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, URL
2. C. Dignard (Coord.), "A Discussion Paper on the
Name of the ICOM‐CC Working Group on Ethno‐
VIEWS
e‐conservation 7
Bronislaw Malinowski with natives on Trobriand Islands (ca 1918).
VIEWS
8 e‐conservation
graphic Collections: Should the Name Change, and
If So, to What?", ICOM‐CC, April 2011, URL
3. V. Debaene, Les deux livres l’ethnographe: l’eth‐
nographie francaise au XXe siècle entre science et
littérature, Université de Paris IV ‐ Sorbonne, Paris,
2004, p. 148
4. M. Bloor and F. Wood, Keywords in Qualitative
Methods: A Vocabulary of Research Concepts, Sage,
London, 2006, p. 19
5. G. Wharton, "Dynamics of Participatory Con‐
servation: The Kamehameha I Sculpture Project",
Journal of the American Institute for Conservation
47 (3), 2008, pp. 159‐173
DANIEL CULLConservatorThe Musical Instrument Museum
Daniel Cull is from the West Country of the British
Isles. He trained at the Institute of Archaeology,
University College London, where he received a
BSc in Archaeology, MA in Principles of conser‐
vation, and an MSc in Conservation for Archae‐
ology and Museums. He was later awarded an
Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the National
Museum of the American Indian/Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, DC. He currently works
as a conservator at the Musical Instrument Mu‐
seum and as a collaborator with e‐conservation
magazine.
Website: http://dancull.wordpress.com
Contact: daniel.cull@themim.org
The News section is bringing up‐to‐date
information on cultural heritage topics such as
on‐site conservation projects reports, reviews
of conferences, lectures or workshops and any
other kind of appropriate announcements.
If you are involved in interesting projects and
you want to share your experience with
everybody else, please send us your news
or announcements.
For more details, such as deadlines and
publication guidelines, please visit
www.e‐conservationline.com
Review by Rui Bordalo
Barcelona, Spain
April 4‐5, 2011
REVIEWS
A view from the conference hall.
THE 20th ANNIVERSARY MEETING OF E.C.C.O.
Organiser:
E.C.C.O., The European Confederation of Conservator‐Restorers' Organisations
http://www.ecco‐eu.org/
E.C.C.O., the European Confederation of Conser‐
vator‐Restorers' Organisations, is commemorat‐
ing its 20th anniversary. Since it’s foundation in
1991, E.C.C.O. has had a strong impact on European
policies for the protection and preservation of
cultural heritage, working to achieve legal recog‐
nition of conservator‐restorers and promoting a
high level of training in this discipline. The con‐
federation is seen by other international partners
as a role model to be followed. At the moment, it
unites 22 associations from 20 European countries,
representing more than 5000 professional con‐
servator‐restorers.
The commemoration of its 20th anniversary took
place in Barcelona, Spain, in the last 4th and 5th
of April, on the occasion of the President’s Meet‐
ing and General Assembly. The President’s meet‐
ing is a biannual meeting where all the Presidents
of the member associations of E.C.C.O. get together
and meet with the E.C.C.O. committee to discuss
about aims and objectives to be achieved by the
organisation. However, this time all the founding
members were invited to attend the anniversary
and to commemorate the founding of the organ‐
isation.
The meeting took place in the XVIII century Pati
Manning building, just next to the Centre of Con‐
temporary Culture of Barcelona. The impeccable
local organisation was merit of Agnès Gall‐Orlik
from Grup Tècnic, a Catalonian association of con‐
servator‐restorers. As an aside note, it should be
mentioned that Barcelona is part of the Environ‐
ment Committee of Eurocities, which gathers a
group of 34 cities that promote environmental
awareness. This meant, for example, that every
plastic item normally used in conferences was
replaced by wood or paper‐based alternatives,
more environmentally friendly. It would be great
if we would see this more often in conferences.
The day started with a welcoming message from
Mr. Joan Pluma, General Director of Cultural Her‐
itage, representing the Catalan Ministry of Cul‐
ture. Next, Monica Martelli‐Castaldi, President of
E.C.C.O., welcomed the participants and presented
9e‐conservation
the founding members and the previous E.C.C.O.
Presidents. Only a few could not be present and
those who are no longer with us were fondly re‐
called.
After the opening, a session on the history of the
confederation started with short presentations
by Nathalie Ravanel, from the Associazione Res‐
tauratori d'Italia (ARI) and former Vice‐President
of E.C.C.O., and Pierre Masson, from the Belgium
Association Professionelle des Conservateurs‐
Restaurateurs d'Oeuvres d'Art (APROA‐BRK) and
former President of E.C.C.O.. These short presen‐
tations were followed by interventions by Carole
Milner, from Association des Restaurateurs d'Art
et d'Archquéologie de Formation Universitaire
(AARAFU) and former Deputy Secretary, Gerlinde
Tautschnig, also from the Italian ARI and former
President of E.C.C.O., and other founding members
and former Presidents who recalled the early years
of E.C.C.O. Stéphane Pennec, founding member
from France, presented “Conservation‐Restora‐
tion of Cultural Heritage: Don’t worry, it’s get‐
ting worse!” which came as a refreshing frontal
view about the regression that the field is having
in some countries. Ylva Dahnsjö, from the National
Heritage (UK), closed the session speaking about
“The changed context for conservation and in‐
formation about UK PACR accreditation system”.
After the coffee‐break, a session focused on the
Competences of the profession took place. The
first lecturer was Susan Corr, General Secretary
of E.C.C.O. and delegate from the Institute for
the Conservation of Historic & Artistic Works in
Ireland (ICHAWI), who presented the most recent
publication of E.C.C.O.: “Competences for the
Profession and Practice of Conservation‐Restor‐
ation”. This document was developed by E.C.C.O.
in connection with the European Qualifications
Framework (EQF) foreseen in the Recommenda‐
tion of the European Parliament and of the Coun‐
cil of April 23, 2008 on the establishment of the
European Qualifications Framework for lifelong
learning. This document defines the competences
required to enter the profession of Conservator‐
restorer. Next was Jeremy Hutchings, Deputy Sec‐
retary of E.C.C.O. and delegate from the Nordic
Association of Conservators ‐ Norwegian Branch
(Nordisk Konservatorforbund, den Norske Seks‐
jonen, NKF‐N) to present the implementation of
these competences in the conservation programme
at the University of Oslo. The structure of the
course (post‐Bologna process) of this university
is quite original, allowing the students to choose
different career paths, not strictly in conservation
but also conservation‐related ones, according to
the several competences they acquire. The follow‐
ing presentation was done by Barbara Davidson,
E.C.C.O. Committee member and delegate from
the Chamber of Restorers in Slovakia (Komora
Reštaurátorov, KR). Slovakia is from the very few
countries, if not the only one, that has a Cham‐
ber of Restorers, recognized by the government,
allowing a better regulation of the profession. In
her presentation, Barbara gave an example of the
EQF implementation at the national level and
about the specific legislative framework of the
country. Wolfgang Baatz, new President of the
European Network for Conservation‐Restoration
Education (ENCoRE), presented “Conservation‐
restoration education: EQF and the Universities”,
A short meeting of the E.C.C.O. Committee members.
REVIEWS
10 e‐conservation
focused on the perspective of the universities con‐
cerning EQF and the lifelong learning issue. Closing
the session, Grellan Rourke, President of ICHAWI,
spoke on “Competences and Accreditation” where
he made a summary of the experience on accredit‐
ation in Ireland and what it has represented for
the members of their association.
After a short moment for questions from the public,
Dr. Miklós Szentkirályi and Dr. István Bona, from the
Association of the Hungarian Restorers (Magyar
Restaurátorok Egyesülete, MRE) which is also com‐
memorating now its 20th anniversary, presented the
history of their association, and several legislative
problems of laws on the protection of cultural prop‐
erty in Hungary, in a presentation titled “Changing
Legislation about Conservation‐Restoration of Cul‐
tural Property in Hungary”. Then Tomás Lupták, from
the Slovakian Komora Reštaurátorov (KR), spoke
“About the Law on Services on Internal Market and
Application of Exclusivity”. In Slovakia, conservation
is a regulated profession and the implementation of
European directives created several situations that,
fortunately, the chamber was able to resolve.
After a typical Mediterranean and eco‐friendly
lunch, the afternoon was dedicated to short pres‐
entations by Professional Bodies and Institutions.
The afternoon session was started by Véronique
Milande, President of the Fédération Française
des Conservateurs/Restaurateurs (FFCR), with
“FFCR is desperately looking for public”. As our
profession is sometimes distorted in the public
view by the media, the speech focused on the
public perception of conservator‐restorers and
the experience FFCR has had to enlighten both the
public and the media about the reality of our field.
Once the meeting was taking place in Spain, next
a series of associations, members and non‐mem‐
bers of E.C.C.O., were invited to address the audi‐
ence. In “Catalonia Today: 2 associations, One
future”, Agnès Gall‐Ortlic, from Grup Tècnic (GT),
and Voravit Roonthiva, President of Associació de
Conservadors‐Restauradors de Catalunya (ARCC),
announced the merge of the two professional as‐
sociations in Catalonia, Spain. The merge was
welcomed but news on the problematic Spanish
situation and about the recent dissolution of
A view of the conference hall during the presentations.
REVIEWS
e‐conservation 11
E.C.C.O.’s former member ACRACV, a Valencia based
association, saddened the audience. Then was
the turn of Gema Campo, also from GT, to speak
on the “Motives for becoming E.C.C.O. member
in the 90s and current relevance of E.C.C.O.”. As
a long existing association, GT was present in the
moments when the creation of a confederation
was discussed for the first time and later created.
The past and present importance of E.C.C.O. was
also discussed, for Europe but also for Spain and
Catalonia, as well as the documentation that was
delivered through the years by E.C.C.O., a true
milestone for the definition of the profession.
Afterwards, Carmen Perez Garcia, Managing Di‐
rector of the Valencian Institute for Conservation
and Restoration of Cultural Heritage (IVCR), in‐
troduced the audience to the history and struc‐
ture of the institute. The next talk was made by
Marco Moreno, from Asociación de Alumnos y Ex‐
alumnos de la Escuela Superior de Conservación y
Restauración de Bienes Culturales de Bienes Cultu‐
rales (AESCROM) in Madrid, who presented the
association, but also the particularities of the
training in conservation in Spain.
Brigitte Esser, from Associazione Restauratori‐
Conservatori Alto Adige (VRKS‐ARCA), a regional
association based in South Tyrol (Italy), spoke
about the long history of the association and the
specificity of that Italian region, and also how
advantageous and important has been the mem‐
bership of the association in E.C.C.O.. Jana Šubic
Prislan, from the Slovenian Society of Conservator‐
Restorers (Društvo restavratorjev Slovenije, DRS),
which the next day was accepted as new member
of E.C.C.O., was the next speaker. Founded in 1993,
the association reborn in 1997 and has now 283
members. Although it may seem that some pres‐
entations, year after year, are just the explanation
on how the associations were formed and the par‐
ticularities of their national ways, these are in fact
the most interesting facts to divulge as one can
learn about the variety of the realities in this field.
This is the case of DRS, a very active association,
organizing on a permanent basis trips, confer‐
ences, workshops and even a professional award.
For sure, it is an example for other organizations
to follow.
Stefan Belishki, Committee member and delegate
of the Association of Conservator‐restorers of
Bulgaria (ARBBG), informed the audience about
a turn of situation for the profession in Bulgaria,
more particularly, about the legal changes that
have occurred. In 2009, a new law on the protec‐
tion of cultural heritage was enacted. However,
the conservator‐restorer profession is not prop‐
erly regulated by the law. There are texts that
pretend to regulate the conservation practice
but they are not in accordance with E.C.C.O.’s
guidelines and in fact might even allow unquali‐
fied persons to practice. The lobbying of the as‐
sociation has been very active proposing several
changes but with few results. Nevertheless, they
were able to, at least, reduce the risk of malprac‐
tice. Another problem that was discussed was the
lack of job opportunities that conservator‐restorers
are confronted with in Bulgaria.
After a well needed coffee‐break, it was the turn
of Ingrid Louise Flatval, President of NKF‐N to
speak about “The Situation in Norway”. The asso‐
Volker Schaible, President of the Association of Restorers(Verband der Restauratoren, VDR), speaking about thesituation in Germany.
REVIEWS
12 e‐conservation
ciation has gone through several alterations due
to the size of the country, the bad economy and
internal reorganisation, among other factors. Sev‐
eral ways of dealing with these problems and din‐
amizing the associations were presented. Karen
Borchersen, from the Nordic Association of Conser‐
vators ‐ Danish Branch (Nordisk Konservatorfor‐
bund, Den Danske Afdeling, NKF‐DK) spoke about
the status and the future of the organisation. One
of the main concerns was to rejuvenate the board,
to bring new blood and new ideas, once their mem‐
bers have been there for many years. The recent
merge of Copenhagen’s School of Conservation
with other schools and the problems that have
risen was also discussed.
Jaap van der Burg, Vice‐President of E.C.C.O. and
delegate of Restauratoren Nederland (RN), spoke
on behalf of RN’s President Clara von Waldthausen
who could not attend the meeting. Jaap mentioned
the fact that RN commemorates its 5th anniver‐
sary and made a short summary of the history of
the association, which resulted from the merge of
other associations. Volker Schaible, President of
the Association of Restorers (Verband der Restaur‐
atoren, VDR) gave an amusing and lively present‐
ation focused on “The Situation in Germany”, that
is a federal country, which means that more dif‐
ferent regional laws on cultural heritage apply.
The talk focused on the history of VDR and how
they are approaching such diversity of laws con‐
cerning conservation and the protection of cul‐
tural heritage.
Finally, the last intervention was made by Karin
von Lerber, from the Association Suisse de Con‐
servation et Restauration (SKR/SCR), who talked
about “The Situation in Switzerland”. Karin showed
how challenging the management of conservation
can be in a country with 4 schools teaching conser‐
vation and 27 states (with 27 different legislations)
and an association that gathers over 500 members.
Group photo of the participants to the E.C.C.O. 20th anniversary.
REVIEWS
e‐conservation 13
Afterwards, there was a round‐table discussion
moderated by Grellan Rourke focused on Europe‐
wide issues arising from the meeting and network‐
ing between European professional bodies and
related institutions.
The second day was fully dedicated to the General
Assembly during which several internal issues were
discussed. Among these, can be highlighted the
efforts that the working groups are making con‐
cerning the European Recommendations in the
Council of Europe, the European Qualifications
Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF) and the
European Committee for Standardization (CEN).
Two associations – from Slovenia and Malta – were
welcomed as new members. Although these meet‐
ings are generally not open to the public, there
were several national and international observers
invited in the occasion of the Presidents meeting
and anniversary of E.C.C.O.
The two days meeting, with its warm atmosphere,
made the attendees happy to meet so many old
friends and colleagues. At the end, the commem‐
oration of the 20th anniversary of E.C.C.O. was a
success, not only for the high quality participation
and the vivid discussions but also for the positive
feedback that the founding members gave on
E.C.C.O. and how much it has accomplished in the
last 20 years.
Photos by: David Aguilella‐Cueco
RUI BORDALOConservator‐restorer
Rui Bordalo, PhD, is a board member of the Portu‐
guese Association of Conservator‐Restorers (ARP)
and a Committee member of the European Confed‐
eration of Conservator‐Restorers' Organisations
(E.C.C.O.) since 2005.
REVIEWS
14 e‐conservation
The seminar “Conservation and analysis techniques
for the study and safeguard of metallic heritage”
was held at the National Archaeological Museum
and at the Centre of Atomic Physics in 29th and
30th of March, respectively. It was a one and a half
day meeting organized in the scope of the project
“AuCORRE ‐ The gold jewellery from the Atlantic
Western Peninsula (Bronze and Iron Ages). Torcs,
bracelets and earrings from the Portuguese ter‐
ritory: manufacturing techniques, metal alloys
composition and corrosion mechanisms” (PTDC/
HIS‐HIS/114698/2009). This project is funded by
the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Tech‐
nology (FCT) with the participation of Archeofactu
– Archaeology and Art, the Institute of Museums
and Conservation (IMC, Portugal), the Laboratoire
du Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des
Musées de France – UMR ‐ 171 CNRS (Centre for
Research and Restoration of the Museums of
France) and the Centre of Atomic Physics (Uni‐
versity of Lisbon, Portugal).
For a conference that intended to be informal and
that wasn’t much publicized, the two days had a
participation of nearly 100 delegates; in the second
Review by Ana Bidarra
day the amphitheatre of the Centre for Atomic
Physics was full and had the presence of several
students. The conferences were mainly held in
Portuguese, but there were also Spanish, English
and French presentations.
The first day of the conference took place at the
National Archaeological Museum (MNA) in Lisbon
and was focused on the Metallurgy of the Bronze
and Iron Ages. The opening session was made by
members of the AuCORRE project and MNA’s Dir‐
ector. The afternoon was filled with six presenta‐
tions that started with an historic background on
the “relation between metallurgy and society, its
ruptures and permanencies in the Atlantic Penin‐
sular facade”, by João Senna‐Martinez from the
Faculty of Letters of the University of Lisbon (FLUL).
Raquel Vilaça, from the Faculty of Letters of the
University of Coimbra (FLUC), made a very interest‐
ing presentation entitled “Beyond the shine of
the metal (productions and contexts): a contribu‐
tion to the AuCORRE project”, focusing on the need
to inventory and compile information on Portu‐
guese Ancient jewellery. A schematic approach
explained the relation metal/object since its
March 29‐30, 2011
Lisbon, Portugal
Hosted by:National Archaeological Museum and
the Centre of Atomic Physics
CONSERVATION AND ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES FOR THE STUDYAND SAFEGUARD OF METALLIC HERITAGE
REVIEWS
e‐conservation
General view of the conference at the National ArchaeologicalMuseum. Photo by Matthias Tissot.
