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econservationthe online magazine No. 22, November 2011
4 The Nomad Conservator
By Rui Bordalo
Intangible Cultural Heritage and Rise of the Meme
By Daniel Cull
On Some Problems of the Relationship Between Science
and Conservation
By António João Cruz
Historic Conservation Project Begins at “Machu Picchu of the North”
By Global Heritage Fund
Conservation Matters in Wales
Review by Johanna Sandström
Microscopy and Microanalysis Applications in Cultural Heritage
Research
Review by Ana Bidarra
MATCONS 2011
Review by Teodora Poiata
ICOM‐CC 16th Triennial Conference
Review by Rui Bordalo
The External Ion Beam Facility in Portugal for Studying
Cultural Heritage
By Victoria Corregidor, Luís Cerqueira Alves, Paula Alexandra Rodrigues,
Márcia Vilarigues, Rui C. Silva
The Contribution of Transmitted Infrared Imaging to
Non‐Invasive Study of Canvas Paintings at the National Gallery
– Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Greece
By Anna Moutsatsou, Dimitra Skapoula, Michael Doulgeridis
Chinese Islamic Scrolls: a Conservation Case Study
By Aristoteles Sakellariou, Lalit Kumar Pathak, Siti Yuhainizar Mohd Ismail
Conservation Intervention of Vernacular Architectures:
Two Case Studies in Calabria, Italy
By Alessia Bianco
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ARTICLES
NEWS & VIEWS
EDITORIAL
inde
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lThe Nomad Conservator
When the computer gained a permanent place in our houses, teleworking or rather the home
based work revolution started. But conservation is not one of those professions you can carry out
from your computer at home, unless you are working in documentation. On the contrary,
conservation has always been work that needs to be done somewhere else. In modern times, this
phenomena has reached a dimension never seen before.
We often complain about the problems of modern times. We don’t have major revolutions or world
wars but things are changing more than we care to notice. It has never been easier or cheaper to
travel, just as it seems that it has never been more difficult to hold on to a job. Mobility is the
word of reference nowadays. Long‐term contracts are so difficult to get that we must consider
them long gone. Short‐term contracts, and/or freelancing, are here to stay and dictate our lives.
It is now pretty common to be 35 to 40 years old and have spent the last 10 to 15 years going from
project to project, either at academia, in the museum field or in the private sector.
Nowadays, mobility is considered as a necessary requirement for the modern work market. In
conservation we may contemplate three main types of mobility: micro‐mobility, when you move
inside the region where you live; macro‐mobility, when you move continually around your
country, which means not going home very often; and inter‐mobility, when you move to another
country either permanently or for long‐term periods (2‐5 years).
Mobility is great! It allows you to travel, see the world, and if you don’t like something you can
always move on to your next target. But it also does not allow you to plan your future, know
where you will be living in a few years time, create roots in your community or raise a family,
basically it doesn’t let you settle down.
This is the true nature of conservation: to go “in situ”, where you are needed, although you might
say it has now turned into “to go anywhere you get the chance to”. The whole initial concept is
very attractive, to search for a better place, to always move for the better, but when better is not
available and you need to move on because your last work or project is just finishing, then it turns
into a matter of survival.
This may be seen as a sign of present times and not as a major problem. As a factor that is shaping
the actual generation of conservator‐restorers and that will probably change the way that
conservation is done, I believe it deserves some reflection.
Rui BordaloEditor‐in‐Chief
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INTANGIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE AND RISE OF THE MEME
In 2003 the safeguarding of Intangible Cultural
Heritage (ICH) was codified, and defined as
heritage that is:
“...transmitted from generation to generation, is
constantly recreated by communities and groups in
response to their environment, their interaction
with nature and their history, and provides them
with a sense of identity and continuity.” [2]
The convention talks of language, performance,
rituals, and traditional crafts as being “vehicles”
of transmission, but doesn’t attribute a particular
method of transfer. I was intrigued by the ideas
of transmission and recreation, and wondered
whether ICH would mesh with an assertion that
“all transmitted knowledge is memetic” [3]. The
internet has brought the idea of the meme to
popular consciousness, with famous memes such
as ‘LOLCat’. The meme has been defined as: “a
contagious information pattern that replicates by
parasitically infecting human minds and altering
their behavior, causing them to propagate the
pattern” [3]. The meme existed prior to its popula‐
rization online, and traditional memetic concepts
include; slogans, catch‐phrases, images, icons,
melodies, and fashions, however, an idea “is not
a meme until it causes someone to replicate it,
to repeat it to someone else” [3]. Furthermore
an object is not a meme, no matter the speed or
repetition of production, nor of use, the object
remains a “meme vehicle” [1], as does its user.
Intriguingly the UNESCO convention refers to
language, performance, ritual, and traditional
"The meme is not the dancer but the dance."
James Gleick [1]
By Daniel Cull
craft as being “vehicles” of
transmission.
Religion, or ritual, was identified as
one vehicle for the transfer of ICH,
and it seems it does exhibit a meme‐
tic nature. I recently experienced
this when I walked ‘el Camino de
Santiago de Compostela’, a religious
pilgrimage through Galicia, in
northern Spain, the pilgrimage
culminates with a series of rituals
at the relics in Santiago de Compos‐
tela Cathedral. Conservation con‐
cerns had limited the ability to per‐
form two of the rituals, touching
the Tree of Jesse, and headbutting
the statue of Maestro Mateo ‘the
Saint of the Bumps’, but I was able
to hug the statue of St James above
the alter and descend into the tomb
to pray at the reliquary casket; join‐
ing these rituals as a ‘meme vehicle’.
Many pilgrims on route to Santiago
carry scallop shells, a walking staff
and a gourd, these objects appear
repeatedly in art throughout the
region, especially in depictions of
St James as a pilgrim (Santiago
Peregrino); forming another meme
vehicle. Through the realization that
the rituals, symbols, art, and I were
meme vehicles, it was possible to
see the pilgrimage itself as a meme,
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and this provided one potential explanation for
why the pilgrimage route continues to exist and
have such resonance today.
Another vehicle for transmission was identified as
language. Symbols are an excellent example of a
language which exhibits the memetic nature of
ICH transfer; this is especially evident in contem‐
porary post‐modern politics. As the twitter revolu‐
tion continues around the world with its hashtags
#jan25, #15M, and #OccupyWallStreet, museums
have rushed to collect material culture pertaining
to these protest movements [4]. I’m sure high on
their wish list will be a Guy Fawkes mask from the
film ‘V for Vendetta’, because of its use on and
offline as a symbol of the collective Anonymous
[5]. Guy Fawkes was a Roman Catholic conspirator
who, in 1605, failed in an attempt to blow up the
English Parliament during the state opening by
the King. This was a pivotal moment in the
Camino road sign.
creation of the modern British state, a moment
that continues to be marked today. The annual
burning of an effigy of Guy Fawkes was a potent
symbol of Protestant nationalism, but as a result
of the secularization of the event in the mid‐
nineteenth century, the image of Guy Fawkes was
liberated from the bonfires and replaced with
contemporary figures of antagonism, leaving the
image of Guy Fawkes to become a “free floating
symbol” [6, 156], capable of multiple and shifting
meanings. It is this image that has been embraced
by protesters across the globe, mirroring the emo‐
tional climax of the film V for Vendetta in which
“the audience is treated to an inspirational sight:
Evey's beautiful lips, caressing the lifeless fea‐
tures of a Guy Fawkes mask. Evey loves the meme.
She loves the symbol, its power, and the way V has
wielded this power.” [6, 170] It is this love of the
meme that is so relevant to the contemporary
political realm, and therefore our understanding
of contemporary ICH.
To the meme the real and virtual are not bounda‐
ries, the brain and the computer serve the same
vehicular function. As the meme becomes a more
widely regarded concept it becomes an ever
greater potential interpretive avenue for contem‐
plating ICH, leading us to an intriguing question
within the study of memes: ‘who is in charge, us
or the meme?’
Notes:
[1] J. Gleick," What Defines a Meme?", Smithsonian
Magazine, May 2011, URL (accessed 04‐11‐2011)
[2] UNESCO, Convention for the Safeguarding of
the Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2003, URL
(accessed 04‐11‐2011)
[3] G. Grant, Memetic Lexicon, 1990, HTMLized by
Anders Sandberg, 1994, altered and expanded by
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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 Museum
and as a collaborator with e‐conservation
magazine.
Website: http://dancull.wordpress.com
Contact: [email protected]
David McFadzean, 1995‐1999, URL (accessed
04‐11‐2011)
[4] M. Machado and V. Hilbig, Statement: Occupy
Wall Street Collecting, Smithsonian/National Museum
of American History, URL (accessed 04‐11‐2011)
[5] Anonymous is a collective pseudonym, in the
tradition of Luther Blisset, Nedd Ludd, or Captain
Swing
[6] L. Call, "A Is for Anarchy, V is for Vendetta:
Images of Guy Fawkes and the Creation of Post‐
modern Anarchism", Anarchist Studies 16(2), 2008
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7
The News section is bringing up‐to‐dateinformation on cultural heritage topics such ason‐site conservation projects reports, reviews
of conferences, lectures or workshops andany other kind of appropriate
announcements.
If you are involved in interesting projects andyou want to share your experience with
everybody else, please send us your newsor announcements.
For more details, such as deadlines andpublication guidelines, please visit
www.e‐conservationline.com
By António João Cruz
ON SOME PROBLEMS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEENSCIENCE AND CONSERVATION
It is now common ground that Science (exact and
natural sciences) is an important and indispen‐
sable support for Conservation. For example, any
higher education degree of Conservation contains
in its curriculum several courses on Chemistry,
Physics, Materials and Biology, which help to
understand the materiality of the works to be
conserved, and Methods of Examination and
Analysis that are fundamental for identification
and characterisation of the materials that consti‐
tute the works of art. The importance that Science
has for Conservation is also observed in many
publications authored or co‐authored by conser‐
vator‐restorers where the knowledge of the exact
and natural sciences is increasingly used and relied
upon, as seen on several manuals [1‐4].
However, as testified by any manual on methods
of examination and analysis relevant for Conser‐
vation or dedicated to conservator‐restorers, this
relation between Science and Conservation has
been developed within the wider context of the
application of analytical methods to the resolu‐
tion of problems in Archaeology, History and Art
History and many of these studies have only
indirect interest for Conservation (Table I). On
this wider context, there are other research areas
beyond Conservation Science such as Archaeo‐
logical Chemistry, Archaeometry and Technical
Art History, to cite some disciplines that have
become important in the last years or decades.
Obviously, all information about the object may
be useful and important for its intervention since
it is “impossible to treat what is not known” [5]
but it should be borne in mind that there is not
always a direct relationship between Science and
Conservation.
In general, the wide relationship between Science
and Conservation, developed since the second
half of the XVIII century, has been achieved
through three models (Table II).
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8 e‐conservation
Table I. General questions that laboratory studies try to answer.
Question
What is it made of?
How was it made?
When was it made?
Where was it made?
Who made it?
What purpose did it have?
What is its conservation condition?
How did it change?
How to preserve it?
Aspects involved
Identification of materials
Identification and characterisation of the techniques and technologies
Dating
Determination of provenance
Determination of authorship
Determination of function
Diagnosis of the conservation condition
Determination of the alteration mechanisms
Establishment of preventive conservation strategies
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One of the models, the request to the laboratory,
corresponds to the situation where someone
contacts a laboratory to obtain information about
an object. This model goes back at least to the
1770’s, when Thomas Pownall asked the head of
the Royal Mint for help for the identification of a
metal alloy used in prehistoric swords [6], but it
is still current nowadays. Typical cases are those
in which a conservator‐restorer uses the services
of a laboratory, for example, to identify the
constituent materials of the work to be treated
and to improve the intervention report. Due to
the cost of the services, the study is generally
limited and the results have little impact, at least
in the Conservation field.
Other model is the opposite, the offer from the
laboratory, which occurs when someone from the
Sciences proposes a project involving works of art
or other cultural heritage objects. The underlining
intention is to apply the knowledge and technology
developed for other purposes to new domains and,
thus, to enlarge its area of influence. An early
example was the proposal of renowned chemist
Humphry Davy on the 1810’s to develop a chemical
process to allow to unroll quickly the scrolls
found during the archaeological excavations at
Herculanum, in Italy, for which only a time‐consu‐
ming mechanical method existed at the time [7].
More recently, the laboratory offer has increased
significantly, specially since 1995, when the
Molart (Molecular Aspects of Ageing in Painted
Works of Art) project started [8]. This is probably
due to the increase of competitiveness within the
scientific fields and the consequent tendency of
extend their areas of influence. This great offer
is clearly revealed by the significant number of
papers devoted to the study of the cultural
heritage published in journals of Chemistry and
Physics, often in thematic issues [9]. It is because
of this that there are more papers concerning
cultural heritage issues published in journals from
other areas referenced on ISI Web of Knowledge
than published in journals dedicated to cultural
heritage (Table III). Looking for answers to parti‐
cular problems of scientific disciplines rather than
to conservation problems, the papers published
in Chemistry and Physics journals frequently have
little impact on the cultural heritage field, in
particular on Conservation, despite the existence
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Table II. Models of the relation between Science and Conservation.
ModelParameter
Request to laboratory Offer from laboratory Collaboration
Reason of study Historical problem Technology applicationConservation
and restoration orhistorical problem
Occurrence Moderate Low to moderate Low
Direct costs for theconservator‐restorer
High Low or none Low
Direct implicationin Conservation
Low Variable, butfrequently low
Variable
Main problem Study inadequacyIncomprehension
of the historical andartistic aspects
Difficulty incommunication
Dissemination type Report Paper oninternational journal
Article or book chapter
of notable exceptions such as the studies from
the Molart project. The exceptional situation of
this project was certainly due to the fact that it
started as an offer from the laboratory but it
rapidly developed into other model.
This model, the third type of the relation between
Science and Conservation, corresponds to the
collaboration, in which the work is conceived,
planned and developed by a multidisciplinary
team working in consonance. This type and its
advantages started to be discussed after the First
International Conference for the Study of Scientific
Methods for Examination and Preservation of Works
of Art organised in Rome in 1930 by the prede‐
cessor of ICOM. From this conference resulted a
manual on the conservation of paintings written
by an international multidisciplinary group [10].
However, the first major study carried out in this
way was the study of the Adoration of the Mystic
Lamb by Jan van Eyck, coordinated by Paul Core‐
mans in the early 1950’s [11]. The team was com‐
posed of chemists, biologists, art historians,
conservator‐restorers and archivists.
This type of relation, certainly the most advan‐
tageous from the conservation point of view, is
relatively uncommon due to the communication
difficulties between the areas that need to be
involved, which belong to two different cultures
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10 e‐conservation
[12]. These difficulties not only undermine the
development of studies but also create some
conflicts and delicate situations. On this respect,
J. R. J. van Asperen de Boer, the inventor of infra‐
red reflectography, made in 1998 an important
and clear statement based on his experience of
many years about the impact of Sciences in Art
History: “The Oxford Dictionary defines ‘impact’
as ‘striking (on, against), collision, effect, influ‐
ence’. The author has held a chair of ‘scientific
examination of works of art’, being a physicist by
training but operated professionally for more than
twenty years within an institute for Art History,
and would obviously prefer ‘effect’ or at least
‘influence’ as the accepted connotation. Unfor‐
tunately endeavours to use – or even better –
integrate methods of scientific examination in
art history are not infrequently seen as ‘striking
against’ art historical views or traditions and may
thus well lead to ‘collisions’” [13].
The communication difficulties, which naturally
also affect the other models, have been addressed
and some progress has occurred in this regard in
the last decades [14]. However, some recent
technological developments oppose this trend.
The same van Asperen de Boer also commented
this fact when he stated, concerning the Molart
project, that “the specialized language used by
the participating scientists is not easily grasped
Topic
Conservation AND Restoration AND Art
Painting AND Conservation
Painting AND Conservation AND Analysis
Painting AND Pigments
Nr. Nr. % **
158 11 7
295 68 23
139 6 4
466 36 8
Alljournals
Cultural heritagerelated journals*
Table III. Number of papers published between 2005 and 2011 on some topics related to Conservation found in ISI Web of Knowledge(search performed on 09.25.2011).
* Archaeometry, International Journal of Architectural Heritage, Journal of Architectural Conservation, Journal of Cultural Heritage, Journal ofthe American Institute for Conservation, Restaurator, Studies in Conservation.** Percentage of papers published in cultural heritage related journals in relation to the total number of papers related to the topic.
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11e‐conservation
by restorers and art historians, not even by
the present writer trained as an experimental
physicist” [8].
The problems that derive from the existence of
both cultures also manifest themselves in the
publication of studies.
On the one hand, as already mentioned, many
papers have appeared recently in international
journals of Chemistry and Physics. However, they
focused on the search of new areas of application
of knowledge, techniques and technologies deve‐
loped elsewhere and end up giving little importance
to the works of art and their problems, besides
being difficult to read for most conservator‐
restorers.
On the other hand, the most adequate journals
to publish studies that address issues related to
conservation problems, material history and
technical characterisation of works of art are
unattractive for chemists and physicists. This
space is available in the Conservation journals,
specially in those with circulation predominantly
limited to a country or to a small set of countries,
such as Conservar Património (published by ARP,
Associação Profissional de Conservadores‐Restau‐
radores de Portugal) [15], ECR ‐ Estudos de Conser‐
vação e Restauro (published by Escola das Artes
of Universidade Católica Portuguesa) [16] or Ge‐
conservación (published by the Spanish Conserva‐
tion Group of the International Institute for Conser‐
vation of Historic and Artistic Works) [17]. The
problem is that chemists or physicists have little
or no interest on such journals. Scientists have a
publication dynamics very different from that of
conservator‐restorers: they almost limit themselves
to publish in journals indexed on ISI Web of Know‐
ledge and any other publication has a negligible
impact on their curriculums. Because Conservation
journals with national circulation are not part of
this group, it is difficult for them to receive any
study involving Science and Conservation.
Although this may not be evident at first sight,
the problems related with publishing have equally
important implications on another level, namely
on the financing of institutions dedicated to
Conservation and Restoration.
Despite these problems that derive from the
existence of two cultures, and the ignorance that
conservator‐restorers often have of the details
of the analytical processes, these professionals
may have a fundamental role on the laboratory
study. Indeed, contrary to what one might expect,
questions that may be made based on direct and
deep knowledge of the materials might influence
the entire analytical process. This is particularly
evident in the case of identification of the binding
media used by Rembrandt, described in detail by
Ernest van de Wetering [18]. Shortly, the case
started with the idea, which had been gaining
importance on mid‐nineteenth century, that some
effects found on Rembrandt‘s paintings resulted
from the use of a mixture of oil and resin. Thus, as
soon as the analytical techniques allowed it, in the
1980’s several paintings by Rembrandt were ana‐
lysed and the presence of resin in the binder was
tested. However, according to the results obtained
by gas chromatography ‐ mass spectrometry (GC‐
MS), the binder consisted only of oil, since no
trace of resin was detected. Given the experience
and reputation of the laboratory, these results
meant that the effects were only due to the excel‐
lence of Rembrandt’s technique. The results were
generally accepted by those working in the labo‐
ratories but were rejected, or at least, doubted by
those who knew in detail the subjects regarding
to the matter of the painting. For this attitude,
the justification was that each material has its
limits and, thus, as good as Rembrandt’s technique
was, the mixture of oil and resin could not allow
12 e‐conservation
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to obtain the diversity of the plastic effects obser‐
ved on the surface of some works. It was then
possible to conduct further analysis in other
laboratories, this time using other techniques,
namely high‐performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
(FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
These results showed the use of emulsions formed
by oil, water and egg, which have rheological pro‐
perties that may explain the variety of the effects.
The differences between the results obtained in
the two studies are not due to the technological
development that occurred but mostly due to the
fact that the analysis were oriented in different
ways: in the first case for the detection of resins,
in the second for the detection of other possible
constituents. So, the analytical results were
decisively determined by those who knew well
the materials, as it is the case of conservator‐
restorers, ignoring even how the equipments
operate. After all, this is merely an illustration
of a general situation: there are no good answers
without good questions.
Note
This text is the essence of the communication
presented by invitation at the I Encontro Luso‐
brasileiro de Conservação e Restauro that took
place on September 26, 2001 at the Universidade
Católica Portuguesa, Porto. I would like to thank
the welcome given to this communication, speci‐
ally by the speakers that followed. I also thank
Rui Bordalo for his invitation to address this issue
and for the English translation.
References
[1] J. Janssens, R. Van Grieken (ed.), Non‐destruc‐
tive Microanalysis of Cultural Heritage Materials,
Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2004
[2] B. Stuart, Analytical Techniques in Materials
Conservation, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, 2007
[3] M. Egido, T. Calderón (ed.), La Ciencia y el
Arte. Ciencias experimentales y conservación del
patrimonio histórico, Instituto del Patrimonio
Histórico Español, Madrid, 2008
[4] G. Artioli, Scientific Methods and Cultural
Heritage. An Introduction to the Application of
Materials Science to Archaeometry and Conserva‐
tion Science, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2010
[5] A. V. Remígio, "História da Arte vs. Conservação
e Restauro", Newsletter ‐ Associação Portuguesa de
Historiadores da Arte 6, 2011, p. 5
[6] T. Pownall, "An account of some Irish anti‐
quities", Archaeologia, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts
Relating to Antiquity 3, 1775, pp. 355‐370
[7] H. Davy, "Report on the state of the manu‐
scripts of papyrus, found at Herculaneum", The
Quaterly Journal of Literature, Science and the
Arts 7, 1819, pp. 154‐161
[8] J. R. J. A. Boer, "Reflections on MOLART", in
M. Clarke, J. Boon (ed.), MOLART. A multidiscipli‐
nary NWO PRIORITEIT project on Molecular Aspects
of Ageing in Painted Works of Art. Final Report and
Highlights. 1995‐2002, FOM Institute, Amsterdam,
2003, pp. 9‐10
[9] A. J. Cruz, Números temáticos de revistas
online, URL (accessed 17‐10‐2011)
[10] International Museums Office, Manual on the
Conservation of Paintings, 2nd ed., Archetype
Publications, London, 1997
[11] P. Coremans (ed.), L'Agneau Mystique au Labo‐
ratoire. Examen et traitement, De Sikkel, Anvers, 1953
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13e‐conservation
ANTÓNIO JOÃO CRUZConservation ScientistContact: [email protected]
António João Cruz teaches conservation science
at Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Tomar, Insti‐
tuto Politécnico de Tomar, Portugal and he is a
researcher at CITAR – Centro de Investigação em
Ciência e Tecnologia das Artes, Universidade
Católica, Porto, Portugal.
[12] C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures, Cambridge
University Press, Cambridge, 1998
[13] J. R. J. A. Boer, "Some reflections upon the
impact of scientific examination on art historical
research", in E. Hermens (ed.), Looking Through
Paintings. The Study of Painting Techniques and
Materials in Support of Art Historical Research, de
Prom Publications‐Archetype Publications, Baarn‐
London, 1998, pp. 13‐17
[14] H. Lechtman, R. Stone, K. W. Miller, B. Consi‐
dine, J. Levin, "A matter of teamwork a discussion
about technical studies and art history", Conserva‐
tion ‐ The Getty Conservation Institute Newsletter
20(1), 2005, pp. 11‐16
[15] http://revista.arp.org.pt/
(accessed 17‐10‐2011)
[16] http://citar.artes.ucp.pt/ecr/
(accessed 17‐10‐2011)
[17] http://revista.ge‐iic.com/
(accessed 17‐10‐2011)
[18] E. Wetering, Rembrandt. The Painter at Work,
University of California Press, Berkeley ‐ Los
Angeles ‐ London, 2000
GHF has announced its newest conservation
project at Marcahuamachuco, a site of Pre‐Incan
ruins often referred to by archaeologists as “Machu
Picchu of the North” and the “Jewel of La Liber‐
tad”. Marcahuamachuco is set atop the nexus of
three mountain valleys at over 10,000 feet (3,200
meters), overlooking the land and rivers below.
Celebrated for its massive castillos (castles) and
unique circular double‐walled archaeological
structures that predate the imperial expansion of
the Incas and the Huari, Marcahuamachuco was
constructed between 400‐800 AD and became
northern Peru’s most important political, econo‐
mic and military center.
Located at an altitude of approximately 3,200
meters, Marcahuamachuco is one of the largest
and most complex archaeological sites in the
northern highlands of Peru. With its massive walls
and impressive stone architecture that predates
the imperial expansion of the Incas and the Huari,
the site has intrigued and attracted travelers and
researchers since Colonial times. Its construction
dates back to around 400 AD, and before being
conquered by the Incas, it became northern Peru’s
most important political, economic and military
center. Over many centuries, it has been damaged
by natural factors and a lack of surveillance, but
it remains one of the country’s most important
archaeological sites.
Global Heritage Fund (GHF), an international
conservancy dedicated to saving endangered heri‐
tage sites in developing countries, is launching
this newest conservation project at a special
event to be held in the city of Trujillo on November
2nd, 2011. Following this event, the GHF team will
journey from Trujillo to Huamachuco, passing
through the most important archaeological sites
from Moche culture (predating the Incas) to Chimu
culture, until they reach the site of Marcahuama‐
chuco.
GHF’s technical expertise will support its local
partner, the Unidad Ejecutora Marcahuamachuco
(UEM), in scientific planning, GIS and mapping,
and archaeological conservation. In addition,
GHF’s Preservation by Design® methodology will
be applied to community development to promote
employment of local conservation workers, train‐
ing guides and artisan works to ensure long‐term
sustainability. Since March 2011, the UEM has
been performing emergency actions at the site,
including clearing vegetation and provisionally
repairing the most damaged walls in advance of
large‐scale conservation. Currently, the UEM
team includes 24 local workers from the town of
Huamachuco.
HISTORIC CONSERVATION PROJECT BEGINS AT 'MACHU PICCHU OF THE NORTH'Global Heritage Fund & Unidad Ejecutivo Marcahaumachucopartner up to revive the Pre‐Inca City of the Dead
Wall shoring at Marcahuamachuco.
14 e‐conservation
NEWS
Alejandra Figueroa, who has worked on many
archaeological missions across Peru, serves as
project director for GHF Marcahuamachuco, and
is working closely with the UEM to ensure the best
preservation practices and community develop‐
ment. “The GHF project represents a unique oppor‐
tunity to use the latest technology to protect and
preserve Marcahuamachuco, and to create a new
management model in Peru combining public and
private efforts to protect archaeological heritage”,
said Figueroa.
“My personal stake in the preservation of Marca‐
huamachuco is twofold: as an archaeologist, I want
to see the site protected and prepared to survive
for many generations. As a Peruvian citizen, I can‐
not ignore the many needs of my country’s popu‐
lation, and the desire for improving their quality
of life. Marcahuamachuco has great potential to
become a major tourist attraction, and also to
strengthen the bond between people from Huama‐
chuco and their cultural heritage and Peru’s past
— a process that hopefully will allow us to better
understand our present and shape our future.”
With excellent potential to become one of the first
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the northern high‐
lands of Peru, Marcahuamachuco will provide a
major focus for economic development in an area
with few opportunities for local communities. The
heritage site of Marcahuamachuco is considered
endangered and faces accelerating threats as the
ruins degrade from grazing of livestock, lack of
conservation, weathering, plant growth and the
continued unchecked effects of natural elements
on the ancient structures.
Marcahuamachuco is GHF’s second project in Peru,
joining Chavín de Huántar, a UNESCO World Heri‐
tage Site located in the high mountains of the
Andes. Since 2004, GHF has been working in part‐
nership with Stanford University’s Dr. John Rick
and the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC) to
preserve Chavín. GHF’s multi‐stage methodology,
Historic wall ruins at Marcahuamachuco. Photo by Johan Reinhard.
15e‐conservation
NEWS
View from Marcahuamachuco. Photo by Johan Reinhard.
West side of the Marcahuamachuco ruins. Photo by Johan Reinhard.
16 e‐conservation
NEWS
FREE
CONSERVATION
RESOURCES
Art Conservation Research
conservationresearch.blogspot.com
called Preservation by Design®, has ensured
Chavín de Huántar has the highest‐caliber science,
planning and training for archaeological conser‐
vation and community development.