Conservação e Técnicas de Análise para o Estudo e Salvaguardado Património Metálico
e‐conservation 15
native condition to its finished form, going through
aspects such has quality and control, cast, plastic
deformation, finishing and decoration.
After the coffee break, the two presentations given
by Maria de Fátima Araújo and António Monge Soa‐
res, from the Technological and Nuclear Institute
(ITN), were mainly focused on technological as‐
pects of gold artifacts from the Iron and Bronze
Ages and its laboratorial analysis using optical
microscopy (OM), energy dispersive X‐ray fluores‐
cence (EDXRF), scanning electron microscopy with
X‐ray microanalysis (SEM‐EDS) and micro Particle‐
induced X‐ray Emission (micro‐PIXE). These tech‐
niques provided information regarding not only
physical and technological aspects, but also chemi‐
cal features such as the presence of major ele‐
ments (silver and copper) in the gold.
Davide Delfino, from the Center of Geosciences of
the University of Coimbra, presented a compara‐
tive study between the recycling of metals in the
Atlantic Peninsular Facade and the Alpine area
during the Bronze Age and the causes that could
lead to recycling such as flaws, wearing or dam‐
ages. Despite the developed work consider that the
recycling of metals begin later in the Peninsular
Facade, some of the delegates disagreed with that
conclusion pointing to a parallel occurrence.
The first day ended with Aaron Lackinger, from the
Faculty of History of the University of Vigo (Spain),
and the “Urdiñeira disc”. This bronze disc or but‐
ton, along with a set of two gold bracelets, com‐
poses the “Treasure of Urdiñeira”, found in 1921
near Parada da Serra in Galicia (Spain).
The second day was focused on the conservation
and analysis of gold objects and other metals and
the opening session was made by members of the
AuCORRE project. The morning session started with
Alicia Perea, from the Institute of History of the
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), with a
comprehensive presentation that brought several
16 e‐conservation
Opening session. From left to right: Dr. António Candeias, from LJF/IMC, Dr. Luísa Carvalho, from the Centre of Atomic Physics,Dr. Luis Raposo, MNA's Director, and Dr. Filomena Guerra, from UMR‐171 CNRS. Photo by Matthias Tissot.
REVIEWS
examples of gold archaeometry in Spain from the
past years, along with recent works and projects,
namely the study of the “Quimbaya Treasure” from
Colombia.
Maria Filomena Guerra, from UMR‐171 CNRS, pre‐
sented “Analytical research on Egyptian gold work
at the National Museums of Scotland”. One of the
main ideas conveyed was the lack of an accurate
analytical research regarding gold jewellery from
Ancient Egypt, particularly the one that is held in
Egypt, which makes very difficult or even impos‐
sible to relate or date certain objects, namely the
ones that came from ancient commercial trading.
The presentation “Archaeometry at ITN using ion
beams and X‐ray diffraction analysis” by Luís
Cerqueira Alves, compared several analytical tech‐
niques such as PIXE, Rutherford Backscattering
Spectrometry (RBS) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD). The
main advantage of the RBS technique is the fact
that an elemental depth profile distribution (us‐
ing a nuclear microprobe) is possible, while PIXE
provides no depth information on elemental analy‐
sis. Rui Lopes, from the Faculty of Fine Arts from
the University of Lisbon (FBA‐UL), spoke about
the casting techniques of ritual bronzes in Shang
and Zhou Dynasties (China) and António Candeias,
from the Laboratory José de Figueiredo of IMC
e‐conservation 17
(LJF‐IMC), presented an overall perspective of the
work developed by IMC in the study and conserva‐
tion of Portuguese metallic heritage. The morn‐
ing session ended with Maria José Oliveira, from
LJF‐IMC, and Teresa Maranhas, from the National
Palace of Ajuda (IMC), who presented the research
work that has been undertaken at IMC on the jewel‐
lery from Queen Maria Pia (1847‐1911) produced
by the Rome‐based Castellani workshop.
After lunch, the first two presentations were on
case studies related to preventive conservation and
maintenance of collections. The first one, entitled
“Atmospheric corrosion monitoring to evaluate
showcases” and presented by Michel Dubus from
UMR‐171 CNRS, referred several examples of metal‐
lic artifacts wrongly exposed and its degradation.
The lecturer also focused on the changes that can
occur when moving an object, particularly for
temporary exhibitions. Matthias Tissot, from MNA
and Archeofactu, focused on the more specific case
of the Ancient jewellery collection from the Na‐
tional Archaeological Museum in Lisbon (Portugal)
and some preliminary data on preventive conserva‐
tion parameters in the “Treasure Room”.
The following two presentations were on Portu‐
guese altarpieces. The first one, presented by
Agnès Le Gac from the New University of Lisbon,
REVIEWS
“Archaeometry at ITN using Ion Beams and X‐ray DiffractionAnalysis”, by Luís Cerqueira Alves.
“Considerations on the study of metallic artifacts – theexperience of the Laboratory José de Figueiredo”, by AntónioCandeias.
focused on the gilding techniques and the chal‐
lenges for determining the gold origin, in the spe‐
cific case of the 16th century main altarpiece of
the Old Cathedral of Coimbra (Portugal). Based
in documentary and analytical data the results
pointed to the use of two different techniques:
water‐based burnished gilding on bole and oil‐
based matte gilding on mordant. The gold leaf is
under one micron and the gold used in 1502, 1583
and 1685 is up to 23 carat, while the gold applied
in 1900 is 20 carat. The second lecture, given by
Ana Bidarra from the Department of Geosciences
of the University of Aveiro, presented an approach
to the definition of an accurate methodology to
gold leaf analysis. The results were based on the
study of the gold used in baroque altarpieces
through different analytical methods such as OM,
SEM‐EDS and Inductively Coupled Plasma – Mass
Spectrometry (ICP‐MS), in order to determine tech‐
nological and elemental features, that allow the
typification of the gold and to establish proven‐
ance relations. The limitations of the different
techniques were also focused as well as the use
of other proceedings such as X‐ray Fluorescence
(XRF) using Synchrotron radiation.
Paula Menino Homem, from the Department of
Heritage Sciences and Techniques of the University
of Porto, presented a work on the nature, altera‐
tion and conservation of the silver altarpiece loc‐
ated in the Chapel of the Holly Sacrament at the
Porto Cathedral, focusing also on some specific
alteration of the metal and it’s analysis by XRF
and SEM‐EDS.
After the coffee‐break, the last session comprised
four presentations. The first one was given by Alice
Alves, from FBA‐UL, and the conservation and res‐
toration interventions that the Belém Monstrance
had during 1833 and 1928. The Belém Montrance
was ordered by King Manuel I (Portugal) to the
master goldsmith Gil Vicente in 1503 and used the
gold brought by Vasco da Gama on his return from
the second expedition to India. During its history
the Monstrance suffered several changes, the first
one during the reign of Filipe I (1580‐1598), when
its cylindrical glass was replaced by a circular frame
easier to open, keeping this architecture for over
300 years. In 1929, José de Figueiredo, the direc‐
tor of the National Museum of Ancient Art (Lis‐
bon) decided to return the Monstrance to its
original form.
Eduarda Vieira, from the School of Arts of the
Catholic University of Porto, brought a prelimin‐
ary approach to the study of a monumental brass
from the grave of João Correia, located in the Main
Church of Penafiel (Portugal). This brass, from
the beginning of the 16th century, is engraved with
João Correia effigy and is thought to be imported
from Flanders. Since it was made during his life
time no burial date was engraved. This is an art
form that is not very common in Portugal and
that is disappearing fast due to theft.
The collaboration between a conservator‐restorer
and an epigraphist ‐ Sara Fragoso, from FCT‐UNL
and José d’Encarnação, from the University of
Coimbra ‐ studied the forgery of Roman inscriptions
in the specific case of a copper tessera, applying
both art history and analytical approaches. The
forgery of Roman inscriptions has a long history;
in the Renaissance period was mainly directed to
assign a remote origin to a city or to provide it
with famous characters. More recently the motive
is mainly economical and is located in the scope of
antiquities trade. This tessera, due to its specific
typological and textual characteristics raised sev‐
eral doubts; however, the researchers concluded
that despite these perplexities, the tessera and its
inscriptions are thought to be original.
The seminar ended with Ana Serafim, from FCT‐
UNL, and a case study on the bronze sculpture
18 e‐conservation
REVIEWS
depicting Jean d’Aire by Auguste Rodin located on
the gardens of the Gulbenkian Museum (Lisbon).
The study is focused on the degradation processes
that are currently occurring in the sculpture, in or‐
der to define an accurate conservation and res‐
toration methodology.
During the one and a half day seminar it was pos‐
sible to realise the diversity of metallic cultural
heritage and the different forms to approach it.
The relation between art history, conservation,
restoration and science was always present and the
need of cooperation between the different spe‐
cialists and institutions was once again focused.
ANA BIDARRAConservator‐restorer
Contact: bidarra.ana@gmail.com
Ana Bidarra has a Degree in Conservation‐Resto‐
ration and a Master Degree in GeoSciences on
white structured pigments for restoration. Cur‐
rently she is a PhD candidate researching the
compositional and technological aspects of gold
leaf from Portuguese baroque altarpieces. She
works as conservator‐restorer in private practice
since 1999.
“The restoration of the Belém Monstrance. History of anintervention from the first half of the 20th century (1833‐1928)”, by Alice Nogueira Alves.
e‐conservation 19
REVIEWS
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CONSERVATION
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21e‐conservation
REVIEWS
Within the European CHARISMA project (Cultural
Heritage Advanced Research Infrastructures:
Synergy for a Multidisciplinary Approach to Con‐
servation/Restoration) the Doerner Institute in
Munich, Germany, organised the “Back to the
Roots” workshop on the preparation of historical
lake pigments from 23rd to 25th March 2011.
The local organisers Heike Stege and Mark Richter
acted as coordinators of the workshop together
with Jo Kirby Atkinson, The National Gallery, Lon‐
don, and Jana Sanyova, IRPA, Brussels. Altogether
10 participants from 6 European countries and
one Iranian colleague attended the workshop. It
was divided in lectures given by the coordinators
and practical sessions to test different lake pre‐
paration recipes in the laboratories of the Doerner
Institute.
On Wednesday morning, following the welcome
speeches by the local organisers, Jo Kirby gave
her first lecture entitled “Dyes, Dyeing and Lake
Pigments – Historical Background”. She presen‐
ted a comprehensive overview of the natural dyes
used in Europe for dying textiles as well as for the
preparation of lake pigments, mainly focusing on
the red and yellow dyestuffs. The two hours talk
not only contained information on the different
plant materials and animals used as sources for
the dyes and their molecular structure, but also
on the various methods of preparing the coloured
pigments, for which mainly hydrated alumina
substrates, but sometimes also other aluminium
and calcium containing substrates were used. By
describing how historical recipes had been trans‐
ferred to “laboratory versions” for the participants
to experiment with, her presentation also offered
a first introduction to the practical part.
Following lunch, one half of the attendees pre‐
pared yellow lake pigments and the other half red
lake pigments using the soaked in raw materials
already prepared by the organisers. Different
kinds of weld and buckthorn berry yellow lakes as
well as madder lakes – including one recipe for
treating wild madder – were produced in this way.
After the lake pigments were precipitated, they
were left to settle overnight. Where necessary raw
materials for the production of lake pigments
on day two were already soaked in water or water
based solutions.
The morning of the second day was again filled with
lectures. At first Jana Sanyova gave a presentation
“BACK TO THE ROOTS”WORKSHOP ON THE PREPARATION OF HISTORICAL LAKE PIGMENTS
Munich, GermanyMarch 23‐25, 2011
Organised by:Doerner Institute
Review by Martina Griesser
Visit our website
Dyed wool (madder, Rubia tinctoria L.) and silk (kermes, Kermesvermilio Planchon). The silk is cut into fine pieces (clippings).
22 e‐conservation
REVIEWS
on “Organic pigments analyses” starting by giving
an overview on the history of analysis and intro‐
ducing different possible methods for analysis
from microscopy to Raman spectroscopy. In the
main part of her talk she concentrated on the
analysis of red and yellow dyestuffs using HPLC
(High Performance Liquid Chromatography) and
showed a number of case studies of the success‐
ful analysis of lake pigments. Especially interest‐
ing was to get first‐hand knowledge from this
experienced researcher about the possibilities and
limits concerning the analysis of organic dyes in
different sample materials. Her presentation was
followed by a short lecture by Jo Kirby called “A
brief survey of colour change in lake pigments”.
This was an introduction into the field of bleach‐
ing, as all the natural dyestuffs are changing colour
by interactions with their environment, especially
with light. Besides examples of typical colour
changes in art objects and the theory and equip‐
ment for measuring these changes, Jo showed a
number of graphs concerning the bleaching of
yellow and red lake pigments in dependence of
the dyestuff, the substrate, and the binding me‐
dium used for preparing the actual paint. In the
Pigment yield of yellow lake (weld) after filtration and washing.
e‐conservation
Welcoming address of the coordinators Dr. Heike Stege and Mark Richter.
Pigment yield of yellow lake (unripe buckthorn berries,Rhamnus cathartica L.) after filtration and washing.
afternoon the participants were filtering and
washing their first lake pigments and preparing
their second lake pigments again following the
revised recipes. On day 2 different cochineal,
kermes, lac dye and brazilwood red lakes and
dyer’s broom and young fustic yellow lakes were
precipitated and left to settle overnight.
On Friday the filtering and washing of the second
lake pigments was finished. All the pigments
prepared still needed to dry out, so pigments
produced during an earlier workshop were used to
prepare paints using two different binding media.
A selection of eight pigments were ground in lin‐
seed oil as well as egg yolk and then applied on
prepared test panels (wood primed with chalk)
for each of the participants. Besides getting an
idea on the varying behaviour of the different
lake pigments during grinding in oil and egg, one
also got an impression of the different appearance
of the lakes in the two binding media. In the fu‐
ture also the observation of the different colour
REVIEWS
23e‐conservation
Paint trials: applying paints consisting of lake pigments in egg tempera and linseed oil.
Lake pigment of Young fustic (Cotinus coggygria SCOP.) afterprecipitation.
REVIEWS
24 e‐conservation
changes with time will be interesting. On Friday
evening the workshop closed with a joint discus‐
sion on the lake pigments prepared and a fare‐
well drink.
For me the participation in this workshop was a
unique and very valuable experience to better
understand the vast variety of lake pigments one
can produce from more or less the same plant or
animal raw material as well as of the many influ‐
ences on the result, e.g. by temperature, time of
heating, method of precipitation and so on. As
all the coordinators were present during the whole
workshop and available for answering questions
anytime, an active exchange of experiences was
possible. The participants also were supplied with
full documentation of the presentations, a list of
participants, a bibliography, and – besides the
“laboratory version” recipes – the corresponding
original historical recipes for producing lake pig‐
ments. The numbers of participants was well‐
considered and the organisation near to perfect
(not only because all the coffee breaks and lunches
were included). I would like to thank all the col‐
leagues at the Doerner Institute involved in organ‐
ising the activity for this excellent workshop and
hope that they will be able to offer it once again
soon. Participation for anyone interested in his‐
toric lake pigments is highly recommended!
MARTINA GRIESSERConservation‐scientist
Contact: martina.griesser@khm.at
Martina Griesser studied analytical chemistry at
the Vienna University of Technology and finished
her PhD on the analytical characterisation of CVD
diamond layers in 1995. Since 1996 she built up
the Conservation Science Department at the
Kunsthistorisches Museum. Today she is the head
of this department and since 1999 also a lecturer
at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Institute
for Conservation and Restoration.
Paint trials: grinding of prepared lake pigments with egg tempera binder.
"Discovering Restoration, Treasuring the Original"
is an awareness campaign launched by the Roma‐
nian association Art Conservation Support (ACS)
to promote conservation to the general public
and to contribute to a better preservation of the
cultural heritage. The workshop was organized
with the support of the National History Museum
(MNIR), the National University of Arts (UNA) and
the conservation companies Cerecs Art and Danart.
The workshop gave participants the opportunity
to go behind the scenes of conservation restora‐
tion, a field still little known to the general public.
The main questions that were raised were: what
is conservation‐restoration?, what means to pre‐
serve the cultural heritage?, how to avoid its de‐
struction?, what happens behind the scaffolding?,
and how should we look at an icon or a mural paint‐
ing? For the large public, introducing general
notions of conservation was a great way to under‐
stand the degradation process of an art object,
what care of collections entails and how improper
interventions can be avoided. This was also a good
occasion for secondary school students to get an
insight into the conservation training course at
the National University of Arts in Bucharest and
consider the possibility to undertake a degree in
this field.
ACS is a young non‐profit association founded in
2009 at the initiative of four people working in
the field of conservation‐restoration of cultural
heritage: Prof. Dr. Oliviu Boldura and conservat‐
or‐restorers Anca Dinã, Magdalena Drobotã and
Teodora Poiatã. This workshop was the first of a
series which is part of an awareness campaign to
draw attention of the general public to conserva‐
tion issues. The course took place during the four
consecutive Saturdays of March, in several loca‐
tions in order to offer participates a variety of
examples and as diverse information as possible.
A new edition will take place later this year and
will follow the same schedule.
The first two meetings were held at the UNA Gal‐
lery. To introduce the participants into the con‐
servation world, more precisely, to get them ac‐
quainted with the basics of paintings conserva‐
tion, examples of well established monuments
from several areas of the country were shown
e‐conservation 25
Review by Anca Dinã and Teodora Poiatã
March 5, 12, 19 and 26, 2011
Bucharest, Romania
EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOP:DISCOVERING RESTORATION, TREASURING THE ORIGINAL
REVIEWS
First meeting of the series, at the UNA Gallery.An introduction into the basics of paintings conservation.