“As our work at Chavín de Huántar has shown, GHF
understands not only the need for responsible
planning and development, but the sustainable
economic potential of cultural heritage sites —
not just in Peru, but in developing countries all
over the world”, says Jeff Morgan, Executive
Director of GHF. In 2010, GHF funded the cata‐
loging and conservation of thousands of Chavin
artifacts which are now displayed in the new
$4 million National Museum of Chavín and 60,000
people have already visited the site over the last
year.
Much of Marcahuamachuco's history still remains
a mystery ‐ with the engagement of archaeolo‐
gists, historians and the local community, the
project will shed light on this important Peruvian
treasure. Like so many of the country’s top heri‐
tage sites, it has suffered in the shadow of Machu
Picchu for too long.
Visit GHF online and on Twitter to follow the trip
to Marcahuamachuco @Global_Heritage.
About Marcahuamachuco, Peru
Visit Marcahuamachuco on the Global Heritage
Network (GHN)
About Chavin de Huantar, Peru
17e‐conservation
NEWS
18 e‐conservation
CONSERVATION MATTERS IN WALES
16 June 2011
Cardiff , United Kingdom
Review by Johanna Sandström
Organised by:National Museum Wales, The Federation of
Museums and Art Galleries of Wales and
Cardiff University
The conference “Conservation Matters in Wales”
focused on the theme “Use and misuse of objects”.
The event was organized by National Museum
Wales, The Federation of Museums and Art Galleries
of Wales and Cardiff University, and was held at the
Icon suite of the Amgueddfa Cymru – National
Museum Wales on the 16th of June 2011.
Speakers from different parts of Wales and England
presented their thoughts about ethics and decision‐
making in relation to the conference theme, focu‐
sing mainly on the state of the actual economic
situation and how it causes problems for conserva‐
tors. This conference offered many interesting
insights into how conservators in Britain have
worked to deal with these problems.
The first speaker was Jane Thomson Webb from
Birmingham Museums and Art Galleries. She spoke
about Risk, and a program called RAPT, short for
Risk Awareness Profiling Tool. It is a free online
tool, developed by Birmingham Museums and Art
galleries and The Museum of London in co‐opera‐
tion with risk expert Jonathan Ashley‐Smith,
designed to help museums and other organiza‐
tions dealing with cultural heritage to assess their
risk‐awareness. It is a program where one answers
questions in different steps, with the possibility
to gain further information on the questions along
the way, and in the end get to know in which areas
their risk awareness plans are good and where they
need improving, with feedback on how to improve.
The program is accessed via http://www.rapton
line.org.uk, and registration is mandatory to
complete the test. Jane was the first to mention
that the main risk for most organizations in the
cultural heritage sector is a lack of funding, some‐
thing that was to come up as a subject in most of
the following talks.
The second speaker was Paul Meredith, engineer
at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.
His talk focused on the importance of knowing the
technology and engineering of machinery one
works with in a museum environment, if you are
to have it running and at the same time keeping
damage to a minimum. He stated how the know‐
ledge of old, outdated machinery is something
that is becoming forgotten in a period of rapid
tempo. This knowledge is often lost with the
people who used to operate the machines. He
stressed how it is important for engineers/con‐
servators of old machinery to gather as much
information as possible about the machines they
work with from the people who ran it before them,
and also to write it down for future reference and
make use of it in their everyday work. He described
how he made up check‐lists for the machines in his
care, of which parts needed to be under regular
surveillance when they were run and not run. He
described how a routine of checking these points
is essential to preserve the machinery, and also
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to ensure safety for operators and audience who
are spending time close to the machine.
The third speaker was Katie Hebborn, graduating
student at Cardiff University BSc Conservation of
Objects in Museums and Archaeology. She presen‐
ted her third‐year practical project, analyzing the
original paint in the ceiling of the Tabernacle
Chapel of Pontypridd, which was first painted in
1910 and then re‐painted in 1983, example of the
1980’s paint (Figure 1). The purpose of her work
was to analyze the original paint to give Ponty‐
pridd art‐society an idea of how the ceiling was
originally painted so they could then use the infor‐
mation to make a reconstruction of what it looked
like in 1910, and then possibly repaint the roof.
Having some knowledge of the colours originally
used, Duresco paint, Katie made exposure windows
at vital parts of the patterns in the ceiling to un‐
cover the original paint and take samples for colour
analysis. She analyzed the original paint in a labo‐
ratory using cross‐section microscopy and SEM‐
EDX technology. She made a guideline for the art‐
society after the Munsell book of colours, descri‐
bing hue, value and chroma of the paint. She
ended her presentation with reasoning around the
theme of use and misuse of objects, stating that
to us the misuse in this case is surely that the ceil‐
ing was repainted in 1983, while in the future we
do not know if it would be considered a misuse to
restore the ceiling to its original state at the
expense of the 1980’s art‐work.
The fourth speaker, Clare Stoughton Harris of the
National Trust talked about the buildings in the
care of the National Trust and how the greatest
threat to these properties is the lack of funding
within the organization. She also spoke of how to
deal with the ever flowing stream of tourists, and
how one can go about to calculate maximum sus‐
tainable amount of visitors for a given time in a
historical building without interfering too much
with the conservation and preservation work. A
stable relationship between letting the visitors
enjoy themselves in the cultural property without
interfering with the conservation of the same
property was their main goal. To cope with the
funding allocation she described how the National
Trust has worked out check‐lists for conservation
and preventive conservation of the buildings in
their care. These checklists describe what the most
urgent concerns are allowing a focus on them. A
check list could include, for example, the number
of rooms in a building, what pests that are present
in the building, what protected species there are
that need to be taken into consideration, hazard‐
ous materials in the constructions, etc. For each
there are guidelines of what needed to be done,
priority lists and routines for the care of the
building. Her thoughts on the theme of use and
misuse of objects: she defined misuse as being
the use of an object without risk awareness or use
disregarding risk awareness.
The fifth speaker, Laura Caradonna of Monmouth‐
shire Museum Service, had evaluated the use of
polyester pockets for storing documents and went
Figure 1. 1980’s paint in the ceiling Tabernacle Chapel ofPontypridd. Photo by Katie Hebborn.
19
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20 e‐conservation
through the pros and cons for conservation pur‐
poses and for some other options for storage. The
Monmouthshire Museum holds in their care the
personal correspondence of Admiral Horatio
Nelson together with other artifacts associated
with him such as swords, ship models and log
books. This presentation focused on the conserva‐
tion and storage of his letters (Figure 2), written
with iron gall ink, folded and sealed with shellac,
later flattened and bound, and at the time of the
presentation stored in polyester pockets in conser‐
vation boxes (Figure 3). Laura listed the pros of
polyester pockets as being inexpensive and space‐
saving, and making both sides of letters accessible.
The cons were the risk to damage the letter during
extraction, the creation of a microclimate inside
the pockets, and that they create electrostatic
attracting dust and as such speeding up degrada‐
tion. The options for re‐housing the letters were
putting them in four‐flap folders, or so called
Ephemera rehousing; putting them in a ring bin‐
der, then in conservation boxes, or wrapping them
in manila folders using polyester sheet, also giving
the addition of a carrier in the pocket. The last
suggestion was to create enhanced breathing in
the polyester pockets by piercing the folder to
allow air movement. The problem for the museum
is that there is not enough storage‐space for other
options, and also a concern that adding buffering
in the folders might lead to problems with corro‐
sion in the iron gall ink.
The sixth speaker was David Lewis, a furniture
restorer who spoke about his experiences through
his career, mainly concerning the ethical issues
he has faced and still faces in his every‐day work.
Not being a conservator he does not fall under the
ethical guidelines of any conservation organiza‐
tion, so he has to base his decisions from only his
own ethical standpoints. In some cases the wishes
of the customer clashes with these standpoints,
and the only way to handle that is to either con‐
vince the customer to rethink their decisions, or
to carry out their wishes causing the least possible
damage to the original integrity of the object. As
a restorer it is also out of his control to govern the
environment where the piece of furniture ends up
after his work has been carried out. As an example
to illustrate what he sometimes faces in his work,
he told a story about a customer who asked him
to make an antique chest of drawers into a wine‐
cooler. While he did not want to do this he also
realized that this customer would have the work
carried out, and if not by him then by somebody
else, who would quite possible, do a worse job.
So despite the obvious ethical issues, he took the
job and turned the piece into a wine‐cooler, while
keeping its original surface appearance to the
Figure 3. The current way of storing Nelson’s letters, in polyesterpockets in conservation boxes. Photo by Laura Caradonna.
Figure 2. One of the Nelson Letters. Photo by Laura Caradonna.
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21e‐conservation
best of his ability. He said that his main tasks as
a restorer, apart from general repairs or an occa‐
sional strange request, is usually to either remake
the original look of a piece of furniture, and to
redo or undo bad craftsmanship. When working
with antiquities he stated that the best way to
carry out his job was to consult a conservator to
establish least harmful treatment.
The last speaker was Caroline Buttler of Amgueddfa
Cymru – National Museum Wales, former conser‐
vator and now working with natural history type
specimens. Her talk treated the subject of how
she felt was the right way to use the irreplaceable
collections in her care. Natural history type speci‐
mens are the bearers of the scientific names of all
animal taxa, after the Linnean binominal system.
A type specimen is the one specimen that defines
a species, and it is important to have as compa‐
rison if someone believes they have discovered a
new species, to conclude that it is not in fact an
existing one. The single type specimen is called
the holotype, and it is the one specimen that
defines the whole species. These are the most
scientifically valuable parts of museum collections
and it is important for researchers to know where
to find these specimens. So, how are they to be
used causing the least possible damage? For scien‐
tific research for example, paratypes should be
used as far as possible. Paratypes are secondary
examples of the species and more examples than
the one holotype exist. These samples sometimes
need to undergo a harmful procedure in scientific
research such as when accessing DNA data. She
raised the question especially concerning fossils,
where methods exist to gather a lot of informa‐
tion, but often at the expense of the sample itself.
Should she cut up fossils to see what it looks like
inside and thereby classify species? There are
techniques for creating virtual 3D images that
creates virtual holotypes but this requires the
destruction of the original specimen. When a
sample is destroyed, casts of the original speci‐
men should be made as far as it is possible. When
it comes to old and new samples the scientific
value is the same, but there is a historical value
to some prepared holotypes and paratypes such
as the samples that were prepared by Darwin.
Some of them are in bad shape and of little
scientific value since the DNA data has been
destroyed, but they still possess a historical
value and are considered worth preserving since
they can be connected to such an important
scientist as Darwin.
This was an interesting day where the delegates
were given inputs from many different parts of
the conservation profession, got a view on how
use and misuse of objects can manifest itself,
and how there are many risks concerning our
cultural heritage, and the main one right now is
a lack of funding for carrying out conservation
work.
JOHANNA SANDSTRÖMConservator‐restorer
Johanna moved from Uppsala, Sweden to Cardiff,
UK, in September 2010 to study BSc Conservation
of Objects in Museums and Archaeology at Cardiff
University. In the summer of 2011 she did four
weeks of vacation placement at the Swedish Natio‐
nal Heritage Board and is now in her second year,
looking very much forward to continue her career
in conservation.
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22 e‐conservation
The scientific session on 'Microscopy and Micro‐
analysis Applications in Cultural Heritage Research'
was held during the 8th and 9th of August in an
afternoon and morning conferences. This session
was a very small part of an annual meeting orga‐
nized by the Microscopy Society of America (MSA),
the Microanalysis Society (MAS) and the Interna‐
tional Metallographic Society (IMS). The sympo‐
sium chairs were John Mansfield (University of
Michigan), Ed Vicenzi (Museum Conservation
Institute, Smithsonian Institution) and Cathy
Selvius DeRoo (The Detroit Institute of Arts).
The M&M conference is a meeting that spans the
physical, life and analytical sciences, bringing
together delegates from around the globe repor‐
ting on the latest work and advances in microscopy
and microanalysis. The conference was organized
in over 30 symposia reflecting the current state‐
of‐the‐art, as well as the innovative and emerging
fields of research were held, focusing in areas
such as nanotechnology, traditional metallurgy,
biology or clinical diagnosis, or the growing field
of multifunctional hard/soft materials. Comple‐
menting the symposia was an exhibition of micros‐
copy/microanalysis instrumentation and resources,
which included access to vendor tutorials.
The “Microscopy and Microanalysis Applications
in Cultural Heritage Research” was held under the
Physical Science symposia. The first day comprised
six presentations. The first one, “Non‐destructive
investigation of Pre‐Columbian goldwork from
Panama with Variable Pressure Scanning Electron
Microscopy” was presented by the invited speaker
Ainslie Harrison from the National Museum of the
American Indian (Smithsonian Institution, USA).
Goldworking technology spread to Panama from
neighbouring regions in the first centuries AD;
however, not all metalworking techniques were
adopted and many stylistic and technological
variations were developed locally. Almost all of
the 318 objects examined in this study were
fabricated from Au‐Ag‐Cu alloys and included
pendants, plaques, nose rings, finger rings, ear
rods, bands, cuffs, sheathing, beads, and tools.
Optical microscopy alone was capable of providing
a great deal of technological information such as
primary fabrication method (e.g. cast vs. ham‐
mered), as well as some joining and finishing
techniques. Examination of every object in the
study was therefore carried out under the stereo‐
microscope while evidence of manufacture was
recorded with photomicrographs and entered into
the project database. In cases where the methods
REVIEWS
Review byAna Bidarra
7‐11 August 2011, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
MICROSCOPY AND MICROANALYSIS APPLICATIONS IN CULTURALHERITAGE RESEARCH
Organised by:Microscopy Society of America (MSA)
of fabrication and joining remained unclear from
examination under the microscope, objects were
selected to undergo VP‐SEM‐EDS. As only non‐
destructive analysis was permitted on the Smith‐
sonian material, this technique was ideal to help
answer research questions not resolved with
optical microscopy or XRF.
The second presentation, by Jose Luis Ruvalcaba‐
Sil (Instituto de Física, UNAM, Mexico), was also
on the study of gold and was entitled “Combining
SEM‐EDS, PIXE and XRF techniques for complex
analytical problems: depth profile characterization
of Pre‐Hispanic gold”. Technological characteri‐
zation of Pre‐Hispanic gold metallurgy has a wide
deficit of analytical data upon which to build a
synthesis, comparable to that made for ancient
Europe. This study tries to fill the gap between
the well established stylistic classifications and
the scientific identification of the production pro‐
cesses, focusing on the tumbaga alloys, lost wax
technological processes and depletion gilding.
The third contribution was my own presentation
(University of Aveiro, Portugal) and focused on the
study of gold leaf from Portuguese Baroque altar‐
pieces. Despite the existence of several works on
the study of this art form, they are mainly related
to treatises and orders from the manufacturing
period or to art history relations. This study,
however, aimed to provide a new approach to the
analysis of this architectural art by studying not
only these aspects but also the gold leaf, in order
to identify a distinct fingerprint for each altar‐
piece. The gold provenance relations, circulation,
compositional and textural aspects – structure
and micro structural – are some of the factors
considered.
The presentation “Technology and trade at Ancient
Gordion: insights from microanalysis of first
millennium BCE glass” was brought by the second
invited speaker Karen Privat (Electron Microscope
Unit, University of New South Wales, Kensington,
Australia). In the first half of the first millennium
BCE, the ancient city of Gordion, in central Ana‐
tolia, was the capital of the kingdom of Phrygia.
Still famous as the home of King Midas, Gordion
was located on major east‐west trade routes and
arterial rivers, and provided a link between sur‐
rounding Near Eastern states and between these
states and the Greek world further to the west.
Excavations at Gordion have yielded a number of
monochrome glass objects, mainly vessels, from
the Phrygian period (Iron Age, 9th‐7th c. BCE) and
later Hellenistic period (mid‐4th to early 2nd c. BC).
A set of 51 glass samples from Phrygian, Hellenistic
and undated contexts at Gordion were examined
in order to establish similarities and differences
among glass of the two periods and to investigate
broader technological and economic relationships
between Phrygian and Hellenistic Gordion and its
neighbours.
The final presentations were from two MAS Distin‐
guished Scholar Awards, Susana Coentro and
Alessandro Re. These awards are offered annually
to full‐time students presenting high quality
technical papers with significant microanalysis
content. The award comprised complimentary
registration and funds to defray travel expenses
to attend the meeting.
Susana Coentro (VICARTE: Vidro e Cerâmica para
as Artes, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Uni‐
versidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal) presented
“The colours and techniques of 17th century
Portuguese azulejos: a multi‐analytical study”.
In the 17th century, Portuguese azulejo manufac‐
ture was already well established and widespread.
The tiles were produced by the majolica technique
and had a relatively rich palette which included
blue, green, yellow, orange and a set of tones
ranging from purple to dark brown. This work is
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23e‐conservation
focused on the identification of the pigments and
pigment mixtures and also on the morphology of
colour in the lead‐tin glaze. A multi‐analytical
approach was used, with preference for the non‐
destructive techniques.
The second awarded scholar, Alessandro Re
(Dipartimento di Fisica Sperimentale, Università
di Torino and INFN, Italy), spoke on the use of
SEM‐EDX and SEM‐CL to characterize lapis lazuli
from different provenances. Lapis lazuli has been
used for more than 7000 years for the manufacture
of precious objects and jewels. The main quarries
for this stone are still active in Afghanistan, but
there are other quarries that could have been
exploited since antiquity in the Pamir Mountains
(Tajikistan), in Pakistan and in Siberia. For this
reason a provenance study of lapis lazuli could
provide answers to some important issues, in
particular the use and the dissemination of this
rock through historic commercial routes. During
the investigation a systematic study has been
performed on lapis lazuli from different quarries
using Energy Dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX)
and cathodoluminescence (CL). The aim of this
characterization is to identify the main phases
present in the stone and to find some markers to
distinguish among provenances.
The poster session followed the end of the first
session of platform presentations and was held
at the exhibit hall.
The second and last day of presentations started
with two invited speakers: Patrick Ravines (Art
Conservation Department, SUNY Buffalo State,
New York, USA) and Joris Dik (Department of
Materials Science, Delft University of Technology,
the Netherlands). The first presentation “Surface
characterization of 19th century and modern
daguerreotypes using High‐Resolution SEM”
focused on the study of 19th century and recent
modern daguerreotypes using HR‐SEM with mag‐
nifications ranging from 20,000x to 250,000x.
The surface characterization study corroborates
the metallurgical nature of the silver mercury
amalgam image particles and demonstrated the
nano‐textured nature of the background and
image particle surface. The nano‐texture features
of the background surface in the studied gilded
plates provided information that potentially
explains the occurrence of tarnish as corrosion in
the inter‐nodular regions. It appears that gold is
not continuous and may only be capping silver
nodules that range in size in the tens of nanome‐
ters. The narrower nodule boundary regions show
tarnish cubic crystals of AgCl and/or Ag2O infer‐
ring that a protective gold layer is not present and
that silver metal is exposed to atmospheric conta‐
minants, thereby allowing tarnish to develop.
In “The Skin of Van Gogh's Paintings”, by Joris
Dik, the focus was on the degradation mechanism
of early modern painting pigments used in the
work of Vincent van Gogh. These included pigments
such as cadmium yellow and lead chromate yellow.
Recent studies of these pigments have revealed
Nashville Convention Center.
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24 e‐conservation
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25e‐conservation
stability problems. Cadmium yellow, or cadmium
sulphide, may suffer from photo‐oxidation at the
utmost surface of the paint film, resulting in the
formation of colourless cadmium sulphate hydra‐
tes. Lead chromate, on the other hand, can be
subject to a reduction process, yielding green
chrome oxide at the visible surface. Such effects
can seriously disfigure the original appearance of
Van Gogh's works, as it was shown by a number
of case studies.
The first two presentations of the morning were
on the “The use of X‐ray mapping to investigate
art works before their restoration” and on “Micro‐
computed tomography applied to museum
collections”.
Conservation involves the restoration and preser‐
vation of museum objects and historical monu‐
ments using compositional and structural informa‐
tion obtained from modern analytical techniques.
The conservation of oil paintings requires an under‐
standing of the individual structure of each work
of art. This often involves the need for correct
identification of the pigments used by the artist,
a detailed knowledge of the chemical interactions
between these pigments and an understanding of
the artist’s method of mixing colours and laying
paint on canvas. These were the basis for Richard
Wuhrer (Microstructural Analysis Unit, University of
Technology, Sydney, Australia) presentation that
brought examples of the study of different works
of art prior to restoration ‐ Claude Monet “Port‐
Goulphar, Belle Îlle” (1887), John Russell “Mon
ami Polite” (1900) and Philips Fox “Summer” (1912).
Invited speaker Alexander Ball (Electron Micros‐
cope Unit, Department of Mineralogy, The Natural
History Museum, London, UK) ended the first
part of the morning with a presentation on micro‐
computed tomography (micro‐CT) applied to the
study of natural history collections. The ability to
create virtual models using micro‐CT allows very
precise control over lighting and this was used to
examine flint stone tools and to determine how
they were knapped. Virtual specimens can also
be manipulated digitally – either through cross‐
sections, segmentation or rendering to produce
detailed dissections for comparison to published
data. This avoids the need for destructive sampling.
Alternatively, the data can be used to create
movies and specimens can be reproduced using
stereolithography and experimentally tested.
John Mansfield (North Campus Electron Micro‐
beam Analysis Laboratory, University of Michigan,
USA) started the second part of the morning ses‐
sion with a presentation entitled “SEM and XEDS
Analysis of Paint Layers on a 1907 Model G White
Steam Touring Car from The Henry Ford Museum
Collection”. The selection of this car was of parti‐
cular interest to the museum’s conservators since
it was believed that, unlike most of the automo‐
biles in the collection from this era, the painted
surface on this touring car is original. The muse‐
um’s founder, Henry Ford, did not hesitate to
restore damaged components and had every
resource at his disposal to repaint and re‐make
parts. Many cars were also restored before coming
to the museum. The fact that this specimen was
not heavily restored is important, since the car is
from an era where the early automobile paint pro‐
cesses were being derived from the coach builders’
craft. The early painting methods applied to auto‐
mobile bodywork were rarely documented and
transmission of the techniques was typically from
an experienced master of the trade to apprentices.
The sequence of primers, undercoats and finish
coats is of interest in the attempts to conserve the
car and its appearance without seriously changing
the original materials.
The invited speaker Andrew Lins (Conservation
Department, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA)
ANA BIDARRAConservator‐restorer
Contact: [email protected]
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 com‐
positional and technological aspects of gold leaf
from Portuguese baroque altarpieces. She works as
conservator‐restorer in private practice since 1999.
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26 e‐conservation
spoke on the “Materials evaluation and monito‐
ring of a large‐scale conservation project: eight
monumental sculptures by A. M. Calder”. The
presentation described the process involved in
the repair and stabilization of eight monumental
bronze sculptures situated on the massive clock
tower of Philadelphia City Hall, some 107 metres
above ground level with very limited access. Crea‐
ted by A. M. Calder and installed between 1894
and 1896, the sculptures comprise four figural
groups (each averaging ~5 metres high and
weighting 6,35 tons) and four eagles (each with
a wingspan ~3,5 metres and weighing 3,18 tons).
The sculptures were comprised of sand‐cast,
flanged sections that were bolted together with
ferrous fasteners. Beyond the structural neces‐
sity of replacing the ferrous fasteners with ~2200
silicon or stainless steel fasteners, the two basic
questions for the eight sculptures in this conser‐
vation program were: “What were the safest, low‐
est risk, affordable cleaning and coating proce‐
dures that could be applied with predictable lon‐
gevity exceeding ten years?” and “How easily could
the sculptures be maintained to create the longest
interval between retreatment, thereby reducing
long‐term costs to the City for preservation?”
Compositional analysis of corroded materials often
provides information about the corrosion process
and can assist with the selection of solvents for
cleaning and restoration. This was the purpose of
Amy Hemmati (National Institute of Standards and
Technology, Surface and Microanalysis Science
Division, USA) study on Rodin’s Eve. An X‐ray
microanalysis based study was conducted to deter‐
mine the composition of particles taken from the
surface of the bronze statue displayed outdoors.
The final presentation was from the invited speaker
Nahoko Sugioka (Graduate School of Cultural
Conservation, Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan)
on the “Microstructure of woollen fibre dyed by
PbCrO4 yellow dyeing technique imported into
Japan in the middle of the 19th century”. A cotton
fabric called Touzan, having a vertically striped
pattern, was imported into Japan from Southeast
Asian countries during the 15th to the 19th centu‐
ries. However the use of a chrome‐yellow dyeing
technique was only applied for the yellow thread
in the Touzan fabric imported in the late 19th cen‐
tury. It is thought that the conventional plant‐
based yellow dye for the thread in Touzan fabric
was replaced with artificial dye, such as chrome‐
yellow, developed in Europe. Then, the dyeing
technique was brought into Japan, perhaps in the
middle of the 19th century and was utilized to
make the cotton fabric called domestic‐Touzan.
Although this two day session had some very inte‐
resting presentations that covered a series of
different approaches to the use of microscopic
and micro analytical techniques in cultural heri‐
tage and a significant participation of speakers
from outside the USA, the organizers were not
convinced of the need to proceed with this specific
topic within the following M&M symposia. This
was the first and probably the last time that the
“Microscopy and Microanalysis Applications in
Cultural Heritage Research” was held, since the
next M&M meeting (2012) in Phoenix (USA) will
not contemplate this area of investigation.
Review byTeodora Poiata
MATCONS 2011MATTER AND MATERIALS IN/FOR HERITAGE CONSERVATION
REVIEWS
27e‐conservation
The second edition of MATCONS, a conference dedi‐
cated to the Conservation and Restoration of Cul‐
tural Heritage, took place last August in Craiova,
Romania. This event aimed to bring together an
international community focusing on scientific
research and its applications to conservation prac‐
tice. It was an interesting event to take part of,
with a rich programme concentrated into 3 days of
lectures followed by 2 days of thematic field trips.
Around 50 presentations by speakers from 17
countries were given during these days, organised
in parallel sessions that included key lectures, oral
presentations, a seminar, a training course, and
a round table on education and training issues.
Among other activities of the conference were
poster sessions, a national exhibition of restora‐
tion and awards for the best master and doctoral
thesis on conservation science.
The first day started with the opening ceremony
held at University of Craiova’s conference hall. A
welcoming message was addressed by Elena Badea
from the University of Turin as part of the local
scientific programme committee. Invited speakers
were cultural officials involved in the organisation
of the event. A foray into the history of the resto‐
ration laboratories in Dolj County showed that
the economic and politic climate have a strong
impact on cultural heritage, which reflects on
various levels from the rehabilitation of buildings
and funding for equipment to organization of
events such as MATCONS. The crisis that Romania
is currently confronting has serious consequences
upon museums and has brought a few of their con‐
servation laboratories to close during the last
years. On a positive note, the laboratory of the
Oltenia Museum in Craiova, established in 1975,
succeeded to overcome these problems and opera‐
tes today in five main areas in their new facilities.
The first session was a seminar dedicated to “Sci‐
ence and Art” and featured three presentations
by renowned speakers: Nicolae Panea from the
University of Craiova – “Postmodernism, culture,
popular culture and technical support”; Ioan Opris
from the National Museum of History in Bucharest
– “About chemistry, chemists and cultural herita‐
ge”; and Luigi Dei from the University of Florence –
“Primo Levi’s lesson: a bridge between chemistry
and literature”. Professor Dei’s impressive presen‐
tation was built on the story “Cerium” by Primo
Levi from the book “The Periodic Table”, a wonder‐
ful story showing how knowledge can be the rea‐
son for survival. The story takes place back in 1944
24‐28 August 2011Craiova, Romania
Organised by:Dolj County Council, Oltenia Museum inCraiova, ICOM Romania and University ofCraiova
REVIEWS
28 e‐conservation
at the concentration camp of Auschwitz where the
author, an Italian Jewish chemist, spent a year
as prisoner struggling to survive. It was a very
touching story that raised a question ‐ how far
are chemistry and literature one from the other?
The answer ‐ the bridge ‐ was Culture. A video of
this same presentation is available online here.