Organiser:
Art Conservation Support (ACS)http://acs.org.ro/
first. From the altar to the narthex, up to the towers
and around the church, to the exterior mural deco‐
ration, participants were walked through inter‐
esting topics such as what is a wall painting, what
kind of "problems" it can have and how they are
normally "treated". Demonstrations were made
on specially prepared replicas and the public was
invited to experiment simple operations performed
with reversible materials.
The second meeting was dedicated to artistic com‐
ponents and movable assets. Examples such as
icons on panel and canvas paintings were shown
to the participants in order to illustrate how the
original matter evolves from the moment it is
created until it reaches the bench of restoration.
The direct contact with real works of art was a great
way to analyze closely each of the raised matters.
In the third Saturday, the meeting was hosted by
the National Museum of History where, courtesy
of the head of the research department, Mr. Ghe‐
orghe Niculescu and his team. Here the import‐
ance and complexity of the scientific research and
the role that it plays in conservation was explained.
An introduction into analytical techniques was
given, followed by practical demonstrations. The
meeting ended with a lecture on how to take care
of the objects with historic and aesthetic value
that are in our private collections. General infor‐
mation on best preservation practices was given.
The fourth and last meeting was held in the warm
ambient of the Stavropoleos Monastery. This 18th
century monument, located right in the heart of
Bucharest, has managed to remain a peaceful place
in spite of the heavy traffic and high buildings
26 e‐conservation
Panel and canvas paintings were shown to the participants to exemplify degradations and the conservation treatment.
REVIEWS
MNIR's laboratories and the Lapidarium Hall. Understanding the role of science in conservation.
THE 15th SYMPOSIUM ON
MEDITERRANEAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Catania, Sicily
March 3‐5, 2011
Organised by:Catania University, Sicily and the General
Association of Mediterranean Archaeology (GAMA)
Review by Hakan Öniz and Çiğdem Külekçioğlu
The fifteenth annual Symposium on Mediterran‐
ean Archaeology (SOMA) held in Catania was or‐
ganized by the 566 years old University of Catania
and supported by the General Association of Medi‐
terranean Archaeology (GAMA).
SOMA, among other conferences and symposiums
on archaeology, represented a step forward by its
two fundamental aspects: first of all, it covers a
wide geography and time span; then, it is also an
surrounding it. The evolution in time of this monu‐
ment and its conservation was presented by the
special guest Prof. Dan Mohanu, coordinator of
the conservation project for the mural paintings
of this monument. The extremely useful explana‐
tions given in situ were then followed by a visit to
the monastery library and its collection of valu‐
able historic objects.
The feedback received at the end of the course was
very encouraging. From the questionnaire filled
by the participants regarding their experience
we learned that the general public appreciates
the opportunity to learn more about our field,
especially to get a sneak peek into real conserva‐
tion laboratory and have contact with authentic
works of art undergoing restoration.
Those interested in more than just these few words
about the project "Discovering Restoration, Treas‐
uring the Original" are invited to join us in the next
session, which will take place again later this year.
e‐conservation 27
REVIEWS
In the last meeting of the series, Prof. Dan Mohanu wasinvited to present the conservation project of the muralpaintings from Stavropoleos Monastery.
About the authors: Anca Dinã and Teodora Poiatã
are conservator‐restorers and two of the founders
of Art Conservation Support (ACS), a Romanian non‐
profit association dedicated to raise awareness about
conservation of cultural heritage.
Group photo of the participants.
opportunity for the participants to get acquainted
with regions, material cultures, and archaeological
debates unrelated to their area and period of spe‐
cialization. The scope of a conference on archae‐
ology is mostly limited with a given period, region
or branch of investigation narrows the spectrum of
the participants. SOMA, in this respect, gathers all
the researchers specialized on the Mediterranean
region and offers to the archaeologists who can
barely cope with following the extensive literature
on their area of specialization, the opportunity to
have a relatively complete picture on this wide
geography that has been the core of great civili‐
sations and intensive interactions throughout the
human history.
Secondly, SOMA promotes the policy of encour‐
aging young researchers to present their papers
and posters in a friendly atmosphere to an inter‐
national audience. This year, as in the previous
ones, several MA and PhD students not only gained
their first experience of giving a presentation in
an international symposium but also received
feedback from prominent specialists in order to
improve the quality of their thesis.
This year, the symposium reached the maximum
number of participants and presentations. In two
days, 165 papers in English, divided in four sessions
according to the period and the field of investig‐
ation, were presented concurrently in four differ‐
ent halls of the Monastery of San Nicolò l’Arena
that hosts the Faculty of Humanities of the Uni‐
versity of Catania. The orientation skills of the
participants was tested in the labyrinth‐like
corridors of this 500 years old astonishing late
baroque monument that is one of the biggest Be‐
nedictine Monasteries in Europe and a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
The first session of the symposium was reserved to
Classical Archaeology. While the presentations of
REVIEWS
28 e‐conservation
Poster from a photographic exhibition on Archaeology in Turkey.
the first day were predominantly about Anatolian
sites, those of the second day comprised mostly
the sites in Italy and North Africa, as well as the
interactions and similar traits in the Mediterranean
region. On the first day of the session A, the west‐
ern archaeologists had the opportunity to get a
general idea about the surveys and excavations
carried out in Asia Minor comprising the Greek,
Hellenistic and Roman periods. The paper of Ahmet
Yaras on the famous health center of Allianoi, that
unfortunately has been submerged underwater
because of a dam construction after being subject
to serious debates in Turkey, was definitely the
highlight of the first day classical archaeology
session. In the same session, at the second day,
the paper of Veronica Iacomi and Emanuele Cas‐
agrande on the distribution pattern of Rhodian
amphorae in the late Hellenistic Period revealed
clearly the intensity and complexity of interre‐
gional trade over a wide geography reaching the
Red sea and Bactria, in a period of multi centred
political atmosphere, through the chronological
seriation of Rhodian stamps and the historical
and stratigraphic analysis of some sites.
The preclassical archaeology was the theme of the
second session. This time, the first day the Sicili‐
an sites constituted the majority of the treated
areas; in the second day different geographic re‐
gions were encompassed, including Asia Minor,
Crete, Italy, Cyprus and so on. The paper of Biazzo
Lorenzo on textiles in early Bronze Age Sicily was
important for reminding us that there are still so
many untouched or slightly investigated topics in
archaeology: one of them is the textile production,
particularly in the preclassical period, which is
an ironic situation considering that the artefacts
related to the textile production are the common
findings of any excavation. This topic, which has
only begun to be investigated after 90s thanks to
the pioneering works of the Centre for Textile Re‐
search in Copenhagen, has a lot to promise taking
into consideration the scarcity of published ma‐
terial on this issue.
The third session was focused on History, Epi‐
graphy, Numismatics and Medieval Archaeology
and introduced nice examples of cooperation of
archaeology with the methodology of philology
and history. Although the proportion of the papers
with topics on Late Roman Empire Period in Asia
Minor and Late Antique period in Sicily was signi‐
ficantly high, three successive presentations about
the Vandals who dominated the Mediterranean as
a serious threat against the Roman Empire between
mid 5th and mid 6th centuries, were highly instruct‐
ive since they revealed the complex economic and
commercial system adopted by the Vandals whom
we are used to consider just as a community of
skilled warriors.
The forth and last session was devoted to two
different topics, namely “Archaeology and Sci‐
REVIEWS
e‐conservation 29
ences” on the first day and “Underwater and naval
archaeology, historiography, museography” on
the second. The application of GIS, spectroscopic
techniques, virtual reconstruction, 3D photo‐
modelling, facial reconstruction and the emphasis
given on creating databases changed dramatically
in the last 30 years the definition and methodo‐
logy of archaeology, introducing computer science
into archaeological research and creating digit‐
alized information. The project of Trapeza presen‐
ted by Alessandra Cilio mentioning the database
created for the domestic pottery in Sicily from the
Archaic to the Hellenistic period is a good example
to denote the contribution of forming such data‐
bases to interpret the corpus of ceramics that are
difficult to deal with through traditional methods.
Aysun Altunöz Yonuk put emphasis on the cooper‐
ation of forensic anthropology, the art of sculpture
and archaeology, in order to reconstruct the face
of unearthed skulls. Massimiliano Limoncelli and
Guiseppe Scardozzi presented a good example of
modern methodology in dealing with architectural
remains in which they showed that even the scanty
remains can provide enough data necessary for
the virtual reconstruction of the past through the
use of modern prospection methods.
The first topic of the next day was underwater ar‐
chaeology. Hakan Öniz presented at first the pre‐
liminary results of the ongoing survey at the coast‐
line of Antalya region in Turkey, a country that is
surrounded by seas crucial for the transportation
of humans and ideas over thousands of years and
where underwater investigations are ironically
scarce. Following this, Mr. Öniz mentioned about
one of the great archaeological discoveries in Tur‐
key in the last decades: the ancient city of Batho‐
nea excavated by Sengul Aydıngun and its harbour
investigated by Hakan Öniz at Kucukcekmece Lake
in Istanbul. The paper of Vesna Zmaic, from the
International Center for Underwater Archaeology
in Zadar, was impressive in terms of richness of
wrecks in Eastern Adriatic and inspiring regarding
the intensiveness of underwater investigations
in Croatia. The attempt of Eduard Ble Gimeno to
visualise a portion of the Second Punic War that
we know in detail through the work of Polybius by
the investigation of archaeological evidences in
the northeast coastline of Iberian Peninsula might
be a good model for the future attempts to test the
written historical sources through archaeological
investigations.
The high amount of papers impeded attending all
of the presentations. The ones mentioned above
are just selected examples among many other pres‐
entations that are without any doubt the result of
rigorous work, wherefore the publication of the
symposium proceedings should definitely find its
place in the personal libraries.
The symposium was not limited to paper present‐
ations. A poster session was held in the Monastery
comprising archaeological, archaeometric, ethno‐
archaeological and architectural investigations
done primarily in Sicily and in the rest of Italy but
also in Spain and other areas within the Mediter‐
ranean region.
On the last day, the participants attended a poster
and photography exhibition entitled “Archaeology
in Turkey” at Paoli Orsi Regional Archaeological
Museum, following a nice trip to Syracuse and the
island of Ortigia where they witnessed a small yet
impressive portion of the archaeological remains
in Sicily. The exhibition, organised by Catania Uni‐
versity and Eastern Mediterranean University and
supported by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
of Turkey and the General Association of Mediter‐
ranean Archaeology, was held between the 5th and
21st of March, 2011. The posters included mostly
the Classical and Medieval sites of Anatolia and gave
a basic idea to the participants about some of the
current archaeological investigations in Turkey.
REVIEWS
30 e‐conservation
Such an intensive program is realized through the
strenuous efforts of the organizing and scientific
committees of the symposium, as well as the stu‐
dents of Catania University who worked voluntarily
at the registration and information desk. The or‐
ganizing committee was headed by Assoc. Prof.
Pietro Militello (Catania University) and Dr. Hakan
Öniz (Eastern Mediterranean University and GAMA)
and composed of Ceyda Öztosun (GAMA and East‐
ern Mediterranean University), Dr. Davide Tanasi,
Dr. Francesca Buscemi, Çiğdem Külekçioğlu (Boga‐
zici University) and Ali Kılıncbay (Eastern Mediter‐
ranean University). The scientific committee was
composed of: from the Catania University, Assoc.
Prof. Pietro Maria Militello, Assoc. Prof. E. Felici,
Assoc. Prof. M. Frasca and Assoc. Prof. P. Mazzoleni;
from the Selçuk University, Prof. Ahmet Adil Tırpan,
Assoc. Prof. Asuman Baldıran and Assist. Prof. Er‐
tekin Doksanaltı (GAMA); and Dr. Ehud Galili (Is‐
rael Antiquity Authority), Assoc. Prof. Carole Gillis
(University of Lund), and Dr. Evanghelos Kyriakidis
(University of Kent).
SOMA, hosted in previous years by several univer‐
sities from different countries including Kiev Uni‐
versity in Ukraine, Eastern Mediterranean Univer‐
sity in North Cyprus, Selcuk University, Istanbul
Technical University and Başkent University in Tur‐
key, Trinity College, Institute of Archaeology Uni‐
versity College of London, Universities of Glasgow,
Liverpool, Sheffield, Birmingham, and Edinburgh
in UK, will be held for the sixteenth time on March
1‐3, 2012 in Italy, host kindly provided by the Uni‐
versity of Florence. Following this organization, the
17th SOMA will be organized by the Russian Under‐
water Cultural Heritage Centre in April 2013. Both
organizations will be gladly supported by GAMA.
HAKAN ÖNIZEastern Mediterranean University
Contact: Hakan.oniz@emu.edu.tr
ÇIĞDEM KÜLEKÇIOĞLUBogazici University
Contact: cigdemkulekcioglu@gmail.com
During the poster session.
REVIEWS
e‐conservation 31
32 e‐conservation
REVIEWS
The annual Christmas Conservation Matters in
Wales Conference was held at Cynon Valley Mu‐
seum and Gallery Aberdare South Wales, on 15th
December 2010. The conference was organized by
National Museum Wales, The Federation of Mu‐
seums and Art Galleries of Wales and Cardiff Uni‐
versity. This year’s conference was titled “Conser‐
vation: Added Value” and consisted of seven pres‐
entations from a range of professionals working
across Wales and England.
The first of the presentations was from Emily O’Reil‐
ly, Senior Paper Conservator at National Museum
Wales, entitled “Place & Chips: reconstructing a
sketchbook ‐ but how do we display it?”. Emily
spoke about the challenges surrounding the dis‐
play of a sketchbook by Francis Place drawn in
1678. Emily explained that some of the drawings
were made from two or more separate sketches
joined together and then attached to a secondary
support of late 18th early 19th century woven pa‐
per. The sketches were removed from the second‐
ary mounts, this revealed that some of the pages
with sketches on either side were actually a con‐
tinuation of the first page and so formed a double‐
page spread. The sketches did not need extensive
treatment and were not washed.
It was decided not to display the sketches in a
traditional gallery setting, as this would have
had limited the number of sketches that could be
viewed. The decision was made to scan and digit‐
ally stitch the sketches back together, so that the
two sides could be shown as a whole and reveal
the panorama views drawn in 1678. Although the
conservation methods used on these sketches are
well established, scanning and digitally stitching
the sketches back together made a huge differ‐
ence to their display. These sketches can be viewed
at URL. Well worth a look!
Next up was David Pearson from Cardiff University.
David recently graduated from Cardiff University
with a BSc in the Conservation of Archaeological
and Museum Objects. He is now a conservator work‐
ing at Cardiff University. David’s Presentation was
titled ‘A Very Odd Dice: Reconstructing a Roman
Bone Dice’. David was given a Bone dice from New‐
port Museum as a project in his second year at
Cardiff. The dice had been on display at Newport
museum when someone had taken the dice and
decided to see how it would role. Needless to say
the dice was not in a good condition when it came
to David. In order to establish the level of damage
David drew a map of the dice highlighting dam‐
CONSERVATION MATTERS IN WALES
Review by Sarah Lawrence
December 15, 2010
Aberdare, Wales
Organised by:National Museum Wales, The Federation of
Museums and Art Galleries of Wales and
Cardiff University
Roman bone dice before damage.
The Value of Volunteers”, CSI standing for Con‐
servation Science Investigation. Courtney presen‐
ted the CSI: Sittingbourne Project. In May 2008,
archaeologists in Sittingbourne discovered 229
graves and around 2500 objects. This discovery
was of great signifi‐cance to the local community
but presented a massive conservation challenge.
In order to meet that challenge local volunteers
were utilized to help with the conservation work.
CSI: Sittingbourne was set up with help from loc‐
al professionals, local historians and the wider
community.
The volunteers were trained by conservators and
observed closely to make sure they had sufficient
skills to work on the objects. The project was a mas‐
sive success and could not have achieved all it did,
e‐conservation 33
REVIEWS
aged and missing areas. He decided consolidation,
adhesion and gap filling would be required to pre‐
pare the dice for going back on display. The dice
was injected twice with Butvar B98 5% Ethanol
to consolidate the bone. The adhesive used was
Lascaux 498HV and David then used Butvar B98
again along with micro balloons at a ratio of 1:3
for the gap fill and in painted the gap fills using
acrylic paints. The end result was impressive!
This dice defiantly benefited from conservation
and has had ‘value added’ to it especially from
the public’s perspective.
The next talk was given by Juliet Clay and was ti‐
tled ‘The dilemmas of a Book Conservator’. Juliet
is a self employed book conservator. Her talk ex‐
amined what dilemmas a book conservator can
come up against and how she overcame them.
Juliet takes the natural approach to conservation,
this means no solvents. Instead of synthetic
adhesives she tends to opt for natural adhesives,
animal glues, egg white and milk. Because of this
approach, Juliet does not need so much of the large
or expensive equipment an objects conservator
may otherwise need, such as a fume cupboard, etc.
Juliet works closely with her clients to achieve the
best option for them and the objects.
Courtney Buxey Brown gave the next talk. This was
on the wonderfully named “CSI: Sittingbourne ‐
Roman bone dice after rolling incident.
Roman bone dice during and after intervention.
without the help of the volunteers and the wider
community. If you wish to learn more about this
project please visit http://anglosaxoncsi.word‐
press.com/.
After lunch, the conference settled back down to
listen to Peter J. David’s talk titled “Conservators,
artist’s damage and value”. Peter is an accredited
ceramics conservator based in the South Wales
area and works on a large variety of ceramics. His
talk focused on how conservation can ‘add value’.
He has recently worked on contemporary ceramics,
illustrating the issues with these, for instance many
modern potters don’t glaze the ceramics and may
use materials such as car paint, which cause prob‐
lems like yellowing and can limit the treatment
options available to the conservator. He went on
to pose the question how do we define value? Is it
historical personal, rarity or are these all inter‐
linked? He also asked how does conservation ‘add
value’? It can have intangible results with some
people saying ‘it looked like it did before’, although
the structure is now sound. Peter also discussed
how much information can be found whilst con‐
serving an object and how this may add value to the
object. Peter’s talks are always very interesting and
ask important questions, opening up discussion
and debate, an important part of the conservation
process.
Next up was Sarah Paul, who is currently working
as Collections Adviser on Museums Archives and
Libraries Wales (CyMAL), with a talk called “Sig‐
nificance Model for Assessing Collections”. Sarah
spoke about Cymal’s plan to develop a significance
model for use on museum’s collections. Cymal
plan to develop the tools to help museums to
assess, and understand the significance of their
collections. They are aiming to undertake a pilot
project in one museum. Key values of this model
would be historic, artistic or aesthetic, scientific
or research potential, and social or spiritual sig‐
34
REVIEWS
nificance. This model could be applied to single
objects and to entire collections so it can be ad‐
apted to fit any size of collection. Sarah explained
that the model is aimed to aid curators and col‐
lections managers in assessing the importance
and relevance of their collection, and would also
help with the disposal of objects as well as acces‐
sioning.
The last speaker of the day was David Leigh, con‐
servation consultant. David’s talk was “Another
step towards professionalism? Conservation
standards”. He spoke on the importance of de‐
veloping standards in conservation. This topic is
most important in the development conservation
as a profession. David explained what is meant
by the term standard, how they are relevant in
many other professions and how they are vital
for the conservation community. However, he
also explained that standards are not meant to
control or suffocate conservators. Instead, they
are intended to be tools to help and guide, often
being supported by industry and reflecting cur‐
rent issues and practice.
The Conservation Matters in Wales’s Conferences
are always fascinating and well worth the £20
(£10 usually for students). This conference was
no exception. The next Conservation Matters in
Wales will be held on the 16th June 2011 in Na‐
tional Museum Cardiff Cathays Park.
SARAH LAWRENCEConservator‐restorer
Contact: sarahlawrence6@hotmail.co.uk
Sarah Lawrence graduated from Cardiff Univer‐
sity with a BSc in the Conservation of Archaeolo‐
gical and Museum Objects. She is currently work‐
ing as Historic Interiors Conservator for National
Museum Wales St. Fagans.
e‐conservation
Are you reading this?So is everybody else...
econservationline
For advertisingand other information on publicity,
please contact
general@e‐conservationline.com
and request a copy of our mediakit.
even
tsThe events in this section are linked to
the original homepage of the organisers
or to the calendar of events at
http://www.conservationevents.com.
Click on "Read more..." to find out
details about each event.
Aligning National Approaches toDigital Preservation
Date: May 23‐25 Read more...
Place: Tallinn, Estonia
This conference intends to provide a participa‐
tory forum for information exchange and fo‐
cused work on these topics for the purpose of
building international collaborations to sup‐
port the preservation of our collective digital
memory. The outcome will be a strategic align‐
ment of national approaches to enable new
forms of international cooperation and an
edited volume that documents an action plan
for building collaboration among interested
digital preservation initiatives.
4th symposium on PreservingArchaeological Remains in situ(PARIS4)
Date: May 23–26 Read more...
Place: Copenhagen, Denmark
After fifteen years of research and practical
application the time is ripe to evaluate the
efficacy of in situ preservation as a means of
managing the cultural resource. The key aim
of the conference is to present and discuss the
latest knowledge, focusing on long term studies
of degradation and monitoring of archaeolo‐
gical sites preserved in situ in urban, rural and
marine environments.
May
2011
From Can to Canvas
Early uses of house paints by Picasso and hiscontemporaries in the first half of the 20th century
Date: May 25‐27 Read more...
Place: Marseille and Antibes, France
This three‐day symposium will be the first to deeply
delve into the making of early house paints (and other
non‐artists' paints) and the meanings associated with
their use by artists before 1950. Studies of Ripolin®
brand house paint, said to have been used extensively
by Pablo Picasso (1881‐1973) and his contemporaries
will receive special attention.
May
2011
AIC 39th Annual Meeting: Ethos Logos Pathos
Ethical Principles and Critical Thinking in Conservation
Date: May 31 ‐ June 3 Read more...
Place: Philadelphia, PA, USA
The goal of this year's meeting is to examine how ethics,
logic, and perception guide conservation decisions. As‐
sumptions long held in the practice of conservation are
being challenged by the modern world. Environmental
sustainability, economic drivers, art as entertainment,
the use of cultural heritage, and public access concerns
changing the practice of conservation.
Re‐Thinking Technology in Museums 2011
Date: May 25‐27 Read more...
Place: Marseille and Antibes, France
In recent years, the increased presence of mobile smart
appliances and the growth of social media have impacted
on the strategies deployed by museums and exhibition
sites to invite, engage and connect with visitors and stake‐
holders. This conference will reflect on how museums/
galleries and visitors have been affected from an experi‐
ential point of view.
e‐conservation
e‐conservation
Conservation Matters in WalesUse and Misuse of Objects
Date: June 16 Read more...
Place: Cardiff, UK
This one day conference will consist of six
presentations, among which: "Working Machinery, Care
and Maintenance" by Paul Meredith (National Museum
Wales); "Tabernacl Chapel ceiling Pontypridd: Users and
abusers, past present and future" by Katie Hebborn
(Cardiff University); "Bringing National Trust Properties
to Life" by Clare Stoughton Harris (The National Trust).
University training of restoration withinthe European educational context
Date: June 1‐2 Read more...
Place: Litomysl, Czech Republic
The Colloquium will be organized in connection with the
comparative project of study methods used in conservation
/ restoration and syllabus of study at prestigious educa‐
tional institutions in Europe. Topics will include trends in
contemporary university education in the context of res‐
toration approaches in heritage preservation, alternative
forms of education for conservators/restorers, etc.
June
2011
EVENTS
June
2011
3D: digitise, deliver, discover
Date: June 6 Read more...
Place: Manchester, UK
Unlike most events of this kind which tend to be highly
specialised, 3D will be wide‐ranging and aimed at a broader
target audience, to include academics and students,
technical experts and digital novices with an interest in
digitisation. Over the course of the day, through a series
of case studies and panel discussions, we will explain,
develop and harness the needs of the initiator, maker
and user of digital content by exploring various themes.
ICE Forum (London 2011)International Curation Education Forum
Date: June 29 Read more...
Place: London, UK
The aim of this event is to provide an international
meeting place for educators, trainers, students and
practitioners of digital curation to: discuss, evaluate,
swap knowledge, and potentially improve practice
around an effective curricula and course design; the
production of advice and guidance materials, and the
creation and use of textbooks and scholarly material.
Prehistory at the cross roads of scienceand conservation
Date: June 18 ‐ July 2 Read more [pdf]...
Place: Quinson (Alpes de Haute‐Provence), France
Prehistoric sites represent assets facing serious challenges
in terms of research, interpretation and conservation,
and a UNESCO World Heritage Thematic Programme on
Prehistory was recently launched to address them in
terms of good practices. The Intensive Program aims at
developing a dialogue between scientists, teaching‐staff,
heritage professionals and students who will undertake
a career in such specialized fields.
Heritage ’11
The Second International Fair of conservation, restoration,
restoration of castles and historical buildings
Date: June 1‐3 Read more...
Place: Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia
The aim of the fair is to draw attention to local and
public cultural heritage in Serbia and the necessity of
raising awareness of the need for its protection in order
to preserve it for future generations, as well as how to
prepare for the use of funds of the European Union for
the Protection of Cultural Heritage.
37
e‐conservation magazine offers the possibility to publish bilingual articles in the html version. Articles inEnglish may also be published in French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian, at authors request.
arti
cles
AREAS OF PUBLISHING
Conservation TreatmentMural Painting
Painting
Stone
Sculpture
Textiles
Paper / Documents
Photography
Metals
Tile / Ceramic / Glass
Furniture
Music instruments
Ethnographic assets
Archeological objects
Conservation ScienceScientific research
Material studies and characterisation
Analytical techniques
Technology development
Biodeterioration
State‐of‐the‐art
Reviews
Preventive ConservationTheoretic principles
Case studies
Documentation in ConservationStandardisation
Documentation methods
Data management
Conservation TheoryEthics
Conservation History
Art History, Iconography,
Iconology, Chemistry, Physics,
Biology, Photography, Cultural
Management, Museology,
Computer Science, Legislation and
Juridical Processes, Conservation
Policies
and any other field applied to
Conservation and Restoration
of works of art.
Find out more: www.e‐conservationline.com
e‐conservation
OLD INTERVENTIONS
& NEW POSSIBILITIES
Applications of digital technologyin re‐conservation
This article examines re‐conservation of archaeological objects and presents the main
problematic aspects involved in such complex projects. Their analysis manifests the
technological needs and raises ethical issues. A methodological direction is proposed,
based on digital technology, which provides solutions to re‐treatment problems and
alternatives to traditional techniques. It does not intent to set principles, but to approach
high‐tech re‐conservation from a different perspective, following contemporary
conservation theory in order to determine the changes introduced to conservation from
the application of digital technologies.
By Eleni Kotoula
Introduction
The felicitous remark that a conservation interven‐
tion is an open window to the artefact’s past and
one of the most influential parameters for its fu‐
ture, underlines the necessity to fully understand
every operation as an episode of unique signifi‐
cance during its lifetime [1]. The increasing in‐
terest for earlier conservation treatments and
de‐restoration dilemma are thus justified [2].
Conservation in cooperation with conservation
science is obliged to meet the needs of successful
re‐treatment. Conservation theorists have discussed
the multi‐level relation of science and technology
with conservation. Physical sciences developed
techniques for diagnostic examination, archaeo‐
metry and characterisation of materials and the
application of scientific methodology in conserva‐
tion enforced objectivity. Nevertheless, the rela‐
tively unbalanced contribution of science in ‘resolv‐
ing dramatic conservation problems’ or, in other
words, the tendency to ‘keep away from the dan‐
gerous domain of practical conservation’ was cri‐
ticised in conservation literature, as well as the
damage caused by the unjustified sense of superi‐
ority of technology and, as a result, the ‘modern‐
isation’ of materials and processes without accurate
scientific justification [3]. Practical techniques
that meet the needs of complex treatment dilem‐
mas and bridge the gap between pure scientific
knowledge and useful solutions should be deve‐
loped, achieving high‐tech conservation with high‐
efficiency [4]. Research in the field of digital tech‐
nology is directed towards this approach. For ex‐
ample, at a European level the 3D‐COFORM project
develops 3D documentation and other applications
in cultural heritage professionals’ work [5].
Virtual and physical replication
Examining other methods of interpretation outside
the object offers an opportunity to conservators
to ‘understand the object better and to incorporate
a better interpretation of it into the treatment’,
considering that success in decision making de‐
pends on the conservators’ ability to distinguish
the ideal state [1]. Digital technology offers the
tools for the evaluation of such an interpretation.
Virtual and/or physical reconstruction comes in
accordance even with the strictest material fetish‐
ists concepts [6]. There is no doubt that replica‐
tion, either physical or virtual, acts as a preventive
conservation measure and contributes significantly
in education and dissemination. Fragile, special
and rare artefacts sometimes are not allowed to
travel for security and safety reasons, contrary to
physical replicas and virtual artefacts. Worth men‐
tioning is that the visual or written records are
responsible for the preservation of a vast amount
of knowledge from previous generations. Thanks
to replicas of artefacts, information related to
cultural heritage has been saved after natural
disasters or wars. The best approach in cases of
impossible preservation, such as uncontrollable
environmental conditions and extremely bad con‐
servation state, is to record, copy and store se‐
curely the replica or to replace the original with
the replica [7].
Digitisation and virtual reconstruction/restoration
of artefacts for conservation purposes is proposed
in various cases such as extreme dimensions and
weight, as well as in case of extremely fragile and
unstable artefacts [8]. Advanced computational
techniques offer tools for virtual recreation by
means of high‐fidelity ultra‐realistic modelling
of artefacts. The almost limitless possibility for
representation of the ideal state or a series of
preceding or future states, gains value in case of
impracti‐ cable or ethically forbidden operations,
by providing an alternative solution to treatment
dilemmas. Also, virtual artefacts can improve
decision making and enrich or justify treatment
proposals. Virtual reconstruction can restore the
e‐conservation 41
APPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN RE‐CONSERVATION
aesthetic value of archaeological objects and si‐
multaneously enhance investigation and enable
better preservation. Digitisation and virtual re‐
construction of the current and the following state
fulfils documentation requirements and provides
better alternatives to traditional techniques. In
cases of physical reconstructions, the three‐dimen‐
sional model can map the correct position of each
fragment, instead of labelling. Conservation hy‐
pothesis can be tested virtually, avoiding the hand‐
ling required for traditional approaches. Other
promising options to be considered are the pho‐
tography‐based digital imaging techniques, such
as Reflection Transformation Imaging (RTI), be‐
cause they improve the accuracy of digital repres‐
entation and aid conservation [9]. PTM proved to
be a valuable tool and found numerous applica‐
tions in conservation recording and comparison,
analysis, representation and dissemination, in a
variety of material types [10].
Rapid prototyping has found numerous applica‐
tions in the cultural heritage sector [11]. It provides
solutions for documentation, and the condition
monitoring, structural gap filling storage and dis‐
play are superior to traditional moulding and cast‐
ing replication techniques because they do not
require contact with the original material. Previous
research gave encouraging results for gap‐filling
applications [12] while the experimentation for
colour enhancement [13] and control of the age‐
ing properties of rapid prototyping materials [14]
continues.
Documentation can be transferred to a new level
of excellence by means of digital technology. Tra‐
ditional recording or information preservation stra‐
tegies, namely drawing and photography, fail to
depict the amount of detail needed for conserva‐
tion purposes. Drawings and photographs are two‐
dimensional representations of three‐dimensional
objects, but digitisation and 3D modelling over‐
come this deficiency. Moreover, drawings depend
on the designer’s judgement. Consequently, the
level of objectivity of such records is questionable.
Non‐photorealistic rendering (NPR) presents a
more accurate record because it is influenced by
known computational limitations and not by un‐
predictable human perception.
Re‐conservation problems & High‐techConservation solutions
Excessive cleaning
Cleaning strategies have changed during the last
decades [15]. In the vast majority of previous
conservation, cleaning altered the appearance
of artefacts significantly by means of subtraction
of encrustations, corrosion layers, dust and other
particles depositions. For some material types,
such as bronze, excessive cleaning proved to be
responsible for severe damage [16]. Simultane‐
ously, deep cleaning destroyed data of great im‐
portance, such as residues of food in vessels, sensi‐
tive organic remains, engravings and inscriptions,
etc. For example, the archaeological evidence is
lost forever when pottery undergoes chemical
cleaning by means of strong acids solutions. Now‐
adays, semi‐, fully or non‐mineralised organic
matter as well as impressions on metals are sub‐
jected to thorough examination. However, Caple
reasonably states that previous generations un‐
derestimated this phenomenon and would have
proceeded to deep cleaning because for them ar‐
chaeological evidence consisted of different ele‐
ments [17]. A problem strongly related to the
change in conservation practice is the presence
of fragments that belong to the same artefacts
in different conservation states [18]. The identi‐
fication of fragments is a long‐lasting problem
in conservation. Sometimes it is impossible to
determine the correct positioning of each frag‐
ment or, even worse, to group some fragments
42 e‐conservation
ELENI KOTOULA
as parts of the same object. As a result, some frag‐
ments were deeply cleaned while others were left
in museum store‐rooms. Conservators face a prac‐
tical and ethical dilemma: aesthetics and/versus
authenticity and/versus preservation.
Virtual reconstruction offers almost limitless pos‐
sibilities for representation of preceding states,
which is useful in over‐cleaned artefacts and in
de‐conservation dilemmas. The treatment of re‐
cently discovered fragments, which belong to
deeply cleaned artefacts, can be focused on their
long‐term preservation, while the original appear‐
ance of the artefact can be appreciated in its di‐
gital version with respect to the authenticity.
Minimalist and anti‐minimalist opinions [19] co‐
exist, in accordance with ethics and contemporary
conservation theory, because this approach en‐
courages preservation of the original material and
presentation of its authentic appearance without
neglecting the history of the objects, expressed
via its previous restoration.
Extensive restorations:gap‐filling and retouching
Gap‐filling and retouching are among the most
common examples of extensive restorations, caus‐
ing aesthetic, structural and ethical problems. In
general, the aesthetics of restorations remain a
matter of subjective judgement and debate. Usu‐
ally the aesthetic result of an old restoration is
not satisfactory, not only due to the change in
taste but also to the presence of deficiencies, either
manufacture mistakes or deterioration effects.
Structural problems mainly derive from bad co‐
hesion between the original and the filling ma‐
terial, mainly caused by dimensional changes of
the filler, accompanied by cracks on the restored
gap. Consequently, there is a high possibility of
fracture and loss of original material. At the same
time, de‐restoration is a risky operation due to
e‐conservation 43
the application of physical forces and the use of
solvents. Moreover, even after removal of the pre‐
vious restoration, the artefact will have to face
another cycle of operations for gap‐filling purposes,
once again under physical and chemical pressure.
Traditional methods based on moulding and cast‐
ing techniques, require contact with the original
material endangering its safety. As a result, they
are not applicable in most fragile artefacts. Fur‐
thermore, extensive restoration raises ethical is‐
sues. Sometimes the filling hides original material,
which is not acceptable according to conservation
ethics. Another interesting case is the discovery
of fragments that belong to already filled areas
of artefacts [20]. The risk of the removal of the
restoration and the potential benefit of re‐treat‐
ment should be taken under consideration without
underestimating the significance of the previous
restoration for the object’s biography, even if it is
not appropriate by contemporary museum standards.
In artefacts with extensive gap filling and retouch‐
ing, virtual reconstruction restores the historical
truth. Advanced techniques, such as CAT (Com‐
puterized Axial Tomography) scanning, can be
used to reveal details of the original object, hid‐
den under the restoration, and as a result to rep‐
resent a state closer to the pre‐treatment one.
Computer‐aided fragment matching is useful for
decision making in case of de‐conservation oper‐
ations, where manual match testing is impossible.