Afterwards, the opening plenary session was
given by Gustavo Brunetti who presented “Open
European Facilities for the Study and Conservation
of Artworks: the CHARISMA Program”. The spea‐
ker presented an overview of the objectives and
work alredy developed of CHARISMA, which is a
EU‐funded project that provides access to analy‐
tical equipment and know‐how to cultural heri‐
tage researchers.
Next followed two parallel sessions: a training
course organized in association with iCON (“Sci‐
ence and Cultural Heritage in Connection”) on
various applications of thermal analysis to cultu‐
ral heritage, and a session dedicated to case stu‐
dies and research carried out in various centers
and laboratories of Romanian museums.
A very interesting intervention was “Museums
and Politics” by David Fleming, who gave an in‐
sight into cost effective museum management
based on his extensive experience as Director of
National Museums Liverpool. His advice on how
to make museums work was given in a very direct
and practical way: if politicians do not speak
museums language, then museums must learn
to speak the language of politicians. Education
came in as a very important factor in this equa‐
tion; it is seen as the main function of a museum
by the public, so it must offer interesting activi‐
ties and know how to engage it. People are able
to stand for their museums and their voices are
heard by politicians, hence this will attract their
support and provide funding for educational pur‐
poses. Hopefully his advice has proved to be an
inspiration to many of the museums representa‐
tives in Romania.
The afternoon continued with another two parallel
sessions: a round table on education and training
in conservation‐restoration and a session dedicated
to more case studies of conservation treatments
carried out in Romania.
Opening ceremony ‐ invited speakers were Mihai Fifor, director of Oltenia Museum, Ioan Opris, professor and historian from theNational Museum of History in Bucharest, Cristinel Iovan from the Dolj County Council, Nicolae Panea and Daniela Tarnita fromthe University of Craiova and Virgil Stefan Nitulescu, president of ICOM Romania.
REVIEWS
29e‐conservation
An interesting case study was presented by Olim‐
pia Coman‐Sipeanu regarding the impressive col‐
lection of icons on glass “Cornel Irimie” acquired
by the Astra Museum in Sibiu. The author gave a
detailed presentation of the collection manage‐
ment and the conservation methodology for these
64 icons during the course of a treatment that
has started almost 20 years ago. This great work
finalized with the publication of a catalogue that
includes detailed written and photographic docu‐
mentation of the collection.
The second day started with a plenary session ope‐
ned by Gerhard Eggert, conservator at the State
Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart, with
“Endangered neighbour: how corroding glass
causes contact corrosion on metals”. This was a
well documented presentation that focused on a
very specific degradation form which is often
ignored: the corrosion induced by the contact
between copper alloys and historic glass. Once
the chemical process was explained, several
examples of artefacts affected by this pheno‐
menon were given as well as advice on the best
preservation practices.
The session continued with two other interesting
presentations: Wilfried Vetter spoke about Non‐
invasive material analysis in art and archaeology,
trends and perspectives. His work was carried out
together with Manfred Schreiner at the Academy
of Fine Arts in Vienna and included the develop‐
ment of a transportable x‐ray fluorescence (XRF)
equipment for in‐situ applications in archaeolo‐
gical sites, museums and libraries. Other methods
A view of the conference posters exhibited in the main hall ofthe University of Craiova.
Round table – chairpersons Matija Strlič, Hannelore Roemich and Patricia Engel.
REVIEWS
30 e‐conservation
of non‐invasive analysis such as a novel external
reflection‐FTIR equipment and a spectrometer for
fibre optic reflection‐UV‐Vis analysis were also
experimented at the Academy with promising
results.
Luigi Dei closed the session with a fascinating
application of science to conservation – nano‐
technology. Its applications to frescoes, historic
buildings and panel paintings are revolutionary
in conservation. The author presented recent
advances in the research carried out at University
of Florence on nanomaterials chemistry, which
make possible delicate procedures such as conso‐
lidation of severely detached paint layers and
selective cleaning.
Throughout the day some other interesting inter‐
ventions were made. On the same topic of non‐
destructive analytical characterisation of works
of art, Matija Strlič from University College London
presented “Modelling the past and the future and
visualisation of the present: NIR Spectroscopy for
Cultural Heritage”. Near Infrared spectroscopy is
a relatively new tool new tool in art conservation.
Coupled with multivariate data analysis (MVA)
this examination technique becomes especially
useful for characterisation of organic materials.
It also has the capability to give information on
chemical properties of an object, such as acidity
or molecular weight, which allows conservators
to visualise the degradation of an object. Its
application to modelling of material stability
makes it a valuable tool for assessing risks of
collections.
On a different note, the presentation of Hans
Christoph von Imhoff, conservator in private
practice, introduced the audience to an interes‐
ting case study – the conservation of the painting
“Sanctus Beatus (1657) by Claude Fréchot, part of
a larger ensemble made of 34 paintings from the
cathedral Saint Nicholas in Fribourg, Switzerland.
The author discussed interesting aspects that he
observed during the conservation treatment regar‐
ding the technological process of the artwork,
from the preparation and mounting of the wood
panels to finer details such as the preparatory
drawing and the brushstrokes.
Hans Christoph von Imhoff presenting the conservation case studyof the painting “Sanctus Beatus" (1657) by Claude Fréchot.
Roberto Padoan presenting “Quantitative hyperspectralimaging as a conservation tool in archives and libraries”.
REVIEWS
31e‐conservation
The presentation of Oliviu Boldura, professor at
the National Art University in Bucharest and co‐
founder of the association Art Conservation Sup‐
port, was an impressive summary of a lifetime
conservation experience and research carried out
on important monuments with exterior painting
from the north of Moldavia. During his interven‐
tions of conservation‐restoration he has confron‐
ted with different alteration phenomena of pig‐
ments such as azurite, malachite or cinnabar,
which he has studied and interpreted based on
the scientific research carried out by chemist
Ioan Istudor. The chemical processes that took
place are explained in the context of the contribu‐
ting environmental factors based on the in‐situ
observations of the conservator‐restorer. Once
again it was proved how valuable interdisciplina‐
rity is and the close connection between science
and conservation.
The day ended with a visit to the Museum of
Oltenia for the opening of the National Exhibition
of Restoration and a concert at Oltenia Philhar‐
monic House as part of the social events offered
by the organisers.
On the last day of the conference the presenta‐
tions continued to bring interesting topics into
the discussion. In the morning were presented
case studies of book and paper conservation and
preservation of wood and leather heritage objects.
The afternoon was dedicated to more scientific
research, this time with application on icons and
oil paintings. Two other analytical techniques were
presented: Optical Coherence Tomography, by
Adrian Podoleanu, and Quantitative Hyperspectral
Imaging (QHSI), by Roberto Padoan. This last pre‐
sentation discussed an interesting project carried
out at the Nationaal Archief (National Archives of
the Netherlands) that had the objective to develop
dedicated instrumentation and explore the appli‐
cations of QHSI technique to archives and libraries.
Compared to conventional multi‐spectral imaging,
QHSI provides a much greater number of spectral
bands which allows to discriminate between diffe‐
rent types of degradation processes. For monito‐
ring archival documents, measurements were
recorded before and after the documents were on
exhibit or storage for long periods of time. One
of the main goals of the project is to establish a
standard monitoring technique which would
Calopareanu Silvia‐Coralia, nun Mina from Bistrita Monastery,speaking about traditional techniques applied to new items.
A view from the National Exhibition of Restoration at Museumof Oltenia.
REVIEWS
32 e‐conservation
improve the accuracy of the condition documen‐
tation and assist conservators in developing more
effective preventive conservation procedures.
The last session of the day was dedicated to the
awards for the best master and doctoral thesis on
conservation science. The first was awarded to
Hyoyun Kim for her Master thesis “A comparative
study of the colour change of dyed and pigmented
epoxy resins used in glass conservation with the
particular focus on their application in the conser‐
vation of the Hwangnamdeachong Korean glass
ewer”. The prize for the best PhD thesis went to
Dragos‐Valentin Ene with “Non‐contact optical
methods for monitoring monuments conservation
status”.
The conference continued for more two days with
field trips to representative monuments for
Oltenia region: Hurezi Monastery, two fortified
boyar houses, Duca and Greceanu, and Polovragi,
Brancoveni and Clocociov Monasteries.
All papers presented at the conference will be
published in the Conference Proceedings.
TEODORA POIATAConservator‐restorer
Contact: teodora.poiata@e‐conservationline.com
Teodora Poiata is a mural paintings conservator.
She received her BA in 2002 and her MA degree in
2005 from the National Art University in Bucharest.
Currently she is involved in different conservation
projects dividing her time between Romania and
Portugal. She is one of the founders of Art Conserva‐
tion Support, association that supports cultural
heritage conservation in Romania and of e‐conser‐
vation magazine where she is editor since 2007.
Visit at Polovragi Monastery.
REVIEWS
33e‐conservation
Review byRui Bordalo
ICOM‐CC 16TH TRIENNIAL CONFERENCE
19‐23 September 2011, Lisbon, Portugal
Organised by:International Committee of ICOM ‐ TheCommittee for Conservation
The ICOM‐CC 16th Triennial Conference took place
in Lisbon, Portugal from 19 to 23, September 2011,
at the Lisbon Congress Centre. Its theme was “Cul‐
tural Heritage/Cultural Identity – The Role of
Conservation”. Lisbon, a very nice historical city
to visit, has greatly contributed to the conference
success, and it was a luck that it was going through
a late summer period, with nice warm weather.
If the conference had to be summarised in one
single word, that would be ‘massive’: five days,
five rooms with parallel sessions, 21 group ses‐
sions, over 250 presentations, and I estimated a
number of over 800 participants. Contrary to con‐
ferences spent in a single room, parallel sessions
enable participants to make their own conference
‘à la carte’, allowing them to choose the most
relevant presentations according to their interests.
In fact, the organization anticipated this and in
the first day we were presented with a handy
pocket guide of all the presentations and rooms.
However, the advantage of parallel sessions was
counterbalanced by the fact I probably missed
many interesting presentations because there
were too many options at the same time. To change
from one room to the other was also part of the
experience, although an exhausting one. It was
curious to see the corridors always full with parti‐
cipants in rush to catch the next presentation.
Fortunately, we have the conference preprints,
which this year were distributed in electronic
format.
As the conference took place in Portugal, I sus‐
pected I would find the event full of Portuguese
attendees, always eager to participate in conser‐
vation events, although it was not so. Perhaps it
was due to the current crisis the country under‐
goes or due to many other conferences that were
happening in Lisbon at the same time. September
was indeed a full month in Lisbon.
The conference itself only started on the after‐
noon of the first day, Monday. The morning was
reserved for the Opening Session and the first
part of the General Assembly. The second part
took place on Friday afternoon, just before the
closing ceremony. The third day, Wednesday, was
reserved for the plenary session (morning) and
technical visits (afternoon). The conference pre‐
sentations were organised in 21 group sessions
distributed in the rest of the days.
On Monday afternoon there were presentations
of five groups although my interest was focused
on two, preventive conservation and paintings.
The first presentation I saw was one of the most
interesting as well. It was given by Jane Hender‐
son who spoke about decision‐making in conser‐
vation. In her presentation she referred that con‐
REVIEWS
34 e‐conservation
servators generally use a ‘rational’ system of
weighting the options’ benefits and costs. How‐
ever, conservators do not always have all the infor‐
mation to make these decisions which led her to
propose an heuristic approach to the decision‐
making process, enabling thus conservators to
make an educated decision even when not all the
data required is available.
On Tuesday I found the Documentation presenta‐
tions particularly interesting. The session started
with a presentation given by Austin Nevin and
Aviva Burnstock who presented a case study where
they used off‐the‐shelf open source software to
develop an online platform. The website allowed
different participants from a research project to
contribute online with their research, insights
and comments, allowing thus an easy way of
communication. This is the sort of thing that can
be made anywhere, at low cost and with a huge
impact.
Later on, there was one of my favourite presenta‐
tions, given by Ruven Pillay from Centre de recher‐
che et de restauration des musées de France. I
could not find the reference to his presentation
in the preprints nor the book of abstracts but I
really would like to read it. It was the last presen‐
tation of the Documentation group on Tuesday and
it was an overview of the history and potential
that digital imaging has on the conservation field.
Several examples were given and a number of
open source software were mentioned. It is my
impression that many conservators still do not
grasp the real potential of this technology. It
often does not require any other investment
other than time and interest as it implies using
equipment and software already available.
This leads me to observe a striking lack of digital
applications during the conference, at least com‐
pared to what I was expecting. Most presenta‐
tions that touched on this subject were focused
on the development of a series of databases for
Anne Cummings presenting "Developing a computer‐based management system for monitoring change to Inside Australia(Antony Gormley, 2003)".
REVIEWS
e‐conservatione‐conservation 35
some specific end but the thematic of digital
imaging in particular was a huge absence in my
opinion. Even more because everything is turning
digital nowadays and because of its huge applica‐
tion potential.
Wednesday there were no working group presen‐
tations as in the morning the plenary sessions
took place. The afternoon was reserved for the
many technical visits possible to choose from.
From Lisbon to Sintra, there were groups that
could visit virtually any major museum, monastery,
historical parks or monuments in the area. As I
already knew most of those places, I chose one of
the few I didn’t had the pleasure to visit before:
the Museum of Science and Botanical Garden from
the University of Lisbon. The highlight of the visit
was the Laboratorio Chimico, an original nine‐
teenth‐century Chemistry Laboratory with its old
instruments, which was used for teaching.
One of the highlights of the conference was on the
scientific research group on the last day. From all
the presentations I assisted, Bill Wey, from Central
Heritage Agency of The Netherlands, was the one
to have the best interaction with the public, not
only because of the original way he presented but
also because of the subject of his work. His lecture
was on “Surface micro‐roughness, cleaning, and
perception”. Scientifically we can quantify things
that the eye can not see. The use of profilometry
to measure surface roughness is one of such appli‐
cations and it was discussed the limits of human
perception and the importance for conservation
of such small changes that only can be quantified
with analytical equipment. A true communicator,
it was one of the few presentations that really
made a balanced bridge between science and
conservation.