In a recent article, matching of fragments based
on colour, shape and surface normal characteristics
leads to better results for deteriorated artefacts
than other computational approaches [21].
The virtual artefact overcomes aesthetic problems
of previous repairs, without exposing the original
artefact to risks of removal of old conservation
materials. In general, the debate about the aes‐
thetics of restorations and the de‐conservation
dilemma can be re‐examined virtually, enabling
APPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN RE‐CONSERVATION
more objective decision making. If the structural
stability of the object is in danger, 3D modelling
and rapid prototyping can lead to the manufac‐
turing of a gap‐filling, without contact with the
object, reducing re‐restoration risks.
Inappropriate materials and treatmentmethodology
Collections condition surveys reveal failure of a
long list of conservation materials and techniques
widely used in the past as well as modern ones.
Joining problems, one of the most typical opera‐
tion applied in a large variety of material, demon‐
strates perfectly the negative effects of recon‐
struction failure. Even modern products’ deteri‐
oration, such as acrylic and vinyl adhesives, leads
to discoloration (yellowing), white blooming,
changes in volatility, solubility, tensile strength
and pH, decay and distress [22]. Finally, the ob‐
ject collapses, usually accompanied by loss of ori‐
ginal material and alteration of the fragments’
outline. The fracturing separates minor or small
parts of the fragment, adhered to the damaged
adhesive. This action signals an irreversible alter‐
ation, once it is impossible to remove adhesives
totally [23]. Whether this alteration threatens the
re‐treatability of the object depends on the extent
of lost material, considering that joining minor
pieces is impracticable. Virtual reconstruction of
artefacts and advanced preservation of archae‐
ological evidence can limit the use of chemicals,
such as adhesives, and, as a result, the amount
of reconstruction failure.
Fracture depends also on the insufficient support
provided to the material through direct and in‐
direct operations. Due to the lack of preventive
conservation measures (indirect actions) artefacts
excavated and conserved in the past followed a
considerably rapid aging. Mishandling and inap‐
propriate storage and display are factors of long‐
term deterioration, responsible for the vast ma‐
jority of damages after excavation. Apart from
the control of environmental conditions, appro‐
priate packaging is necessary in order to prevent
further deterioration. Artefacts found complete
and in good conservation state can suffer irre‐
versible damage due to bad environmental con‐
ditions and packaging materials. Inadequate cush‐
ioning introduces physical forces and can damage
objects. Fragments stored without special care are
usually found disintegrated after some years. Fresh
breaks appear and the outline of the fragments
changes due to loss of material. Virtual reconstruc‐
tion can limit the amount of handling and pace
the rate of deterioration. Rapid prototyping can
provide a packaging solution and consequently
can enhance preventive conservation measures.
Restoration such as gab‐filling falls in the category
of direct operations, which influence reconstruc‐
tion failure. The expansion of the ideas of minimum
intervention in the previous decades found fanatic
supporters and influenced everyday conservation
practice dramatically. Gap‐filling operations are
blamed as unnecessary interventions, which threat‐
en the authenticity. But the replacement of lost
material is crucial because it restores the object’s
aesthetic integrity in addition to its structural
strength [24]. The significance of the later was
ignored and limited structural support was provided
to incomplete artefacts or joined fragments res‐
ulting in fracturing, usually followed by further
damage. The successful implementation of adapt‐
able gap‐fillings, without affecting the material
integrity, will provide improved structural support
to fragile artefacts and, as a result, will limit sig‐
nificantly the amount of fracturing.
Discussion
The contemporary ideas of ‘minimal loss of poten‐
tial meanings’ [25] or ‘post‐minimal intervention’
44 e‐conservation
ELENI KOTOULA
[26] are embodied in the proposed re‐treatment
approach. The potential negative consequences
of conservation treatment, related both to the
material and to the non‐material aspect of arte‐
facts, are minimized. The interaction of the con‐
servator with the original physical artefact is lim‐
ited, reducing risks and potential damage. Worth
mentioning is that the human‐object interaction
follows decreasing rates in the last decades [27]
and was considered a characteristic feature of the
future conservator [3]. Virtual models of artefacts
enable better preservation and improve the re‐
treatability of original artefacts considerably. The
remedial operations on the authentic materials
are limited once revelation activities are mainly
executed virtually. The value of the object, its
intellectual meaning, is more protected and has
higher chances of correct interpretation because
the examination of the physical signs is enhanced
thanks to advances in digital tools. Thus, the origi‐
nal material is preserved in the most objective way
without being affected by subjective judgement.
Although the virtual artefact can be analysed and
interesting conclusions be reached, it fails to pre‐
serve the physical evidence of past civilisations [17].
Nevertheless, it also contributes in present and
future re‐investigation indirectly. The original
artefact is neither contaminated by chemicals
nor further deteriorated, so it is transferred in
an advanced re‐examinable state for future sci‐
entists. The potential benefit for material culture
specialists to study the virtual model offers the
opportunity for improved research, both qualit‐
atively and quantitatively.
The debate over the virtual versus the real expe‐
rience [28] is not synonymous to the debate over
the virtual versus the real artefact. The statement
that, by means of informational preservation, the
original object can become more dispensable for
some people [4] does not necessarily mean that
the original will be transformed to a less favour‐
able state. The virtual and the real are created to
fulfil different goals in different historical times
and under different circumstances, so their co‐
existence is necessary.
Conclusion
Digital technologies have vast potential in con‐
servation examination, analysis, interpretation,
treatment, documentation, presentation and dis‐
semination. Their application in re‐conservation
projects can be considered among the most in‐
teresting. The alternative methodology towards
re‐treatment presented in this article is strongly
influenced by recent developments in computer
science, but does not distance itself from conser‐
vation ethics. Not only it overcomes conservation
problems by providing alternative solutions, but
also addresses issues of interdisciplinary research.
This cooperative approach guides conservators to
problem solving and computer scientists to the
enhancement of digital technologies.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Dr. D. Ignatiadou, A. Kapizioni,
S. Athanasiadou and V. Michalopoulou of the Ar‐
chaeological Museum of Thessaloniki and to Dr.
G. Earl of the Archaeological Computing Research
Group of the University of Southampton.
References
[1] B. Appelbaum, Conservation Treatment Metho‐
dology, Butterworth‐Heinemann, Amsterdam/
Boston, 2007
[2] E. Pye, “Archaeological Conservation: Scientific
Practice or Social Process", in Conservation Prin‐
45e‐conservation
APPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN RE‐CONSERVATION
ciples, Dilemmas and Uncomfortable Truths,
Butterworth‐Heinemann, Oxford, 2009, pp.
129‐138
[3] A. Melucco Vaccaro, P. Coremans, G. Torraca,
and G. Urbani, “The Role of Science and Techno‐
logy”, in Historical and Philosophical Issues in
the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Getty
Conservation Institute, Los Angeles, 1996, pp.
424‐450
[4] S. Muñoz‐Viñas, Contemporary Theory of
Conservation, Butterworth‐Heinemann, Oxford,
2005
[5] D. Arnold, “3D‐COFORM: Tools and Expertise
for 3D Collection Formation”, in EVA 2009, 2009,
pp. 94‐99, available at URL [pdf]
[6] J. Ree, “Auto‐Icons”, in Conservation Princi‐
ples, Dilemmas and Uncomfortable Truths, But‐
terworth‐Heinemann, Oxford, 2009, pp. 1‐5
[7] C. Caple, Conservation Skills Judgement,
Method and Decision Making, Routledge, Lon‐
don, 2000
[8] A. Geary and E. Howe, “Three‐dimensional
documentation and virtual restoration of the
Lichfield Angel”, Journal for the Institute of
Conservation 32 (2) 2009, pp. 165‐179, doi:
10.1080/19455220903059875
[9] M. Mudge, C. Schroer, G. Earl, K. Martinez, H.
Pagi, C. Toler‐Franklin, S. Rusinkiewicz, G. Alma,
M. Wachowiak, M. Ashley, N. Matthews, T. Noble
and M. Dellepiane, “Principles and Practices of
Robust, Photography‐based Digital Imaging
Techniques for Museums”, The 11th International
Symposium on Virtual Reality, Archaeology and
Cultural Heritage VAST, The Louvre, Paris, 2010,
available at URL
[10] G. Earl, K. Martinez, T. Malzbender, “Archae‐
ological applications of polynomial texture map‐
ping: analysis, conservation and representation”,
Journal of Archaeological Science 2010, 37, 8,
pp. 2040‐2050, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2010.03.009,
available at URL
[11] J. A. Logan, R. L.Barclay, P. Bloskie, C. Newton,
and L. Selwyn, “Saving the Ferryland Cross: 3D
Scanning, Replication, and Anoxic Storage”, in
E. Williams and C. Peachey (ed.), The Conser‐
vation of Archaeological Materials: Current
Trends and Future Directions, BAR International
Series 2116, Archaeopresss, Oxford, 2010, pp.
127‐134
[12] M. Fantini, F. Crescenzio, F. Persiani, S. Benazzi,
and G. Gruppioni, “3D restituition, restoration
and prototyping of a medieval damaged skull”,
Rapid Prototyping Journal 14(5), 2008, pp. 318‐
324
[13] R. Scopigno, R. Pintus, E. Gobbetti, and P.
Cignoni, “Color Enhancement for Rapid Proto‐
typing”, The 9th International Symposium on
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age, Eurographics, 2008, pp. 9‐16, available at
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Ricarda, J.Lenz, and S. Irsen, “Ageing of acrylate‐
based resins for stereolithography: thermal and
humidity ageing behaviour studies”, Rapid Proto‐
typing 14(5), 2008, pp. 305‐317
[15] A. Oddy, “The Philosophy of Restoration:
New for Old”, Conserving Textiles: Studies in the
Honour of Agnes Timar‐Balazsy, ICCROM, 2009,
pp. 117‐123
[16] J. Basset and W.T. Chase, “Considerations in
the Cleaning of Ancient Chinese Bronze Vessels”,
ELENI KOTOULA
46 e‐conservation
Ancient & Historic Metals: Conservation and
Scientific Research, The J. Paul Getty Trust,
1994, pp. 63‐74
[17] C. Caple, “The Aims of Conservation”, in
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2009, pp. 25‐31
[18] D. Ignatiadou, personal communication,
2010
[19] E. Wetering, The surface of objects and mu‐
seum style, Getty Conservation Institute, Los
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[20] D. Ignatiadou, “Two cast glass vessels from
Derveni”, Sti mnimi Manoli Adronikou Etaireia
Makedonikon Spoudon, 1997, pp. 105‐114
[21] C. Toler‐Franklin, S. Rusinkiewicz, T. Funk‐
houser, T. Weyrich and B. Brown, “Multi‐Feature
Matching of Fresco Fragments”, ACM Transactions
on Graphics (Proc. SIGGRAPH Asia), 2010, avail‐
able at URL [pdf]
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ganic consolidants, adhesives, and coatings,
Butterworths, London, 1987
[23] S.P. Koob, "Poly (vinyl acetate) and acrylic
adhesives: a research update", in Holding it all
together ancient and modern approaches to join‐
ing, repair and consolidation, Archetype, London,
2009, pp. 113‐119
[24] S. Buys and V. Oakley, The Conservation and
Restoration of Ceramics, Butterworth‐Heinemann,
Oxford, 1993
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visited”, in Conservation principles, dilemmas
and uncomfortable truths, Butterworth‐Heine‐
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Centre for Sustainable Heritage, 2006
ELENI KOTOULAConservator‐restorer
Contact: e.t.kotoula@hotmail.com
Eleni Kotoula earned her BSc in Conservation
from the Technological Educational Institution of
Athens, Greece in 2007, her MSc in Archaeological
Computing (Virtual Pasts) from the University of
Southampton, UK in 2009. Her master thesis was
focused on virtual reconstruction and ageing ana‐
lysis of a glass, an enamelled metal and a painted
ceramic from the collection of the Archaeological
Museum of Southampton. She has worked as mu‐
seum conservator (painted surfaces, wood, bone,
textile, metal, glass, stone, ceramic), in monu‐
ments‐archaeological sites (wall painting, mor‐
tar, stone) and participated in research projects.
Her PhD examines the application of advanced
computational techniques for conservation docu‐
mentation, analysis, examination and presenta‐
tion of artefacts derived from the Derveni cemetery,
located in the Archaeological Museum of Thessa‐
loniki, Greece.
APPLICATIONS OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN RE‐CONSERVATION
47e‐conservation
MUSEUMS OF TECHNOLOGYBridges of cultural identity
By Johannis Tsoumas
Introduction
The importance of technology in the historical
development of the human race may prove to be
catalytic, as it seems to be the cornerstone of our
cultural architecture. The interest of this research
is focused on the cultural value of technology
museums worldwide: it does not have an unequi‐
vocal part nor is it limited by museology hermetic
clichés, as is often the case with museums of
different subjects of interest. Instead, it aims to
reveal its international dimensions by literally
breaking its national character.
Attention will be drawn to several elements which
will be observed through short, but pertinent
references to selected exhibit categories and a
number of views will be expressed in order to help
the reader realize the universal importance of these
cultural establishments that form the basis of in‐
stitutions, ideologies and experiences for the
whole humanity.
Technology and Culture
In History, the three major phases of human evol‐
ution, nomadic, agricultural and industrial ages,
determine the conditions of reflection which
arises when we approach the cultural, spiritual
and social identity of a nation. Looking at the
production of material life, we realize that this
seems to determine the general nature of the
political, social and spiritual context in which the
human species moves and develops. Thus, we can
suggest the Asiatic, the ancient, the feudal and the
modern production as the main eras of progress
of the cultural formation of a society [1]. All this
when seen through the prism of social anthropo‐
logy can readily refer to the value of technology
as a backbone for reading, analyzing and under‐
standing the culture of a society.
What is the role of technology in the effort to de‐
code this culturally‐formed social identity? What
are the historical criteria, evidence and physical
or ideological values which can help us reveal this
identity? Here the Museum of Technology is
presented as an important reference point in this
quest as it is considered an undeniable source of
information, tools, images, objects and activities
that opposes the status quo of other types of
museums around the world established since the
18th century [2].
The above axiom could be established by focusing
our interest in each of the above areas separately,
but this would be the beginning of a deep and
extensive research on building up a Museum of
Technology, which is beyond the objective of this
article. Instead, we will focus our attention on
49e‐conservation
MUSEUMS OF TECHNOLOGY
This article focuses in the meaning of Museums of Technology, not only as repositories of historic traces
of technology, but also in their importance as cultural evidence of a nation. Having focused on the
necessity of Museums of Technology as crucial means of culture and civilization up to the point that they
may consist in a landmark for the cultural identity of a people, this article tries to discuss the
understanding of the importance of the museum exhibits. However, in the final conclusions it is shown
that except from their local or even national value, these Museums can reveal, through their treasures,
the importance of culture universality which nowadays is meant to constitute the basic bridge of
civilization between all the nations and the peoples of the world.
only one, however basic, scientific field to under‐
stand some of the parameters, overt or otherwise,
that determine the establishment of this very
important institution. This field is the objects on
display.
Key areas of exhibits
This customarily conducted scientific process of
selecting objects in a museum broadly follows the
hereunder order: after collecting objects for dis‐
play among prospective objects, they are at first
evaluated while their registration and document‐
ation comes next. Their categorization and group‐
ing is the last, although important, stage of the
selection process and are always in relation not
only to species, but also to the number of avail‐
able items; namely, two items that are usually
formed depending on the region, culture, history,
public awareness and many more features [3].
However, what are the main areas or categories of
exhibits in a Museum of Technology under which an
object may be regarded as an agent of social and
technological culture? In order to illustrate this,
some few examples are mentioned.
One crucial area that includes objects representing
the technological, social and cultural identity of
a nation is the area of rural culture that can be
divided into two major areas: a) the traditional
technology which includes all the manual objects –
from a design and functional point of view – made
for producing processes based on the timeless
values of the vernacular tradition (figure 1) and b)
the modern technology, which includes objects,
services and/or systems that are indicative ele‐
ments of the contemporary development of
technical know‐how [4].
The energy sector is another important area for
obtaining information on the enrichment of sci‐
entific research and of correlation points of tech‐
nology with the cultural identity of a nation. Not
only do the systems, items or use from the past
constitute still references to the cultural identity of
a nation, but they also reveal their cross‐cultural
importance, making it one of the major areas of
world heritage (figure 2).
It is also worth noting the transport sector, which
stretches from the use of animals to the coaches
(figure 3) and from the flying machine of Leonardo
da Vinci to the achievements of the Right brothers.
The value of the railway era, which allowed the
transport of raw materials, products and human
populations based on steam power since the 1830’s,
is another important milestone [5].
50 e‐conservation
Figure 1. Various objects for rural activities from the early 20th
century. Technological Museum of Drama, Greece.
Figure 2. A collection of interwar machinery used in energyproduction. Technological Museum of Drama, Greece.
JOHANNIS TSOUMAS
51e‐conservation
Figure 3. Old but well maintained hand‐painted horse carriage from the early 20th century, southern Italy.
Figure 4. Home and work objects showing the traditional way of life of the late 19th century, Greece.
MUSEUMS OF TECHNOLOGY
Elements of folklore and popular tradition, his‐
torically documented through the state of the
art, but also from other scientific approaches,
such as ethnographic and anthropological ones,
arise from items on the domestic culture, also
comprising the case of cottage industry. Utensils,
equipment, appliances, tools and energy, among
many other elements, add up to the irrefutable
evidence of an encrypted microcosm, which can
be easily decoded in the show cases of a Museum
of Technology (figure 4).
Information, knowledge and briefing are values
that came to be the driving force of empowerment,
stimulation, fixation or control of the masses
and have their roots in the emergence of typo‐
graphy in the 15th century. Thus, documentation
which comprise from books to leaflets but also in
any other form or media, becomes another ambigu‐
ous area that can reveal the cultural identity of a
nation [6] (figure 5).