Given that the main theme of the conference was
so broad, I think the overall set of presentations
contributed to it one way or another. Although
many of them were interesting, they were focused
on familiar subjects as in many other conservation
conferences: ethical reflexions, scientific research
results and lots of case studies which mostly
interest those from a specific field. Being one of
the biggest conferences in conservation, besides
regular material research, it could have included
some presentations about the actual situation of
conservation, the lack of funding and jobs, and
Sanjay Dhar presenting "Temple of the Oracle Dorje Chenmoat Shey (Ladakh, India). Developing methodology for theconservation of living religious and cultural sites".
Andrew Thorn presenting "Cultural stability in an unstableenvironment: the waka of Te ana a maru".
36 e‐conservation
REVIEWS
Visit our website
the closure of teaching institutions. On the over‐
all, there were several new contributions but
always focused on small details. As science histo‐
rian James Burke once said, “people tend to
become experts in highly specialized fields, lear‐
ning more and more about less and less” and that
was precisely my impression. Most of the presen‐
tations, mine included, were too focused on parti‐
cularities. This could have been counterbalanced
by more presentations speaking about the holistic
views of conservation and, why not, of the role it
plays in cultural heritage, in the cultural identity,
in the actual world.
As a final point, I enjoyed very much the confe‐
rence and meeting fellow colleagues although
perhaps the conference was too big, too massive
to take advantage from all the possibilities it
offered. The next general ICOM meeting will be
held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2013 and the
next ICOM‐CC will be in Melbourne, Australia in
2014. I hope to see you there.
RUI BORDALOConservator‐restorer
Contact: rmbordalo@e‐conservationline.com
Rui Bordalo is a conservator‐restorer specialised
in easel paintings. He has a particular interest in
the study of art materials and in the application
of new technologies to conservation. This interest
led him to pursue a PhD at the Courtauld Institute
of Art in the application of laser technology in
the cleaning of paintings. He currently teaches
several disciplines of the conservation course at
Portucalense University, Porto. He is a board
member of the Portuguese Association of Conser‐
vator‐Restorers (ARP) and a Committee member
of the European Confederation of Conservator‐
Restorers' Organisations (ECCO) since 2005. He is
also one of the founders of e‐conservation maga‐
zine, where he is currently the editor‐in‐chief.
Sarah Court and Jane thomson presenting "Recognizing the interdependent relationship between heritage and its widercontext" during the plenary session.
Do you need an online presence?Do you feel it’s time to update to 'digital conservation'?
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AREAS OF PUBLISHING
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Conservation ScienceScientific research
Material studies and characterisation
Analytical techniques
Technology development
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State‐of‐the‐art
Reviews
Preventive ConservationTheoretic principles
Case studies
Documentation in ConservationStandardisation
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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
THE EXTERNAL ION BEAM FACILITYIN PORTUGAL FOR STUDYING
CULTURAL HERITAGE
ByVictoria CorregidorLuís Cerqueira Alves
Paula Alexandra RodriguesMárcia Vilarigues
Rui C. Silva
Introduction
Knowing the composition of an object is extremely
important for the conservator‐restorer’s work. It
can also indicate, for example, if the constituent
elements are consistent with the ones used in
the period to which the object is supposed to be.
Furthermore, the trace element concentration can
indicate in some cases the provenance or relate it
with other objects of the same type. The possi‐
bility to analyze and identify corrosion products
is also important, in order to better understand
the mechanisms of degradation, which is essen‐
tial for their preservation for the present and fu‐
ture generations.
There are several available analytical techniques
that allow us to know the composition of materi‐
als, such as X‐Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and X‐Ray
Diffraction (XRD) performed with portable equip‐
ments, UV‐Visible and FTIR spectrometries and/or
Scanning Electron Microscopy, etc. Some of them
may provide information about the compounds
that are present in the sample while others will
determine their elements. Some of them are de‐
structive, others are not. Generally speaking, we
can say that for each object and depending on the
information we are looking for, there is a set of
analytical techniques that are more suitable than
others. The choice is not always straightforward,
but should be jointly determined by the different
specialists involved.
One of the complicated choices refers to the sam‐
pling process. It is true that along the years the
quantities of material needed for some techniques
have been reduced substantially. In some cases,
the quantities needed are in the range of micro‐
grams and the resulting marks are not visible to
the naked eye. But even under these conditions
sometimes sampling is not possible. On the other
hand, if we are interested in the material “core”
of the object, there may be no other alternative
and sampling is necessary.
There are also techniques where sampling is not
needed although they may induce permanent
changes to the objects’ surface to be analyzed.
For example, a surface preparation is needed or
the technique may alter the surface composition
such as those involving sputtering or laser abla‐
tion processes.
In this article, the characterization of different
objects by means of Ion Beam Analytical (IBA)
techniques is reported. These are a set of tech‐
niques used to study the composition and/or the
quality of samples in a non‐destructive way, using
e‐conservation 41
In 2008 an external ion microbeam analytical end‐station became operational at the ion microprobe
facility of the Laboratório de Feixe de Iões at Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear, Portugal. Its availability
adds a set of valuable analytical techniques for the community involved in the study and conservation of
Cultural Heritage. With the external ion microbeam it is possible to analyze the elemental composition
(in point, line or areal maps modes) and perform structural studies of different objects, large or small,
using Ion Beam Analysis techniques in open air or helium atmosphere – i.e. without vacuum conditions
– and without the need of sampling or any special preparation. In this article, the details concerning the
external beam set‐up and a selection of the results obtained from selected analyzed objects will be
presented. These objects include glass fragments from a Roman villa and religious gilt objects from the
XVI‐XVIII centuries.
THE EXTERNAL ION BEAM FACILITY IN PORTUGAL
a beam of high energy particles, typically of 1–3
MeV. Upon interaction in the sample, the beam
induces the emission of secondary radiation and
particles: depending on which one we choose to
explore, there will be a specific IBA technique for
each one (Figure 1).
When the X‐rays generated by the sample are re‐
corded and identified, the Particle Induced X‐ray
Emission (PIXE) technique is used. In the same
way, Particle Induced Gamma Emission (PIGE) is
used when gamma rays are involved. If the back‐
scattered particles are recorded, Rutherford
Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS) is performed.
When visible light is emitted and recorded, the
technique is called Ion Beam Induced Lumines‐
cence (IBIL). There are other IBA techniques that
are not included in this introduction and we en‐
courage the interested reader to read through the
specialized literature [1, 2].
In our case, the most used IBA techniques are
PIXE, PIGE and RBS. Each one can provide different
information, but what is really remarkable is the
information that can be extracted when they are
combined.
A wide range of elements are automatically iden‐
tified with PIXE, and the sensitivity is very high,
typically in the range of some μg/g. However, the
detection of elements with an atomic number less
than 12 is poor, but the PIGE technique is an ex‐
cellent alternative for their identification. With
RBS the compositional depth profiles, i.e. the
relative concentration of the constituents as a
function of depth, can be determined. In this
way, the combination of PIXE and RBS allows to
obtain the concentration of the majority of ele‐
ments present – from trace to major elements –
and information on their depth distribution as
well. And, if we add the PIGE technique then the
concentration of almost every element of the
periodic table may be obtained.
The experimental conditions involve low beam
currents, in the order of 0.5‐3 nA and short time,
42 e‐conservation
VICTORIA CORREGIDOR et al.
Figure 1. Scheme of interactions between ion beam particles and sample atoms with the corresponding IBA techniques.
around 10‐20 minutes, is needed to acquire the
spectra. Under these conditions structural dam‐
age or defect creation is minimized and IBA tech‐
niques are considered as non‐destructive, but
this consideration has to be contextualized since
the measurements are usually done in a chamber
under vacuum conditions:
‐ whatever the chamber dimensions are, there will
always be a sample size limitation, implying that
sampling may be necessary;
‐ working under vacuum conditions can induce
mechanical damage: thermal, drying or charging
effects can cause cracks or even detachment or
sample fracture;
‐ some samples have complex geometry making
them difficult to handle under these conditions.
In order to improve these conditions and avoid
the vacuum limitations, the particle beam must
leave the chamber and meet the object in open
air. That is, an external beam is required as well
as the ability to perform measurements under
atmospheric conditions. The following aspects
should also be considered when working under
these conditions:
‐ a thin window or barrier material, which can
withstand the pressure difference between atmos‐
phere and vacuum, and the buildup of radiation
damage as the beam passes through it while inter‐
fering the least with its quality (energy and col‐
limation/focusing), must be provided;
‐ air absorbs the low energy X‐rays generated, and
slows down the incident and backscattered parti‐
cles from the sample;
‐ air contains Ar that is excited by the beam origi‐
nating X‐rays within the usual energy detectable
range then interfering with the X‐rays emitted
from the sample;
‐ beam spatial resolution and detection limits will
be degraded as compared with analysis performed
under vacuum conditions.
e‐conservation 43
In the next section the solutions adopted to re‐
solve or minimize these effects will be presented
and discussed.
Generally speaking, the use of ion beam analysis
for the study of historical‐artistic objects is very
much linked to the development of the PIXE tech‐
nique in the early 1970s. Another milestone was
the implementation of the IBA techniques in air,
allowing in situ analysis of objects of large sizes or
too fragile to be in vacuum. The development of
a focusing system and the use of ultra‐thin exit
windows enabled transforming it into a real ex‐
tension of nuclear microprobes.
From the approximately 100 nuclear microprobe
facilities in the world, only a few are entirely or
partially dedicated to research in the fields of
patrimony studies. This new facility in Portugal
adds to a number of others in laboratories across
Europe where these techniques were made avail‐
able, namely the AGLAE (Accélérateur Grand Louvre
d´Analyse Elémentaire) in Paris [3], LABEC (Labo‐
ratorio di Tecniche Nucleari Applicate ai Beni Cul‐
turali) in Italy [4], or the CNA (Centro Nacional de
Aceleradores) [5] and the CMAM (Centro de Micro‐
análisis de Materiales) [6], both in Spain.
The Portuguese External Beam Facility
Assembly of the external ion beam analytical end‐
station started in 2005 under the POCI/CTM/606
85/2004 project funded by the Portuguese Foun‐
dation for Science and Technology (FCT). The first
and main objective of the project was to install
the external beam analytical end‐station at the
existing microprobe facility at Instituto Tecnoló‐
gico e Nuclear (ITN), in operation since 1999 [7].
Figure 2 shows a photograph of the microprobe
set‐up. The proton beam is generated by a 2.5 MV
singe ended Van de Graaff accelerator and directed
THE EXTERNAL ION BEAM FACILITY IN PORTUGAL
to the microprobe beam line through a 90º bend‐
ing magnet.
The microprobe collimator slits, scanning coils,
lenses and chamber are mounted on a single con‐
crete block sitting on a 1 cm thick plate of poly‐
styrene foam to minimize vibrations. An Oxford
Microbeams magnetic quadrupole triplet is used
to focus the beam. The scanning coils located
before the lenses allow to raster the beam over the
sample surface, with a maximum area of 2.6x2.6
mm2 when vacuum conditions and 2 MeV protons
are used. Figure 2 also shows the vacuum chamber
which can support up to eight different detectors
and the cryostat needed for the X‐ray detector.
The external beam set‐up photograph is shown
in figure 3. Each component will be described in
the following paragraphs taking as reference the
considerations made above in relation to the work
under atmospheric conditions:
‐ The exit nozzle assembly is composed by two
parts: one fixed to the chamber and one other,
replaceable during the experiments if needed,
having at its end a vacuum tight extraction win‐
dow made of 100 nm thick Si3N4 membrane held
in a 200 μm thick Si frame, allowing nearly 100%
transmission with negligible energy loss. The
size of this window (1x1 mm2) sets the limit of
the maximum beam scanning area.
‐ In order to reduce air interference during the
measurements, a helium rich atmosphere is set by
insufflating He gas towards the analyzed region
by means of a nylon chamber, placed around the
particles detector and connected to a He flow
controller.
‐ To reduce the degradation of beam spatial reso‐
lution the distances should be kept as small as
possible, while allowing the outgoing radiations
to reach the detectors. The distance between the
44 e‐conservation
Figure 2. Microprobe installed at the Nuclear and Technological Institute.
VICTORIA CORREGIDOR et al.
beam exit window and the object is thus set to 3
mm, being controlled by reference to two inter‐
secting laser beams. The object can be moved in
the three directions and accurately positioned by
means of a special x‐y‐z table. For assistance
during the whole sample positioning procedure a
mini‐video camera is used.
The detectors are placed around the exit nozzle in
different configurations according to the type of
radiation to detect. The X‐ray detector is a Bruker
Si SDD detector with 8 μm Be window and 145 eV
resolution at 5.9 keV. It is placed 2.8 cm from the
sample at an angle of 45º to the beam direction.
The backscattered protons are detected with a Si
surface barrier detector placed at an angle of 47º
to the beam direction, 2.2 cm away from the sam‐
ple. When necessary, the gamma rays are detected
with a large volume ORTEC HPGe detector with 45%
efficiency and 1.9 keV energy resolution, placed
at 45° to the beam direction.
Figure 4 shows images of a 2000 and a 50 mesh
copper grids recorded under vacuum and external
conditions, respectively, and under identical
45e‐conservation
THE EXTERNAL ION BEAM FACILITY IN PORTUGAL
Figure 3. External beam set‐up: 1. X ray detector; 2. mini‐camera;3. exit nozzle with a 100 nm thick Si3N4 window; 4. particle detectorwith He flux; 5. Positioning lasers.
Figure 4. Images for a 2000 mesh and 50 mesh copper grid recorded under vacuum and external ion beam set‐up under identicalexperimental conditions.
experimental conditions (proton beams of 2 MeV
energy and 1 nA current). For the former, the
spatial resolution is 2x3 μm2 while for the latter
external conditions the best spatial resolution is
60x60 μm2 when working under helium rich at‐
mosphere.