The communications sector is one of the most
important sectors that illustrate the evolution of
humanity as its history begins with the signs of
human life. Since the symbols of cave paintings,
but also since the primitive calendar until its
contemporary form, modern communications are
considered as primary factors that influence the
most important and fundamental facts of human
history. In fact, in most museums of Technology
this area covers the greatest proportion of the
historical evolution of telecommunications, es‐
pecially after 1830 when the first fixed semaphore
systems started to emerge during the Industrial
Revolution in Europe. Telegraph, telephone, radio,
52 e‐conservation
Figure 5 (above). Book engraving depicting the Taylor’ssteam pump, England, 1840.
Figure 6 (right). TV set reflecting the social, technologicaland aesthetical values of the late 1940’s America.
JOHANNIS TSOUMAS
television and later computer networks and the
Internet are among the major stations, from
both a historical and technological aspect, in
local, national or international course of the
concept of culture, being at the same time multi‐
dimensional sources of information for develop‐
ment [7] (figure 6).
An equally important assumption is the photo‐
graphic material that may complement worthy
information supplied by the original objects, and
enables us to know the broader context within
which the historical technological progress has
evolved. Of course, we refer to places that hosted
occasional industrial or small industrial units be‐
longing to the field of industrial architecture and
objects which are inaccessible. Of vital importance,
from a folk or anthropological perspective, is the
photographic material that documented the per‐
sonnel, either skilled or unskilled, as well as of
their lifestyle in general (figure 7).
The internationalization of a Museum ofTechnology
By analyzing the question of the evolution of
technology through a wide range of exhibits of a
museum of this type, we find specific types of
utilitarian objects whose existence is found in
many different, cultures in the course of centuries:
the tools such as scissors and knifes and the ac‐
cessories such as the coulter and straps. We may
also notice that their functionality, despite several
changes they have been subjected to from the
beginning of their emergence, remains unaltered,
certifying the classic sense of the vernacular tra‐
dition. This concept leads us to accept the temporal
dynamics of operational tools and accessories to
a large extent on the culture upon which not only
the current industrial principles relied, but most
important, the evolution of mankind. Thus, it is
not hard to find strong correlations between the
History of Technology and Anthropology. Also, from
53e‐conservation
Figure 7. Photograph depicting people working (sponge collection before given to industry), Greece, 1950.
MUSEUMS OF TECHNOLOGY
the perspective of the concept of nation and cul‐
tural identity, we find that the tools and accessor‐
ies have always been a common base of functional
and cultural value to all nations and in all eras of
world history [8].
Although the idea of organizing museum came
late in the 18th century and burgeoned during
the 19th century, the era of nationalist ideal,
nowadays a Museum of Technology is the culmin‐
ation of the cultural history upholding with its
exhibits an absolute opposition towards any form
of nationalism. The objects of such museum col‐
lections proclaim in an irrefutable way the concept
of universality of technology, promoting the idea
of unity between peoples, and the assumption of
common human needs across the whole history.
Today, globalization has dramatically formed the
pace of change of our world to such an extent that
it has most closely unbreakably linked the local,
national element with the global element. For this
reason, we can say that a Museum of Technology
can help shape a sense of cultural identity that is
no longer defined by national borders. Over that,
however, one may counter‐argue the Marxist theory
in which technology has always been synonymous
with cultural imperialism [9].
Many of the exhibits of a Technology Museum are
historical evidence of the validity that the states
or nations that pioneered science and technology
have had. Apart from their economic supremacy
(interpreted in terms of production / business and
commerce), their militaristic omnipotence (derived
from the advanced technology and know‐how), it
also enabled them to assert their authority, con‐
trol, claim and / or subordinate the less powerful
cultures. Among the prime examples is the case in
England which, after the technological and sci‐
entific flourishing during the Industrial Revolu‐
tion, conquered the world [10].
Through the exhibits and depending on the era ‐
cultural, social and political context of the place
where they were found ‐ we discover that techno‐
logy has been the springboard of recommendations
of new ways of life as it introduced evolution models
that were immediately accepted, mainly by the
upper social strata who had easier access to tech‐
nological innovations.
Through processing and, in many cases, craft
items such as the sewing machine and the first
radios, or services such as the telephone and the
telegraph, the technological innovations are a
challenge for a separate road to the "fair living",
which spread to all social areas of the world during
the 20th century.
Therefore, the 20th century and particularly its
second half was the scope of the spirit of global
technological development in almost the entire
social hierarchy of developed and developing na‐
tions of the world. Plastic items, television, mass
transport, telecommunications and the Internet
are just some of the effects of technological and
cultural pursuits, which not only did replace the
traditional patterns of life, but also bridged in
some way, the social classes gaps, at least in
terms of consumption, such as mass and cheap
ways of entertainment, communication and in‐
formation.
A museum exhibit with technological value provides
not only information relating to the purely tech‐
nical origin of the collection but it also constitutes
an unmistakable mirror that reflects, through an
interdisciplinary approach factors that complement
its historic value. The science of Physics, Chemistry,
Mathematics, Anthropology, Sociology, Ethno‐
logy and the History of Business, Industrial Archi‐
tecture and Design are just some of the disciplines
of analysis and extrapolation of the History of
54 e‐conservation
JOHANNIS TSOUMAS
Technology, which ultimately may not be seen as
autonomous from its primary fields, as these are
often important areas of research [11].
Finally, the issue of greatest importance on envir‐
onment is an important incentive for many eco‐
logically‐informed and/or sensitized visitors, but
mainly scientists and researchers who consider
these exhibits as an ideal source of information and
knowledge for the discovery of responsibility that
lies with technology in the world’s desperate
attempt to find solutions. This is another example
of the contribution of a Museum of Technology in
decoding the cultural identity of a state, a nation or
ultimately the entire world map, as it undoubtedly
bridges the actual incompatibility of the historical
reality with the already common, international
values and new perspectives.
Conclusions
In conclusion, we can highlight the multidimen‐
sional importance of Technology Museums as agents
of a major international heritage which is the
birthplace and evolution of human intelligence
and creativity. From an ideological point of view,
these museums seem to undermine any national‐
ist belief that has almost always been a barrier to
any attempt to fruitful dialogue, objective scientific
research or cultural research. At the same time,
they promote the democratic concept of equality,
fairness and social equation between peoples,
especially when talking about the societies of
the Western world, namely where the history of
technology has gone through much of the progress
so far. In addition, a cultural value is not a simple
field or a historical retrospective nor is it one
more occasion for the study of the past among
academic circles or actual researchers. Instead,
it is an important tool intended to help us to re‐
search, to study and to address several key con‐
temporary issues of global concern.
55e‐conservation
References
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Publishing, New York, 2006, pp. 52‐54
[2] J. A. Armstrong, Nations before Nationalism,
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[3] ICOM CIMUSET International Bulletin / Interna‐
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[4] A. Dimarogkonas, Η Ιστορία της Τεχνολογίας,η Βιομηχανική Επανάσταση (μέχρι το 1890) (The
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(until 1890)), Macedonian Publications, Athens,
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[5] J. Heskett, Industrial Design, Thames and
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MUSEUMS OF TECHNOLOGY
e‐conservation56 e‐conservation
[10] R. Layton, The anthropology of art, F. Terza‐
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1978, p. 48
JOHANNIS TSOUMAS
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
e‐conservation magazine is open to submission
of articles on a wide range of relevant topics
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Next deadlines for article submission are:
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15th May 2011
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JOHANNIS TSOUMASArt and Design Historian
Contact: iannis33@hotmail.com
Johannis Tsoumas was born in Piraeus, Greece in
1963. His strong interest in Art led him to study
abroad, namely HND and B.A. Hons in 3D Design
and a M.A. in the History of Design at the Middle‐
sex University, London. Later he pursued a PhD
in the field of The Decorative Arts and Architec‐
ture in the U.S.A. and Europe of the 19th century
at the Aristoteleion University, Greece. He has
published two books ‐ “The History of the Dec‐
orative Arts and Design” and “The emergence of
plastics culture in Greece 1950‐1970” and the
third, "The role of women in the Greek magazines
advertisements in the 60's", is on the way. He is
currently working as an Art and Design Historian
at the Hellenic Open University and at the Tech‐
nical and Educational Institute of Athens.
THE STREET IN THE PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE 19TH AND
EARLY 20TH CENTURY AS MEAN OF ART OR SCIENCE
By Maria Bostenaru
Introduction
The understanding of the world which can be
achieved through science is exceeded by that
which can be done by means of art. In this paper
we will focus on the landscape photography in the
archive of the Romanian art historian Tzigara‐
Samurcas and his 100 years old collection. The
landscape of the street was chosen as it repres‐
ents a combination between the life frame, the
container offered by architectural elements, and
the life way, the event which takes place in this
public space, without loosing sight of the inter‐
dependence between the two. For this reason,
apart of the documentary value of the photo‐
graphy regarding the physical frame and its com‐
positional elements, an artistic value is needed to
allow psychological access to the evoked world.
The film critic André Bazin once wrote that “if the
history of the plastic arts is less a matter of their
aesthetic than of their psychology then it will be
seen to be essentially the story of resemblance, or,
if you will, of realism” [1]. Along this, an essay
of Siegfried Krakauer about photographic real‐
ism and avant‐garde was republished, who was
concerned in his early times with architecture and
urbanism, and devoted himself to philosophy,
sociology and film [1] in the Weimar time.
Krakauer [2] calls photography "mirror with a
memory" in the context of the photographic
realism of the 19th century, which coincided with
the positivism in the same century in France, fa‐
vouring science in front of the metaphysic spec‐
ulation, in full time of industrialization. This
photographic realism current persists till today
[2]. According to the same author, the photo‐
graphy at its beginning was born under "a lucky
star" through its capacity to serve both arts and
science [2]. The wish to know and the search for the
beautiful are interpenetrating when we regard a
photograph [3]. Since the time of Daguerre, pho‐
tographs are considered authentic documents [3].
In the realist manifesto from 1856 it is stated that
"the artist's attitude toward reality should be so
impersonal that he might reproduce the same
subject ten times without any of his copies show‐
ing the slightest difference" [3]. Krakauer makes
reference in this context to the perception of the
photographer by Proust ("The Guermantes Way"):
"each face that we love [is] a mirror of the past"
but we see it in the same place in our soul, through
involuntary memories that superpose themselves
[3]. The emotional detach is one of the virtues
of the photographer in Proust’s vision, seen as in
the 19th century, "keeping a mirror in front of the
nature" [2]. It is the "illusion by a mechanical
58 e‐conservation
Art makes accessible to us worlds that we cannot understand through science. We focus on the street
landscape in photography from the 19th‐20th century, applying concepts from the philosophy of
photography. The concepts applied in this analysis are from Arnheim, Baudelaire, Bazin, Krakauer,
Warburton, and Snyder & Walsh Allen. Various aspects of realism in photography at its beginnings are
discussed. Examples are given on how archive photography, on the example of the Tzigara‐Samurcas
collection and notable photographers such as Sommer and Genthe, is used for documentary reasons. For
example, in restoration interventions or after events such as earthquakes to evoke the original image of
the streetscape or to document the damages. The future of documentary photography with today’s
digital possibilities is also discussed. Considerations on photography as “souvenir” and about
“microlandscape” photographs, such as family photographs that become documents, are also discussed.
Street photography is a kind of photography of “chance meeting” of people crowds and vehicles.
Photography is a “door” of access to memory.
MARIA BOSTENARU
as a "document", as opposite from that of "art",
Snyder and Allen stated that "the documentary
value of a photograph is not determined solely by
Arnheim's questions of ‘authenticity,’ ‘correct‐
ness,’ and ‘truth’. We can also ask what it means,
who made it, for whom was it made, and why it was
made in the way it was made", which are common
questions for any document, including artistic
documents and not only for photographic docu‐
ments [4].
Krakauer [2] gives some examples of the applica‐
tion of photography realism in science, which
stands out even though the aspect of exactness
is in the record of the detail and not that of the
memory. Snyder and Allen [4] give examples of the
application of photography in science in which the
artistic aspect is lacking and where there is the need
for an adequate education to understand the codi‐
fication belonging to this, affirming that there are
manuals, but also options included in some pho‐
tographic cameras for photography methods ad‐
equate for different fields, including architecture
[4]. Especially in the case of historic photography,
such as that of the 19th century pho‐tography or the
one of the interwar time one, the memory aspect
is useful for the researcher of today. Photographs of
the interwar Bucharest such as those of Nicolae Ion‐
escu [7] became the object of albums and postcards
that serve the nostalgia of that time of the history
of Romania, but are also an important research ele‐
ment of the interwar architecture, of the way how
these buildings characteristic for the image of the
Bucharest centre appeared at the moment of their
construction, the closest to the vision of the archi‐
tect. Thus, the photograph of the Balcescu Boul‐
evard on which the Carlton block of flats can be
seen presents the stylistic unity of the boulevard
before this was affected by earthquakes [7].
The Carlton block of flats collapsed in the 1940
earthquake and many others collapsed totally or
reproduction in the making of which man plays no
part", a psychological explanation through which
the solution of realism was found in the process
and not in the result [1].
In the reproduction of the subject the man is ab‐
sent, with effect on the psychology of the image
and its credibility; the documentary value, which
seems bigger than in case of a drawing, is given
by the process through which the image is born, it
"is the model" [1]. Bazin proposes the study of the
rivalry between drawing and photography in the
magazines from 1890‐1910 to see that the "feel‐
ing for the photographic document developed
only gradually" [1]. Snyder and Allen are against
the idea according to which painting and photo‐
graphy ask for different methods of interpretation
because they are differently generated [4].
In order to discuss the idea they started with a
historic view since 1889 when Emerson classified
photographs in scientific ones, which offer inform‐
ation, and artistic ones, which offer aesthetic
pleasure [4]. Snyder and Allen mention that
Stanley Canvell argued in the 1970s about the
value without subjectivity of photography [4],
statement that is connected by the authors them‐
selves to the affirmations of Bazin [1], through
automatism. Warburton [5], quoting Bazin [1],
notes that the philosophy of photography at the
end of the 20th century is based on the French
theory of the realist film.
The authenticity of photography is also underlined
by Arnheim [6], connected to the "documentary"
value in relationship with which we pose ourselves
questions if the photography is "authentic", "cor‐
rect" or "true" [6]. However, Snyder and Allen
[4] state that Arnheim [6] does not do anything
but to take over ideas about which Krakauer and
Bazin wrote [1, 2], republished in 1980 by Trach‐
tenberg. Refering to the value of a photograph
59e‐conservation
THE STREET IN PHOTOGRAPHY AS MEAN OF ART OR SCIENCE
60 e‐conservation
partially in the 1977 earthquake. Some buildings
from those partially collapsed, such as the "Simu"
block of flats, were rebuilt as they were while
in others, such as the "Wilson" or the "Turist"
(formerly "Palladio") block of flats, the corner
was changed. The vision of the architects of the
interwar time can be best understood from the
photographs of that epoch, and it is a support for
the research in history of architecture [8]. In the
same way it can be understood which typologies
were the most vulnerable to earthquakes, a use‐
ful research instrument apart of the photographs
after the event. Photographs from the Modernism
period in Germany became particularly useful in
the research before restoration interventions such
as, for example, the Muche – Schlemmer house of
Gropius in Dessau [9], where there were interven‐
tions which radically changed the shape of the
whole facade [10] (Figure 1). Similar approaches of
reconstruction were done with the Loos house in
Vienna and would be needed for the house Vaida‐
Comsa, architect Rudolf Fränkel on Zorileanu
street, Bucharest. On the other hand, photogra‐
phy in its early times did not have the memory of
colour, which led to the false impression that Mod‐
ernism was an architecture of the white [11], an
idea infirmed by the studies of colour stratigraphy
(and that of the drawing sketches of the architects)
as shown, for example, in a study from Casa del
Fascio [12].
Some critics see in the extension of digital pho‐
tography the fact that the days of documentary
photography are in their countdown, given the
possibilities of manipulation and the lack of a
physical archive of the initial image [6]. Despite
this, the manipulation of the digital photography
gives new possibilities. For example Randolph
Langenbach juxtaposed in "The Piranesi Project,
a Stratigraphy of Views of Rome" some engravings
of Giambattista Piranesi from ca. 1750 with com‐
binations of digital photography edited into a
Figure 1. Walter Gropius's Muche‐Schlemmer House, built in Dessau in 1927, was refurbished and reopened in 2002.
MARIA BOSTENARU
61e‐conservation
single image. Langenbach [12] explains the du‐
rability in time of the “Vedute”, the engraved
views of Piranesi of historical sites, through the
fact that he captured the spirit of the place in
order to present antique Rome to those who have
the occasion to visit Rome. More than that: the
images were not merely touristic but Piranesi, as
quoted by Langenbach [13], wished to conserve
these images for the eternity. The tourism gen‐
erated by Piranesi’s Vedute lead in fact to a fac‐
tual conservation [13]. The images surprise more
than the objective of a photo camera does, given
that the point of view of the painter can move dur‐
ing the painting process. Digital photography also
makes now possible such perspectives and the com‐
parison of the engraved archive with the contem‐
porary situation of the ruins, very similar in this
case. It is a new truth, that of the spirit of the place,
which comes close to the one in painting, and a
new possibility of documentary photography [13].
The Tzigara‐Samurcas archive
Between November 2007 and March 2010 we had
the occasion to work at the digitization and invent‐
orying of the Alexandru Tzigara‐Samurcas archive,
dated approximately 1904 [14, p. 18‐23]. The ar‐
chive contains glass slides collected by Tzigara‐
Samurcas in his journeys in Romania and abroad.
The glass slides represent architecture and land‐
scapes but also paintings and reproductions of
drawings. Some years ago, when digital photo‐
graphy was not yet so widespread, souvenir shops
were offering slide series, apart of the regular
albums, posters and postcards. All of them serve
the memory of the visited place. The souvenir, ac‐
cording to Bazin [1] has its origin in the "mummy
complex", i.e. in the wish to embalm for eternity.
Also Warburton [6] agrees with Bazin [1] referring
that photography is a kind of relic. According to
Emerson the souvenir should serve artistic pleasure
[5]. The utility of a slide series is in first place in
its use for projection, such as in teaching, where
the accent lays in offering information, if we follow
Emerson’s categories. Krakauer [15] cites Baude‐
laire who admitted that photographs reproduce
and thus conserve temporary things which de‐
serve a place in “the archives of our memory” and
connects this affirmation to their value as souve‐
nir. Once the time passed, they get documentary
functions, their impact as ‘photographic record’
shadows the initial one of memory help. This hap‐
pens also with the interwar photographs of “mi‐
cro landscape” presented by Adrian Majuru [16].
It is also the case of the glass slides of Tzigara‐
Samurcas. For teaching purposes the collection of
photographs had to realistically reproduce the
object of the photography, which was the object
of investigation. But there are exceptions, like
the photographs of London [17], in which the
realism gives place to some symbolism, with land‐
scape parts lost in shadow. But it is possible that
in the London of 1900 this was realism, and in fact
the exactness of the reproduction of architectural
details gave place to the exactness in the repro‐
duction of the atmosphere.
About the landscape of the street at Tzigara‐Samurcas
On the 20th of October 2000 in Florence, the Euro‐
pean Convention of the Landscape was adopted
enlarging the concept of landscape from the natur‐
al one in the following sense: “the landscape des‐
ignates a part from the territory which is perceived
as such by the population, the character of which
is the result of the action and interaction of nat‐
ural and/or human factors” [18].
In the acceptance of that European Convention,
the street is such a landscape. Krakauer [2] quotes
a French who talks about the catch of a moment
which appears unexpectedly under our eyes and
THE STREET IN PHOTOGRAPHY AS MEAN OF ART OR SCIENCE
62 e‐conservation
which interests us, the instantaneous photogra‐
phy. From here derives [2] the attraction of crowds
on the street, the mix of people and vehicles in
New York of the 1859 or of the later, Victorian
ones, which can lead to “chance meeting”, coin‐
cidences or superposition such as in street pho‐
tographs from Patras [19] or from Cartagena [20].
We also have the same mix of people and vehicles
in the photographs of Calea Victoriei of Nicolae
Ionescu, in Romania [7]. Urban life was and re‐
mains a major photogenic topic.
Sandu [21, 22] affirms that “out of all urban spaces
the street is the most adequate for the affirmation
of the urban character”. The urban character of a
street is defined by its paving, the background
and the fronts. In the photographs of the Tzigara‐
Samurcas archive there is a preoccupation for catch‐
ing some perspectives of the street so that it is
assured a perspective background, which can be
created out of the background itself (for example
the cathedral in Clermond Ferrand or in Strasbourg,
or the Beautiful Tower in Valencia) or through the
exploitation of the sinuous path of the street.
Although these define the street, the ideal per‐
spective in order to illustrate these aspects can be
catched from a single angle and this compositional
intervention is part of the art of photography. The
19th century realists stated, according to Krakauer
[2], that the photographer "lacks the artist's free‐
dom to dispose of existing shapes and spatial in‐
terrelationships for the sake of his inner vision"
while the 20th century realists often underline the
artistic character of their work, to the selectivity
of the photographer [2]. The photographer can‐
not be absolutely objective; he chooses the motive,
the frame and technically determinant details, such
as the filter and the resolution, participating thus
in the process [2]. The frame of the photograph is
part of the infinity of nature [2]. The painter can
create a work of his imagination. For the photo‐
graph, Snyder and Allen [4] quote Arnheim who
identifies that the photograph "finds", "captures"
or "selects" as an artistic contribution. Snyder
and Allen [5] then discuss the role of the selection
of the technical elements quoting finally Szarkows‐
ky who affirmed that the biggest creativity is in
establishing which shall be the subject [4].
Of course, the fact that photography can be con‐
sidered a copy of nature [2], in the case of a real‐
ist photography, has consequences till today in the
definition of the copyright terms of photographs,
considered a reproduction of a building and, there‐
fore, the interdiction to photograph or to publish
photographs of some places. However, Krakauer
[2] fights this idea of mirror through the fact that
photography transforms something three‐dimen‐
sional into a plane image, transforms the colour,
breaks from the context and reduces the sensori‐
al experience to the visual one.
The spatial manifestation of the street results from
a combination of factors: functionality, climate
and field conditions, historic existence, concep‐
tual design and last but not least the "life way"
[19]. Alexander et al. [20] wrote about the qual‐
ity of public space enouncing in pattern 61 "Small
public squares":
"... this pattern forms the core which makes an
ACTIVITY NODE (30): it can also help to generate
a node, by its mere existence, provided that it is
correctly placed along the intersection of paths
which people use most often. And it can also help
to generate a PROMENADE (31), a WORK COMMU‐
NITY (41), an IDENTIFIABLE NEIGHBOURHOOD
(14), through the action of the people who gather
there. But it is essential, in every case, that it is
not too large.
* * *
A town needs public squares; they are the largest,
most public rooms, that the town has. But when they
are too large, they look and feel deserted.” [23]
MARIA BOSTENARU
63e‐conservation
An empty street doesn’t say us as much as one full
of people. A public space is defined through the
events which take place in that space, not through
its architecture [24]. This differs from country to
country, from the electric tram in Oakland to the
donkey in Cartagena [20, 22] or Patras [19, 25].
Krakauer [3] quotes Gay‐Lussac who stated that
"no detail, not even ‘imperceptible’ cannot evade
the ‘eye and the brush of this new painter’". This
is what Philip Greenspun was also saying in the
21st century about the quality of street photogra‐
phy [26] when he says that the one who sees the
photography can see more than the photograph‐
er. Greenspun adheres here to the "mechanical"
model, cited by Snyder and Allen [4], which can
be described through the fact that a photograph
doesn’t show us what the photographer saw, but
what was. Actually, the photography shows us
what we would have seen if the eye would have
been equipped with the lens of the camera and
would have printed on the same medium [4, p.
294]. In this case, "the medium does not favour
a compositional model" [2] as it happens when
photographing the frame elements of the street.
The later generations will observe details which at
the given time were not observed, as also states
Krakauer [2], about the street photography.
Krakauer [2] states that the photographer reads
in the book of nature. Jordi Punti, at the confer‐
ence "Contemporary Public Space", stated that an
unused public space is like a book which is read by
nobody; a book in order to be of value has to be
read [27]. Also the urban landscapes from 1900 in
the Tzigara‐Samurcas collection were transmitted
to us as they were photographed. Lewis Mumford
[28] told that the stones of Athens would not tell
us much about the life of the city if the written
heritage wouldn’t have remained. With the pho‐
tographic realism of the 19th century another con‐
servation mean of the information about the life
of the city appeared.
The street results out of this combination between
public space and its architectural elements (fronts,
background, etc.). Also the photographs differ,
some being interesting only through their archi‐
tectural elements, result of the way of life and even‐
tually of the adaptation to the natural environment
in a certain geographic zone, other putting the
accent on such a street activity (promenade, ac‐
quisitions, transport) and finally some being the
accidental catch of a certain frame of human activ‐
ity on the street. Such there is a photograph in
Lauterbrunnen which shows us the adaptation to a
mountain natural environment with timber build‐
ings typical for Switzerland [29]; another photo‐
graph in Strasbourg shows us typical traditional
Fachwerk buildings for this geographic zone [30].
In a photograph of Cartagena there are typical
houses with loggias [31], as in the former Bucha‐
rest, and for Granada [32] and Istanbul [33] are
typical the storeys in console, even if from differ‐
ent construction materials. The Tzigara‐Samurcas
archive is from before the Modernism, which broke
with the tradition, and many of the images present
a urban vernacular framework, which does not
happen in American cities.
Let’s focus on the value of "mirror with memory" of
the photographs in the street landscape of Tzigara‐
Samurcas. Greenspun [34] argued for photographs
of people, with “tourists as subject” as compared
to deserted photographs, taken in early hours of
the day. Not all touristic objectives change during
some decades, but the clothes and generally the
"micro landscape" [35] of the people change. The
photographs of Tzigara‐Samurcas reveal the typ‐
ical promenade clothes (ex. Lauterbrunnen, Los
Angeles [36]) or circulation (Patras, [37]), the
favourite (or mainly) masculine spheres (Bank of
England [38]) or feminine (promenade).
Another times also the built context changed. In
Istanbul only a few from the old timber buildings,
THE STREET IN PHOTOGRAPHY AS MEAN OF ART OR SCIENCE
64 e‐conservation
as those on the street in the Tzigara‐Samurcas
collection, are conserved. The German institute in
Istanbul recently launched a campaign of building
surveys for their virtual conservation. Or even the
character of presence or absence of people changed
in the last 100 years, Granada becoming very pop‐
ular for tourists (Figure 2), for example. Or the
infrastructure, the central canalisation with rain
water in Mainz changed, even if some cities, like
Freiburg am Breisgau integrated in the regional
development plans grabs to remind this.
The archive on photos of disasters
A second part of the study is dealing with archive
photographs of 19th century individual events as
found in the archive of the Canadian Centre for
Architecture, archive material which has been al‐
ready gathered during a support grant stay there
in June‐July 2010.
The covered events were:
‐ Earthquake: San Francisco 1906, USA; Norcia,
Italy and Antigua;
‐ Fire: Boston 1860, USA; St. Claude, France; Paris
(Commune), France; Philadelphia, USA; Louisiana,
USA; Notre Dame de Montreal, Canada; Chicago,
USA; Quebec, Canada; Illinois, USA; Portland
(Maine), USA (stereo);
‐ Flood: Norwich 1878, England; Latchford 1890,
England; Warburton 1891; Johnstown 1889; Avi‐
gnon, France; Montreal, Canada; Conemaugh, USA;
Brisbane, Australia;
‐ Volcanic activity: Pompei
Notable 19th century photographers who photo‐
graphed such subjects were:
‐ for earthquake: Arnold Genthe, Robert Macph‐
erson, Eadweard Muybridge, R.J. Waters & Co
(publisher), James Stoddard and Willard Worden;
‐ for fire: J. Andrieu, Edouard Baldus, George N.
Barnard, James Wallace Black, Robert Burley, Al‐
fred Capel‐Cure, Franck, Frederick Gutekunst, Bri‐
an Merrett, A. Richebourg, C. Seaver Jr., John P.
Soule and William Notman & Son;
‐ for flood: Edouard Baldus, G. Herbert Bayley,
Alexander Henderson and Charles Rudd;
‐ for volcanic activity: Giorgio Sommer;
‐ for thunders: Alfred Capel‐Cure;
‐ for the Paris Commune: Gustave Le Gray, J. An‐
drieu, Bruno Braquehais, Albert Fernique, Franck,
C. Jung, A. Richebourg and Charles Soulier.
The approach to catastrophe photography in the
19th century was different of the one today. Were
the photographs then still available as “souvenirs”,
today the photographs are spread through mass‐
media, and, when done by professionals, they
feed databases on photographs mainly investig‐
ated in order to recognise and removed damages,
Figure 2. Andalucian street. Photo by Maria Bostenaru.
MARIA BOSTENARU
65e‐conservation
or to investigate the collapse mechanisms. The
architecture historian Stephen Tobriner looks at
historic photos of the 19th century considering
the modern approach, and trying to identify col‐
lapse mechanisms [39]. The beginning of the in‐
volvement of mass media in catastrophes started
with the eruption of Krakatau. We investigated
material on the street photography of these not‐
able photographers and from what was available
Edouard Baldus and Eadweard Muybridge did not
perform street photography. Also Giorgio Sommer
photographed the street only in his residence city
of Naples (Figure 3), not when traveling, and, of
course, in the neighbouring Pompei (Figure 4).
Arnold Genthe surprised some street scenes dur‐
ing the earthquake and street scenes in New Or‐
leans , which was affected in recent times, not in
Genthe’s times, by the catastrophe.
About memory
Even if the realism in photography is in favour of
the knowledge in science, the quality of realist
photography discusses its role to serve the me‐
mory and, as object of the memory, to facilitate
the access through arts to past worlds.
We can differentiate between own memory and
collective memory. A space or a landscape can be
covered by forgetness and must be “digged off”,
rediscovered. Nietzsche [40] talked about the re‐
lationship between history and forgetness, how
we can live without memory but not also without
forgetting. Nietzsche sees two enemies of the
history: the unhistorical (who forgets, and can
this way destroy a culture, a civilisation) and the
superhistorical (who detaches his view from what
is developed to the eternal). Between the monu‐
mental history, which believes that the great acts
of the past can be repeated because they took
place once, and the antiquarian history, which
considers that everything that comes from the past
has value, Nietzsche proposes the critical history.
The photography as mean of memory represents
an entrance “door” to the critical history.
Bazin [1] recognises the psychological basic need
of the man for protection against the passing of
time and sees in the Egyptian mummifications or
in the paintings from the French classical period
how the time will be victorious on death. It is the
“preservation of life by a representation of life”
[1]. The topic of the essay published by Trachten‐
berg [1] in ‘Classic Essays on Photography’ is the
ontology of the photographic image and Bazin
puts the problem of the ontological difference
between the model and the image despite which still
“the image helps us to remember the subject and
to preserve him from a second spiritual death” [1].
For this, the image does not have to be realist in
the sense of the duplication of the world, and the
Figure 3. Street of Naples. Photo by Giorgio Sommer (1834‐1914).
THE STREET IN PHOTOGRAPHY AS MEAN OF ART OR SCIENCE
symbol can be the image of the model, the arts
creates such an eternity, while the photography
is only a certain moment frozen in time [1], also
quoted by Warburton [5], that the photograph is
the model liberated by the space and the time
which govern them. For Scruton, quoted by War‐
burton [5], looking at a photograph is a substi‐
tute of looking to the object itself in some sense,
and relates again to the topic of the mirror. War‐
burton [5] quotes Walton with the idea from the
1980s about the “transparency thesis”: looking at
the images of the past is like looking at what was
in the past, even if it relates at our deceased rela‐
tives, we see photos in the past as we see through
a telescope or television at the distance, and this
is a consequence of realism in photography.
The critics of Walton [5] put the accent on the dif‐
ference between the real and the virtual image.
The virtual image through the concave lens and
the one through the convex lens of film or photog‐
raphy are different in physics, as the first doesn’t
need a screen to be projected on, but Walton did
not modify his theory, including in it instead also
the documentary photography. Warburton [5]
notes the contradiction of this with the philoso‐
phy of perception. If we take into consideration
the affirmation of Caroll, as quoted by Warburton
[5], of dependence of the characteristics of the
photographic medium, such as for example the
transparency, then the documentary photography
were done to be seen over a short period of time,
of remembering of the person who visited the
place, or in order to see at distance, to be used for
teaching, but not for the goal of archiving so that
other people could see them 100 years later. The
thesis of transparency is applicable also at the use
of photography for the reproduction of paintings,
as it is the case for the Tzigara‐Samurcas archive,
also as Savedoff [5, p. 622] observed.
Figure 4. Mercurius street in Pompeii, before 1914. Photo by Giorgio Sommer (1834‐1914).
MARIA BOSTENARU
66 e‐conservation
The fact that archive photographs present us just
some places from only certain angles, reminds
us the fact that archaeologists don’t always find
buildings, but just objects that remind of a past
civilisation. The civilisation doesn’t get to life
through this, but we have a history of it. The his‐
tory transformed into museum item as we perceive
it today is the future; the testimonies of the past
become an object of research. The culture of the
past, as it is in the conserved monuments is some‐
thing what belongs to the perception of the present
and which we want to make accessible in the fu‐
ture, but is not to bring back the past to life. We
can rediscover the culture as it was through arts,
not of the science of archaeology, such as for exam‐
ple in a novel or a film, and also in a photograph.
The conclusion of Krakauer [2] is that also the
realist photography can be art, even if it does
not make use of the means of the experimental
one of avant‐garde if it succeeds to make the faces
of the people and the stones of the houses to talk
eloquently to the viewer, because of their beauty
and sensibility. The photographs of Tzigara‐Samur‐
cas are already too old in order to make us a space
of personal remembering looking to them. For
some of their contemporaries they were also de‐
tached of the personal memory, because they did
not have the occasion to visit those places. They
now belong to the collective memory, to History.
The photographers created access to this space of
memory through which we can "visit" the streets
that Tzigara‐Samurcas visited. This was also the
teaching purpose of the glass slides: that students
can visit them as well. They were cut away by the
distance in space; we are cut away also in time.
"It is no longer a question of survival after death,
but of a larger concept, the creation of an ideal
world in the likeness of the real, with its own tem‐
poral destiny." [1]
Conclusions
The photography immortalises a moment in time.
The documentary photography in the Tzigara‐
Samurcas archive has artistic values through the
reproduction of not only the architecture frame in
which the street life takes place but also of the
way of life, caught in the presence of users in the
public space, and in the geographic characterist‐
ics. Through this, we enter in another universe,
another world which we can understand through
art and not science becomes accessible, even if
the world of the past, or for the Tzigara‐Samurcas
contemporaries who were at a certain distance,
wasn’t accessible through personal memories.
Although the photography from the end of the 19th
and early 20th century was made through mech‐
anical means lacking the possibilities of painting
or today’s digital photography to combine differ‐
ent views, the spirit of the place survived using the
characteristics of the medium of photographic
image on glass support.
Acknowledgments
The study on philosophy of photography was sup‐
ported by the Marie Curie Reintegration Grant for
the project PIANO "The innovation in the plan of
the current floor: Zoning in blocks of flats for the
middle class in the first half of the 20th century",
contract number MERG‐CT‐2007‐200636, run
time 2007‐2010, from the European Commission,
while the work on the archive of Tzigara Samurc‐
as was supported by the “Ion Mincu” University of
Architecture and Urbanism with co‐funding from
the Timbrul Arhitecturii, through the Union of
Romanian architects, as well as the support grant
of the Canadian Centre for Architecture to inves‐
tigate historic photography of natural disasters.