In what concerns the analysis of the data gener‐
ated by the techniques, there is specific software
to analyze the different types of spectra and ex‐
tract the required information. In the case of PIXE,
the AXIL/QXAS [8] program is extensively used for
X‐ray lines deconvolution and peak areas extrac‐
tion, and DATTPIXE [9] for quantification. GUPIX
[10] software was also used for X‐ray spectra de‐
convolution and quantification, and its results
were compared with the ones obtained using AX‐
IL+DATTPIXE showing a good correlation. As PIXE
is not efficient for the detection and quantifica‐
tion of elements with low atomic numbers, namely
for Na and Mg, these elements are detected and
quantified by PIGE, in proton capture nuclear re‐
actions, by considering the yields of the 440 keV
and 585 keV gamma lines respectively in the gam‐
ma spectra of the daughter nuclei. Information
on layered targets is gathered by means of the
elemental depth distributions extracted from the
recorded RBS spectra. The NDF code [11] is used
for RBS spectra fitting and sample composition
determined in a self‐consisting way with PIXE
data simulated by means of LibCPIXE code [12],
an open‐source library for multilayered samples
that can work jointly with the NDF code.
Applications
The applications of IBA techniques to the study
of Cultural Heritage objects are as varied as the
objects themselves. Different objects were studied
using the microprobe (under vacuum and also in
external conditions) located at ITN. Some examples
are Arraiolos tapestries [13], stained glasses [14],
jewellery [15], and ceramics [16].
In this section two case studies selected among
the works performed are presented. They show
the versatility of the set‐up since different detec‐
tors, software and experimental conditions were
used to study each specific case.
The case studies refer to Roman glasses from
Museu Municipal de Arqueologia da Amadora
(MMAR), and religious gilt objects dated from the
XVI to the XVIII centuries belonging to Casa‐Museu
Dr. Anastácio Gonçalves (CMAG). Both museums
are located in Portugal.
Roman Glasses
The Roman glasses from MMAR are referred to
different occupation times of a Roman villa during
the III and IV centuries A.D. at Quinta da Bolacha,
Portugal. This Roman villa was discovered in 1979
during the prospection of a Roman aqueduct in
Amadora.
The archaeological works made possible identi‐
fying sealed contexts that are attributed to the
III and IV centuries A.D., together with revolved
contexts of uncertain dating. The study intended
to materially characterize the occupation periods,
resorting to analyzes of glass fragments, as well
as to associate the fragments from revolved con‐
texts with those from other contexts, trying to
determine its possible chronological attribution.
The poor state of preservation of these glasses
strongly advised against analysis in vacuum,
leaving the external beam as the only suitable
alternative option.
Results were obtained with the use of a proton
beam of 2 MeV of energy and 1 nA of current.
46 e‐conservation
VICTORIA CORREGIDOR et al.
Results were constantly compared for each sample
with those obtained using Corning standard
reference glasses with well known composition.
Figure 5 shows two fragments that were attributed
to the first occupation period (III and IV centuries
A.D.) of the Roman villa, and considered by
archaeologists as belonging to the same object.
The analysis performed using the external micro‐
probe set‐up showed different compositions for
both fragments. The larger fragment is abnormally
rich in K, as compared to other samples, while
being low in Na, contrarily to the smaller one [17].
Therefore these two fragments should not be con‐
sidered as belonging to the same original object
(as opposed to what was initially thought).
A very interesting capability of the external micro‐
probe applied to the study of these objects is the
possibility to perform scan analysis. Elemental
scans are presented in figure 6 that show the
distribution of Si, Ca and Mn in a region of a glass
fragment partially covered by an evident corrosion
over layer. The corrosion region correlates to a
higher content of Mn due to leaching and surface
redeposition, and also Fe, probably from the soil
contamination. There is also anti‐correlation to
the contents of Si and Ca, probably due to the
leaching of these elements from the glass matrix.
Contrary to the glass fragment referred to above,
analysis of the remaining selected glasses from
the different contexts showed moderate to high
Figure 5. Fragments recovered from excavation site in Amadora,Portugal, attributed to the first occupation period of the Romanvilla (III‐IV centuries A.D.).
contents of Na, together with reduced contents
of K and Mg, which are typical of soda‐lime‐silica
glasses produced by resorting to natron as a
source of alkali. Specific contents of Sr and Mg,
along with absence of Zr, indicate the use of
coastal Mediterranean sands as raw material.
It was also possible to determine from the X‐ray
spectrum (Figure 7a) significant levels of Sb and
Pb in one fragment, a deep blue tessera shown in
Figure 7b, indicating the use of opacifying agents
which were in use until the IV century A.D., con‐
firming the time interval of the villa’s occupation.
Gilt Objects
Another interesting example is the study of reli‐
gious gilt objects belonging to the CMAG Collection:
47e‐conservation
Figure 6. Elemental distribution of Si, Ca and Mn. On the corroded areas there is a higher concentration of Mn and Fe.
THE EXTERNAL ION BEAM FACILITY IN PORTUGAL
a reliquary (CMAG 1194) from the XVI century,
which has two visible hallmarks (AR SII) on the
base and on the lid, and it is believed to be of
Spanish origin; an ostensorium (CMAG 1164) from
the mid‐XVIII century with a visible hallmark indi‐
cating the goldsmith (J.P./C.) and Portuguese
origin (a crown L, from Lisbon); a ciborium (CMAG
1180) with an oval base and partially gilt with
several religious motifs.
Regarding the experimental conditions, the X‐ray
spectra were acquired with a 350 μm thick Mylar
foil in order to filter the Au and Hg M‐lines and a
He flow was used to improve the resolution. Two
reference samples with known composition, brass
NBS 1105 and Ag–Cu (80–20) alloy were analyzed
throughout the measurements.
The gilt method has been used since ancient times
to make an object look like cast gold and at the
same time to improve the surface of the object for
corrosion resistance. The technique has been
developed and improved along the centuries. The
method used for these objects is the mercury gilt,
also known as fire gilding. It is based on the ap‐
plication of an amalgam composed of gold and
mercury onto a metal surface [18], then heating
it to 250‐300 ºC for a short time (few minutes),
and cooling down, followed by polishing until the
object shows a smooth and brilliant surface.
As it is expected, differences in composition in
the object were found according to the different
provenances and manufacturing dates. The gilt
results were very dependent on the goldsmith
experience, since the temperature and times were
“visually controlled” and at the same time they are
crucial on this process. For example, the time was
controlled as “when the amalgam changes colour
from grey to dull yellow” [19]. Because of that it
was not surprising finding different Hg and Au/Ag
concentration ratios for each piece, as is shown in
table I [20].
48 e‐conservation
Figure 7. a) Normalized PIXE spectrum recorded under atmospheric conditions; b) Blue tessera glass.
Figure 8. Normalized PIXE spectra from inside the cup (red) andan external gilt motif (black) of the ciborium (CMAG 1180Collection).
VICTORIA CORREGIDOR et al.
49e‐conservation
These differences in concentration were found not
only between objects, but also in different parts
of an object. One clear example of this is the cibo‐
rium. Figure 8 represents the X‐ray spectra recor‐
ded in two different parts of the ciborium which
corresponds to the inside of the cup and to one of
the gilt external motifs, respectively. Both areas
are gilt with homogeneous distribution but with
different composition: the inner part shows an
average composition of 25% Ag, 60% Au and 15%
Hg while the external motif has an average com‐
position of 9% Ag, 84% Au and only 5% Hg. This
difference in concentration can be attributed to
the different temperatures achieved during the
gilt process according with the Au‐Hg phase dia‐
gram [21], or to the Au layer thickness, being
lower inside the ciborium. Another possibility is
the handling of the piece once the external parts
are more predisposed to handling that the inner
parts, or to the cleaning process with different
products.
In figure 9a, the elemental distribution of Hg, Au,
Ag and Cu is presented, covering a 800x800 μm2
area corresponding to the fastener of the reli‐
quary (figure 9b). In fact, it was found that not
only the fastener, but also the hinge show a quite
similar elemental distribution as the one shown
in figure 9a.
From these elemental distribution maps the rela‐
tionship between the Hg/Au and the Ag/Cu atoms
can be extracted. The Au and Hg elements are
associated and they follow the same pattern in
the studied region. On the other hand, the copper
follows the silver distribution. The addition of Cu
to Ag was used to improve the hardness of the
silver, a method that is still used nowadays.
Conclusions
The external ion beam analytical end‐station at
ITN, Portugal, is a valuable facility for studying a
Figure 9. a) Elemental distribution of Ag, Cu, Hg and Au; b) Viewof the exit nozzle and the object to be analyzed (the fastener ofthe reliquary (GMAG 1194).
THE EXTERNAL ION BEAM FACILITY IN PORTUGAL
Reliquary
Ostentorium
Ciborium
Ag (%) Au (%) Hg (%)
10 75 10
12
8
10 77
12 78
Impurities
Cu, Ca,
Fe, Pb,
Zn
Table I. Results of X–ray diffraction analysis of greywackerocks from Wadi Hammamat.
wide variety of objects related to our common
Cultural Heritage and History. The technique it‐
self is non‐invasive and it is expected to become
a standard tool available to the conservator and
conservation‐scientists. Different examples of
applications have been shown in order to illustrate
the versatility of the Portuguese set‐up. It is ex‐
pected that in a near future the techniques it
provides can be increasingly used as standard
tool accessible for the cultural heritage profes‐
sionals community.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Fundação para a
Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the POCI/CTM/60
685/2004 project. V. Corregidor acknowledges
the program Ciência 2008 of FCT Portugal. We also
would like to thank Museu Municipal de Arqueo‐
logia da Amadora, Casa‐Museu Dr. Anastácio Gon‐
çalves and I.M.C. for allowing us to analyze their
objects.
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51e‐conservation
THE EXTERNAL ION BEAM FACILITY IN PORTUGAL
VICTORIA CORREGIDORResearcher
Victoria Corregidor is a researcher at Instituto
Tecnológico e Nuclear since 2009, where she is
involved in the application of Ion Beam Techniques
to the study of Cultural Heritage. She received
her higher education in Physics at the Universidad
Autónoma de Madrid, where she obtained her PhD
in Physics and Materials Science in 2003. She is
also member of Centro de Física Nuclear da Univer‐
sidade de Lisboa. Her other research fields are
growth and characterization of semiconductors
and materials for photovoltaic applications.
LUÍS CERQUEIRA ALVESResearcher
Luís Cerqueira Alves is a researcher at Instituto
Tecnológico e Nuclear. He has been working in the
development and application of ion beam analy‐
tical techniques with the 2.5 MV Van de Graaff
accelerator installed at ITN, in particular using a
Nuclear Microprobe. The main applications of the
implemented techniques have been performed in
the material science, mineralogy, archaeometry
and cultural heritage fields. He obtained his MSc
(1993) and PhD (2004) in Physics from Faculdade
de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa.
ALEXANDRA RODRIGUESConservator‐restorer
Alexandra Rodrigues graduated in Conservation
and Restoration from Faculdade de Ciências e
Tecnologia of Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 2003.
She obtained her MSc in Archaeological Roman
Glasses in 2011 also at FCT‐UNL. Since 2005 she
has been a collaborator with ITN, where she was
involved with the development of the external ion
beam analyses setup.
MÁRCIA VILARIGUESConservation‐Scientist
Márcia Vilarigues is a professor at the Conserva‐
tion Department of Faculdade de Ciências e Tecno‐
logia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (FCT‐UNL). She
is also the director at the Research Unit VICARTE
(Glass and Ceramics for the Arts). She obtained
her PhD in Conservation Science at the Conserva‐
tion Department of FCT‐UNL on the subject of
stained glass corrosion under the supervision of
Professors Rui Silva and António Pires de Matos.
She graduated in Physics at FCT‐UNL and did her
Master is Surface Science and Technology at the
Faculdade de Ciências of Universidade de Lisboa.
Since 2001 she works on the characterization of
historical materials, mainly of glass.
RUI SILVAResearcher
Rui Silva is member of Centro de Física Nuclear
da Universidade de Lisboa and Senior Research
Officer at Instituto Tecnológico e Nuclear where
he conducts research activities in materials
science using Ion Beam Analyses. Since 2001 he
is collaborating in the implementation of the IBA
techniques for characterization of historical
materials. He also collaborates with the Research
Unit VICARTE (Glass and Ceramics for the Arts)
through usage of IBA as a characterization tool
helpful in the development and understanding of
colour giving mechanisms in glasses.
52 e‐conservation
VICTORIA CORREGIDOR et al.
THE CONTRIBUTION OFTRANSMITTED INFRARED IMAGING
TO NON‐INVASIVE STUDY OFCANVAS PAINTINGS AT THE
NATIONAL GALLERY – ALEXANDROSSOUTZOS MUSEUM, GREECE
ByAnna MoutsatsouDimitra Skapoula
Michael Doulgeridis
Introduction
Non‐invasive imaging techniques have a promi‐
nent position in the study and conservation of
easel paintings since decades. The production of
infrared (IR) images is especially appreciated
because it reveals features under the pictorial
layer such as underdrawings, pentimenti, etc. [1].
Based on the extensive use of IR Reflectography
since the 1960s [2], multispectral imaging has
largely widened the application possibilities of
non‐invasive techniques in IR spectral regions.
Nowadays, it is considered a particularly useful
technique for the study of materials and painting
techniques and assessment of the conservation
state of paintings in various substrates, as well
as archival material [3].
The literature concerning the study of canvas
paintings refers almost exclusively to the imaging
of the reflection of IR radiation in wavelengths in
the near‐infrared (NIR) region (760‐2500 nm) [4].
On the contrary, works that include reference to
information of transmitted IR imaging are very
limited [5‐7]. Suggestively, Kushel [5] had men‐
tioned already in 1985 that the mapping of the
transmitted IR radiation was able to reveal, often
with extreme accuracy, whole underlying painting
compositions. In that paper, a vidicon detector
with a spectral response up to 1800 nm, an infrared
image converter unit and standard infrared photo‐
graphic materials such as external Kodak cut‐off
filters and infrared films were used. Gavrilov et
al. [6], in one of the most recent papers available,
presents an observation scheme under transmitted
lighting using a CCD detector with spectral sensi‐
tivity up to 1100 nm equipped with cut‐off filters.
The authors mentioned that many underlying
data of the painting composition were revealed,
as well as an underlying original signature.
Transmitted infrared imaging is a neglected technique for the study of canvas paintings, having only
some few relevant references. The present paper documents the use of transmitted infrared imaging in a
non‐invasive study of canvas paintings from the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutzos Museum in
Athens, Greece. It is shown that even low resolution images in a narrow spectral region (up to 1150 nm)
may reveal valuable information regarding the underdrawing and underpainting, in cases where
transmitted visible and reflected infrared imaging with the same device provided limited information.