67e‐conservation
THE STREET IN PHOTOGRAPHY AS MEAN OF ART OR SCIENCE
References
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Image”, in A. Trachtenberg (ed.), Classic Essays
on Photography, Leete’s Island Books, New Haven,
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(ed.), Classic Essays on Photography, Leete’s Island
Books, New Haven, 1980, pp. 245‐268
[3] Proust quoted in S. Krakauer, “Photography”,
in A. Trachtenberg (ed.), Classic Essays on Photo‐
graphy, Leete’s Island Books, New Haven, 1980,
pp. 258‐259
[4] J. Snyder and N. W. Allen, ‘Photography, Vi‐
sion and Representation’, in P. Alperson (ed.),
The philosophy of the visual arts, Oxford Univer‐
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[5] N. Warburton, ‘Photography’, in Jerrold Levin‐
son (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Aesthetics, Ox‐
ford University Press, 2005, pp. 614‐626
[6] R. Arnheim, ‘On the Nature of Photography’,
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[13] R. Langenbach, "The Building of a Symbolic
Image: The Juxtaposition of Giambattista Pirane‐
si’s Vedute Di Roma with Photographs Taken 250
Years Later", Proceedings of the ICOMOS, General
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versitara “Ion Mincu”, Bucharest, 2009
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[16] Round Table, architecture competition "Pres‐
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e‐conservation
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MARIA BOSTENARU DANArchitectural Engineer
Maria Bostenaru Dan (Dipl.‐Ing.) has an engineer‐
ing degree in architecture, specialisation in urban‐
ism, from the Universität Karlsruhe, Germany (1999).
She specialised in the study of risks on built herita‐
ge, seismic retrofit, doing research in Karlsruhe
(Germany), Pavia (Italy) and Bucharest (Romania).
69e‐conservation
THE STREET IN PHOTOGRAPHY AS MEAN OF ART OR SCIENCE
case
stud
ySCIENTIFIC STUDY AND CONSERVATIONOF A PAINTED ENAMEL QAJAR PENDANT
This research aims to investigate the chemical composition and the technical features of a painted
enamel Qajar pendant. This investigation was followed by cleaning and conservation of the pendant.
Optical light microscope (OLM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) combined with energy dispersive
X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X‐ray fluorescence analysis
(XRF) were used respectively for imaging and micro‐analysis of the object. The study proved that the
pendant is made of gold foils, round and half‐round gold wires of different sizes and carats. Different
forming and decorative techniques were found to be used for the manufacturing of the pendent:
repoussé, granulation, filigree, chasing, stamping, painted and cloisonné enameling. The study also
proved that the central quatrefoil ornament is not solid metal, containing a wax core.
By Wafaa Anwar Mohamed
Introduction
Qajar art is the art of Persia during the rule of the
Qajar dynasty, from 1794 to 1925. Enamel work‐
ing on metals was one of the significant forms of
art in Isfahan, Iran. Painting with enamels, or
what is referred to as painted enamel was first
developed in Limoges, France in the 15th century
and later transferred into Iran and other parts of
the world. The examples of enamels that survived
reflected the interest of Iranian artists in this art
since the Achaemenian dynasty (c. 550–330 B.C.).
Qajar enamels are characterized by figurative
scenes including portraits of youth and lovers.
These were similar in style to the oil paintings of
the same period. Luxury, prevalent costume and
jewelry styles are apparently documented in such
portraits and scenes [1‐7]. There are quite few ex‐
amples of Qajar painted enamel pendants which sur‐
vived and are now exhibited in museums world wide.
The case study presented in this research is a Per‐
sian enameled gold pendant. It belongs to the
museum of the Faculty of Applied Arts at Helwan
University, Egypt. It was given the identification
number 49/1 in the museum records although the
details about its source and date are not specified.
Figures 1 and 2 show the obverse and reverse of
the pendant. Lack of information affected the
documentation and authentication processes. For
its authentication, a survey was needed to identify
possible parallels showing a similar style, technical
features and material structure. Microchemical
analysis was also required for proper identifica‐
tion and documentation of the object. Examina‐
tion and investigation were required as well to
identify the state of preservation before under‐
taking any further conservation intervention. From
the conservation point of view, the principle of
minimal intervention is uppermost not only be‐
cause of the condition of the object but also for
ethical guidelines.
CONSERVATION OF A PAINTED ENAMEL QAJAR PENDANT
e‐conservation 71
SCIENTIFIC STUDY AND CONSERVATIONOF A PAINTED ENAMEL QAJAR PENDANT
Figures 1 and 2. Obverse and reverse side of the investigatedpendant.
Experimental
The surface of the object was examined by optical
microscopy to show details and deterioration as‐
pects. A digital caliper was used for measuring the
length, the width and the diameter of the differ‐
ent parts of the pendant. A tiny sample of filling
material (the core) was removed and examined
by optical light microscope (OLM) before analysis.
The sample was also analyzed by Fourier transform
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) using a Jasco‐460.
The sample was first ground and pressed in KBr
pellets. The analysis has a spectral range from 400
to 4000 cm‐1 with a maximum resolution of 4 cm‐1.
All spectra were recorded in transmission mode.
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) imaging and
energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX) micro‐
chemical analysis of the counter enamel were un‐
dertaken using a Philips XL 30 combining SEM with
EDX. The sample taken for this analysis was first
coated with carbon. The main detection limits of
EDX measurement are 0.2% for Cu, 0.5% for Au and
0.1% for Ag. Data at or below these limits are not
significant.
A portable Niton XLt 700, version 4, X‐ray fluor‐
escence (XRF) analyzer was used to determine
the composition of different parts of the metal
and enamel composition of different colors of
the portrait. The Certified Reference Material
used for the measurement was 35 EN‐04292005‐
IARM‐P. The error was not more than + 0.2% for Cu,
+0.4% for Pb, +0.1% for Sn, +0.4% for Ag, +0.09%
for Au, +0.1% for Sb, +1.6% for Fe and +0.05%
for Zn. The obtained results are the average of
two measurements.
Precipitated calcium carbonate in denatured ethyl
alcohol, 100% pure cotton cloth and ethyl alcohol
were used for cleaning, polishing and wiping off
the metal surface, respectively.
Results and discussion
A parallel was found by the author in an enameled
gold pendant from the Metropolitan Museum col‐
lection (available at the Heilbrunn Timeline of
Art History, URL). It is dated to the 19th century
and belonged originally to Iran. It was fabricated
from metal sheet and half‐round wire and enameled
on both obverse and reverse sides. The common
shapes of such enameled plaques are round and
elliptical and they were usually set into non‐or‐
namental objects such as water pipes. However,
this pendant has engravings on its back and it’s
thought to have been used as talisman [6].
A comparison between the proposed parallel pen‐
dant and the present case study reveals that the
object under investigation is similar in style and
can be identified as a Qajar pendant which is full
of decorations (figures 1 and 2). It weighs 25 g
and its dimensions are 11.5 cm long, 4.5 cm max‐
imum width and 5 mm thick. The pendant consists
of three elements: the chain, the inverted crescent
element and the central quatrefoil ornament with
seven dangling discs attached. In order to inves‐
tigate the quality of the metal wires and foil, a non‐
destructive XRF microchemical analysis was under‐
taken for the metal parts and the enamel. The
results are given in table 1.
From the analysis results it is evident that the
pendant was made of a gold alloy (gold, silver
and copper ternary alloy). Different quantities
of constituent metals were used to produce foils,
round and half‐round wires of different gauges.
Different forming and decorative techniques were
used for the fabrication of the pendent. Repoussé
was used for decorating the reverse side of the
central ornament by embossed flowers (figure 2)
and chasing was used to decorate the sides and
contour strip of the painted enamel portrait. Fili‐
gree was used to make an up side down dangling
72 e‐conservation
WAFAA ANWAR MOHAMED
crescent, which was decorated by granulation.
Stamping was used to decorate six small discs
by an eight leaves flower pattern punch. These
small dangling circular discs were soldered to
small loops after stamping.
Painted enamel technique was used for the por‐
trait of the beautiful young woman standing in
front of a colored geometric background, most
probably resembling a window and wearing a jew‐
eled red dress. Cloisonné enamel was also used to
inlay a small disc dangling from the central lower
part of the pendant with white, pink, green and
blue colors.
Segments of the manufacture such as foil and wire
production could have been independent opera‐
tions. High carat gold was cut out, embossed,
painted with enamel and fired before it was as‐
sembled into its place.
It is known that enamels are composed princip‐
ally of silicate formers, fluxes such as borax, sta‐
bilizers, and different oxides as colorants, giving
the enamel its color [8]. The enamel is mixed
with oil and then painted on the object to give
e‐conservation 73
an effect very much like that of oil paints. To ap‐
ply painted enamel on a gold foil it is usually turned
to slightly convex, then a layer of flux called counter
enamel is applied on the metal back to reduce
stresses arising from different expansion coeffi‐
cient of metal and enamel. The metal surface is
then covered with a uniform layer of enamel that,
when fired, produces a background for the drawing.
The painting is applied color by color using a paint
brush. The highest flowing temperature enamel is
fired first and followed by lower flowing temper‐
ature enamels. This can prevent colors diffusion
at later stages. Multiple firing is required to fixate
the colors, sometimes up to 20 rounds of firing
are need for a complete project. The firing tem‐
perature can be up to 800 ºC (1500 ºF) [9].
Microchemical analysis using XRF (table 1) revealed
that the finest gold alloy was used for making the
filigree crescent ornament, SEM examination and
EDX analysis results (figures 3 and 4) revealed that
enamel was applied on gold of about 20 carats. High
carat gold is normally required for more exquisite
enameling [10]. To this fine gold foil, opaque
white counter enamel was applied on the back
(figure 3). EDX analysis results of the counter
Analyzed part Chemical composition wt%
Au Ag Cu Sn Pb Sb Fe Cd Zn Bi In Se Ni Co Mn
Metal reverse/repoussé
work
60.23 32.93 4.41 1.49 0.04 0.29 0.06 0.06 0.07 0.16 0.15 0.01 0.01 0.00 0.02
Metal /filigree
67.88 21.07 8.78 8.78 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.05 0.14 0.16 0.11 0.35 0.01 0.01 0.09
Metal/ chain 65.30 25.50 6.92 0.91 0.01 0.09 0.11 0.07 0.04 0.11 0.03 0.2 0.02 0.01 0.11
Enamel rosecolor
15.51 7.87 2.17 7.76 63.61 0.39 1.69 0.06 0.07 0.25 0.00 0.05 0.00 0.38 0.00
Enamel blackcolor
22.11 6.85 2.73 6.35 50.80 0.16 6.80 0.00 0.31 0.47 0.00 0.21 0.55 0.46 2.14
Table 1: Analysis results of the metal parts and enamel using XRF spectroscopy.
CONSERVATION OF A PAINTED ENAMEL QAJAR PENDANT
enamel (figure 4) in combination with FTIR ana‐
lysis results (figure 5b) revealed that both calcium
and carbonate group are present. This may indicate
the use of either lime containing counter enamel,
such as soda‐lime, or calcium antimonite opaque
white enamel. Wax was identified by FTIR analysis
of the pendant core (figures 5a and 5b). This core
may have not only supported the gold foil during
assembly but also gave the figurative motif fur‐
ther structural support. The added weight by the
core may have played an aesthetic role by allowing
the pendant to dangle or to sway, and an economic
role by reducing the quantity of precious materials
used for the manufacturing of the pendant.
The analysis results of the black color enamel re‐
veal the presence of iron, while those of the rose
color enamel reveal the presence of iron and cop‐
per. The oxides of these elements are responsible
for the produced colors [11].
It was difficult for the author to get meaningful
analyses results of other enamel colors in smaller
areas using the available portable XRF apparatus.
The chemical composition of enamels can indicate
the period of production and authenticate the
object [8, 11‐14]. The chemical composition of
medieval enamels is similar to that of the Roman
period, consisting of soda‐lime glass mixed with
opacifiers such as tin or antimony oxides. In the
18th and 19th centuries, the chemical composi‐
tion was basically lead‐potash glass with arsenic
oxides opacifiers. XRF could not detect some ele‐
ments such as sodium and magnesium so it pre‐
vented identification of flux but the presence of
tin (Sn) as an opacifier is in agreement with liter‐
ature on medieval production [12, 13]. Moreover,
the analysis results of enamel using XRF revealed
that lead (Pb) content is very high (table 1), this
result is in agreement with the assumption that
lead‐potash glass was used for the painted enamel,
Figure 3. High‐carat gold foil with counter enamel in the back (left) as imaged by SEM (right).
Figure 4. SEM image and EDX analysis result of gold foil.
WAFAA ANWAR MOHAMED
74 e‐conservation
as lead became an almost universal additive to
enamels by the 19th century [14]. Accordingly, the
pendant is suggested to date back to the 19th cen‐
tury, but this is in contradiction with the analysis
result of the counter enamel so dating of the pen‐
dant still needs further work for archaeologists to
explain these results.
Cleaning and conservation
Both the vitreous material and the metal support
were taken into account when carrying out the
conservation treatment. The enamel was in a good
condition, presenting no cracks, although there
were some missing parts of the green circle that
Figure 5a. Core material inside the quatrefoil central ornament.
Figure 5b. A sample of the core material (left) with the corresponding FTIR analysis results (right).
CONSERVATION OF A PAINTED ENAMEL QAJAR PENDANT
e‐conservation 75
outlines the portrait. At first, the whole pendant
was cleaned from dust with a soft brush. The metal
parts of the object were cleaned using precipitated
calcium carbonate in denatured ethyl alcohol.
This was applied using 100% pure cotton cloth for
cleaning and polishing metal surface (figures 6
and 7). Calcium carbonate proved to be efficient,
abrasive and least likely to scratch soft metal sur‐
faces [15]. The metal surface was cleaned after
polishing using ethyl alcohol and cotton swaps.
The object was allowed to air dry immediately
after cleaning, meanwhile avoiding leaking of the
carrier fluid to the inner core. Dirt and grime in
cloisonné enamel was mechanically removed using
a soft, pointed wooden stick, followed by cleaning
by ethanol which also served to degrease the metal.
3% of Paraloid B72 in acetone was applied on the
whole surface to give a transparent protective
thin film. Paraloid B72 is used in preference to
other protective coating materials as it ensures
protection and provides consolidation and visual
improvement of the surface [16]. Moreover, it is
non‐staining for enamel and less likely to stain
metals. Following the work of Ryan et al., an air‐
tight Plexiglass showcase conditioned to 40% RH,
using silica gel (PRO Sorb) was designed for tem‐
porary display of the pendant [17]. This Plexiglass
microenvironment showcase was intended to pro‐
vide a stable RH environment (figure 8) which is
important for the preservation of metal enamel
composites [18].
Conclusion
Optical examination enabled full technical descrip‐
tion and detailed documentation of a painted
enamel gold Qajar pendant of the Faculty of Ap‐
plied Arts at Helwan University, Egypt. The pen‐
Figure 6. Aspect during the cleaning of the metal surface. Figure 7. The pendant after cleaning.
WAFAA ANWAR MOHAMED
76 e‐conservation
dant could have been used as head of a water pipe.
Micro‐chemical analysis enabled to identify the
metal as being a gold alloy and two enamel col‐
ors composition. The study also proved the pres‐
ence of a wax core. The object was cleaned and
coated with a transparent Paraloid B72 protective
film and isolated in a controlled relative humidity
microenvironment showcase. The showcase was
made of Plexiglass to fit the size of the object.
These temporarily procedures were meant to min‐
imize the effect of high and fluctuating relative
humidity until the museum renovation works
take place.
References
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Memorial Volume of the Vth International Con‐
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April 1968, Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, Volume 2,
Special Publication of the Ministry of Culture and
Arts, Iranian Center of Archaeological Research,
Tehran, 1968, pp. 200‐211
[2] A. D. Tushingham, “Qajar Painted Enamels”
in R. Pinder‐Wilson (ed.), Paintings from Islamic
Lands, Oxford, 1969, pp. 187‐204
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Highlights of Persian Art, Westview Press, Boulder,
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fakes and forgeries, Butterworth‐Heinemann,
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[9] C. Codina, Handbook of Jewellery Techniques,
A & C Black Publishers, London, 2000, pp. 98‐99
Figure 8. Plexiglass micro‐environment showcase.
CONSERVATION OF A PAINTED ENAMEL QAJAR PENDANT
e‐conservation 77
[10] G. L. Matthews, Enamels, Enameling, Enamel‐
lists, Chilton Book Company, Pennsylvania, 1984,
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Scotland, 1‐6 September 1996, London, 1996,
pp. 839‐844
[18] J. Navarro, “Reviewing the Conservation of
Unstable Enamels at The Victoria and Albert Mu‐
seum”, in 3rd Biennial ICOM‐CC Experts’ Meeting on
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2010, pp. 24‐28
WAFAA ANWAR MOHAMEDConservator‐restorer
Contact: wafaaanw@yahoo.com
Wafaa Anwar Mohamed, PhD, associate professor
of metals conservation at the Conservation De‐
partment, faculty of Archaeology, Cairo University.
Her principal interests focus on the conservation
of metal objects, examination and conservation
of metals ‐ organic and inorganic ‐ composite ar‐
tifacts and metal technologies in ancient Egypt.
She has been teaching conservation of metals for
undergraduate and graduate conservation students
and supervises master and doctoral conservation
researches since 2000. In addition to teaching she
has recently took up her position as head of the
Quality Assurance Unit at the Faculty of Archae‐
ology, Cairo University, Egypt.
WAFAA ANWAR MOHAMED
78 e‐conservation
No. 19, April 2011
ISSN: 1646‐9283
Registration Number125248
Entidade Reguladorapara a Comunicação Social
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