Figure 1. Reflectography (left) and transillumination (right) set‐ups.
54 e‐conservation
ANNA MOUTSATSOU et al.
Experimental
The canvas paintings presented in this paper
belong to the collection of the National Gallery ‐
Alexandros Soutzos Museum in Athens, Greece.
For the capture of IR images, a MuSISTM 2007
multispectral imager was used [8]. This camera
was developed in the late 1990s and offers a
series of imaging choices (NIR reflection in two
spectral bands (750‐950 nm and 950‐1150 nm),
infrared false‐color, visible reflection, visible
fluorescence and ultraviolet reflectance (320‐
400 nm)) although it does not provide any spec‐
Figure 2. Visible image before restoration of Head of a girl (s.d.)by I. Rizos, oil painting on canvas, 35x27 cm, inventory numberP.682. Reflected (right above) and transmitted (right below)IR detail of the painting (spectral range 950‐1150 nm).
Nonetheless, that was not the main subject of the
paper, and no emphasis was given on the advan‐
tages of the technique.
At the Laboratory of Physicochemical Research of
the Conservation Department of the National
Gallery ‐ Alexandros Soutzos Museum, transmitted
NIR imaging constitutes an inseparable part of
the daily diagnostic work. The cases presented in
this study suggest that even the use of an imaging
device with limited spectral sensitivity and low
resolution may provide significant information
regarding the underdrawing and underpainting
in canvas paintings, in cases where reflected IR
images of the same spectral band captured by the
same imaging device present constraints. More‐
over, it is a non‐invasive technique that does not
require extra cost or time and can be included in
the standard examination procedure of a museum
laboratory with limited imaging equipment.
TRANSMITTED INFRARED IMAGING OF PAINTINGS
55e‐conservation
trometric capabilities as newer models do. The
CCD detector operates in the spectral region of
320‐1150 nm and provides a spatial analysis of
734x559 pixels.
The images presented below were captured in the
imaging mode of IR reflection in the 950‐1150 nm
wavelength band. For the IR reflectograms, two
OSRAM Halogen Display/Optic Lamps (color tem‐
perature of 3400 K) are symmetrically placed in
front of the painting. In order to record the trans‐
mitted IR radiation, one light source is placed in
the back side of the painting at a safe distance to
avoid heating and in such a position where the
lighting would be constricted into the bounds
of the canvas substrate. The reflectography and
transillumination set‐ups are comparatively pre‐
sented in Figure 1.
ANNA MOUTSATSOU et al.
Results and Discussion
Some representative examples of numerous case
studies where transmitted IR images have provided
valuable information are presented here. In these,
the comparison between reflection and transmis‐
sion images refers to the visualization of the un‐
derdrawing and underpaintings.
The painting Head of a girl (s.d.) by Iakovos Rizos
(1849‐1926), a famous 19th century Greek painter,
was examined using the MuSISTM 2007 system
prior to conservation treatment. In the visible
image (Figure 2a), a shadow in the background
from the nose to the bottom right corner is discer‐
ned. The IR reflection image (Figure 2b) does not
provide any further information about any under‐
lying form. On the contrary, the image of trans‐
57e‐conservation
mitted IR of the same wavelength reveals a man’s
head looking towards the opposite direction, which
was later overpainted by the visible head of the
girl (Figure 2c).
In the case of Psyche (1880‐1882) by G.F. Watts
(Figure 3a), the transmitted IR images revealed a
spontaneous and high quality underdrawing
(Figure 3b), while the corresponding reflection
images of the reflected radiation in the same
spectral region did not provide any relevant infor‐
mation (Figure 3c).
Finally, one of the most complete examples of the
contribution of transmitted IR imaging to the
Figure 3. Psyche (1880‐1882) by G. F. Watts, oil painting on can‐vas, 190x60 cm, inventory number P.258. Visible image (left) be‐fore restoration, transmitted (above) and reflected (below) IRdetails of the painting (spectral range 950‐1150nm).
TRANSMITTED INFRARED IMAGING OF PAINTINGS
58 e‐conservation
multispectral study and documentation of the
canvas paintings is the examination of the
painting entitled Return to the Village (1952) by
Greek painter Theofrastos Triantafyllides (Figure
4a). The reflected IR image in the 950‐1150 nm
region (Figure 4b) provides information only
related to an underlying image playing a guitar
on the right, while the imaging of the transmit‐
ted IR radiation of the same spectral region de‐
picts more underlying forms such as two more
human figures, architectural elements, and a
glass or jug, as well as extensive underdrawing
executed by both dry and wet media (Figure 4c).
Figure 4. Return to the Village (1952) by Theofrastos Triantafyllides, oil on canvas,106x156 cm, inventory number P.2640. Visible imagebefore restoration (above left), mosaic of the IR reflection (above right) and transmission (below) images (spectral range 950‐1150 nm).
ANNA MOUTSATSOU et al.
59e‐conservation
Conclusions
Using the same imaging device, transmitted IR
imaging may provide more information regard‐
ing the underdrawing and underpainting than
reflectograms of the same spectral region, in
cases where the structure of the canvas paintings
and the imaging performance factors (spectral
sensitivity, spatial analysis, etc.) allow so.
The information obtained by transmitted IR ima‐
ging can also be provided by other imaging tech‐
niques such as IR imaging at longer wavelengths
and X‐Ray radiography. However, transmitted NIR
imaging is a non‐invasive technique that does
not require extra cost or time and can be easily
included in the standard examination procedure
even with limited imaging equipment. The great
usefulness of this technique was here briefly ex‐
emplified with three canvas paintings from the
National Gallery ‐ Alexandros Soutzos Museum
collection.
In order to fully understand the theoretical
background of transmitted IR imaging and the
correlation of its results with the physicochemical
parameters that form the imaging result, such as
internal scattering, it is necessary to examine a
set of reference samples based on an integrated
standardized methodology. In addition, the pre‐
paration and examination of such samples would
further contribute to making the most of the
technique’s potential.
Acknowledgments
Warm thanks are due to conservator Panayiotis
Rompakis for his contribution to the production
of visible images, to conservator Christina Kara‐
dima for her cooperation on the study of Head of
a Girl (No. P.682), to curator Eftychia Agathonikou
for collaboration on the study of Psyche (No.
P.258), which is still in progress, and to curator
Zina Kaloudi and conservator Christina Karadima
for their cooperation on the study of Return to the
Village (No. P.2640).
References
[1] C. Daffara, R. Fontana and L. Pezzati, “Infrared
Reflectography”, in D. Pinna, M. Galeotti, R.
Mazzeo (eds.), Scientific Examination for the Inves‐
tigation of Paintings. A Handbook for Conservator‐
restorers, Centro Di della Edifimi srl, Florence,
2009, p. 172
[2] J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer, “Reflectography
of Paintings Using an Infrared Vidicon Television
System”, Studies in Conservation 14(3), 1969, pp.
96‐118
[3] C. Fisher and I. Kakoulli, “Multispectral and
Hyperspectral Imaging Technologies in Conser‐
vation: Current Research and Potential Applica‐
tions”, Reviews in Conservation 7, 2006, pp. 3–16,
available at URL [pdf]
[4] D. Bomford (ed.), Art in the Making: Under‐
drawings in Renaissance Paintings, National Gal‐
lery Publications, London, 2002
[5] D. A. Kushel, “Applications of Transmitted In‐
frared Radiation to the Examination of Artifacts”,
Studies in Conservation 30(1), 1985, pp. 1‐10
[6] D. Gavrilov, C. Ibarra‐Castanedo, E. Maeva, O.
Crube, X. Maldague and R. Maev, “Infrared Methods
in Noninvasive Inspection of Artwork”, Proceed‐
ings of Art’08 – 9th International Conference on
Non Destructive Investigations and Microanalysis
for the Non Destructive Investigations and Micro‐
TRANSMITTED INFRARED IMAGING OF PAINTINGS
60 e‐conservation
analysis for the Diagnostics and Conservation of
the Cultural and Environmental Heritage, Jerusalem,
May 2008, 2008, CD‐ROM, available at URL [pdf]
[7] P. Spezzani, Reflettoscopia e Indagini Non
Distruttive: Pittura e Grafica, Olivetti, Milano, 1992,
pp. 26‐27
[8] C. Balas, V. Papadakis, N. Papadakis, A. Papa‐
dakis, E. Vazgiouraki, G. Themelis, “A novel hyper‐
spectral imaging apparatus for the non‐destructive
analysis of artistic and historic value”, Journal of
Cultural Heritage 4, 2003, pp. 330‐337,
doi:10.1016/ S1296‐2074(02)01216‐5
ANNA MOUTSATOUConservation ScientistContact: [email protected]
Anna Moutsatsou is a chemical engineer and art
conservator with a Master degree in Conservation
Science. Since 2005 she works at the National Gal‐
lery ‐ Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens, Greece.
The role of the chemist of the museum includes a
wide range of research activities in the field of physi‐
cochemical study of artworks with the main field
of interest being the application of non‐invasive
techniques and especially MultiSpectral Imaging for
diagnosis and documentation of paintings. She has
taken part in several research programmes in colla‐
boration with laboratories at the National Technical
University of Athens, the Technological Education
Institution of Athens and Lavrion Technological and
Cultural Park. Her published work (20 papers in
scientific journals and congresses) concerns docu‐
mentation of easel paintings, determination of
painting materials and techniques, visualization of
underlying elements (under‐drawings, signatures,
etc.), mapping of past conservation treatments, etc.
Furthermore, her PhD research focuses on the multi‐
variate analysis of cellulosic substrates applied on
Greek watercolour paintings.
DIMITRA SKAPOULAConservator‐restorerContact: [email protected]
Dimitra Skapoula is an art conservator and co‐
operates as an external partner with the Easel
Paintings Conservation Studio of the Conservation
Department, National Gallery‐Alexandros Soutzos
Museum, Athens, Greece. She has a long experi‐
ence in preventive and invasive conservation as
well as in application of imaging techniques for
the diagnosis of easel paintings.
ANNA MOUTSATSOU et al.
61e‐conservation
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
e‐conservation magazine is open to submission
of articles on a wide range of relevant topics
for the cultural heritage sector.
Next deadlines for article submission are:
for Issue 23, February 2012 – submissions
due 15th December 2011
for Issue 24, April 2012 – submissions due
15th February 2012
Nevertheless, you can always submit your
manuscript when it is ready. Between the
receival of the manuscript until the final
publication may pass up to 3 months
according with:
‐ the number of the manuscripts on hold,
submitted earlier by other authors
‐ the release date of the upcoming issue
‐ the pre‐allocated space in the magazine
to each section
Please check our publication guidelines
for more information.
MICHAEL DOULGERIDISConservator‐restorer
Contact: [email protected]
Dr. Michael Doulgeridis is head of the Conserva‐
tion Department of the National Gallery – Alex‐
andros Soutzos Museum, Athens, Greece. He has
an extensive knowledge of the preservation and
conservation of Cultural Heritage as well as of
the artworks’ construction techniques. The latter
is also the subject of his PhD at the Faculty of
History and Archaeology, National and Kapodis‐
trian University of Athens. Apart from his long
experience in conservation, he is considered to be
as one of the pioneers in the application of new
technologies on the study and analysis of paint‐
ings in Greece. This is also certified by his parti‐
cipation in numerous research programmes in
continuous collaboration with several laboratories
in Greece and abroad. His research work is
presented in more than 30 published papers.
Furthermore, he has published extensively on
museological and art interpretation issues.
TRANSMITTED INFRARED IMAGING OF PAINTINGS
CHINESE ISLAMIC SCROLLS:A CONSERVATION CASE STUDY
ByAristoteles G. Sakellariou
Lalit Kumar PathakSiti Yuhainizar
CHINESE ISLAMIC SCROLLS
e‐conservation 63
This article presents a case study from the Islamic Arts Museum of Malaysia’s experience with Chinese
Islamic Scrolls. What makes Chinese Islamic scrolls so unique is the combination of Arabic script applied
on a scroll with the principles of Chinese brush painting. The conservation team started with historic
research, then examined the scroll and decided for the best treatment in respect of Eastern and Islamic
disciplines. The conservation stages were documentation, removal of the old backing, cleaning, relining,
drying, repairs and retouching. Once the treatment was performed, the storage had also to be
considered. The parameters affecting both the treatment and storage are based on the staff experience
with similar scrolls, the environment and the restrictions relating to the museum’s geographic location.
Through this treatment, the conservators discovered more about the history of the artistic movement
that produced, and still produces, these scrolls. This article is the outcome of observations and decisions
that were made for this rather unusual object, that the IAMM conservation team wishes to share.
CHINESE ISLAMIC SCROLLS:A CONSERVATION CASE STUDY
Introduction
The Islamic Arts Museum of Malaysia (IAMM) is
located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city. At
just 3° north of the equator, its climate has all the
characteristics of a tropical equatorial region. It
is hot and humid all year round, with lot of rain [1].
The IAMM’s collections currently consist of more
than eight thousand artefacts. Moreover, the IAMM
is the custodian of the historic collections of JAKIM
(Department of Islamic Affairs of Malaysia). Some
of the most spectacular objects in display there
are the large model of Mashjid Alharram in Makah
and a complete ottoman period reception room
from Damascus. In comparison with most of the
Islamic Art museums around the world, the IAMM
gives equal attention to the art from the Mogul
India, the South East Asia and the Muslim Commu‐
nities of China. The last ones are well represented
in IAMM [2].
The Islamic Chinese scrolls collection is one of the
museum’s most unusual (Figure 1). This article
explains briefly the technology of these objects
and discusses a case study of a scroll, including
observations and the practical solutions found for
its treatment.
What makes Chinese Islamic scrolls so unique is
the combination of Arabic script applied to a scroll
with the principles of Chinese brush painting.
Literature on the subject is rather limited and
the majority consists of artistic references and
photographic depictions, rather than its tech‐
nology or history. A recent bibliographic search
by the authors to find any similar case studies
proved unfruitful.
The 1300‐year history of Islam in China began at
the end of the VIII century with the arrival of the
first Muslims. Since that time, Muslim merchants
followed the back and forth movement of caravans
on the Silk Road [3]. There are ten official Muslim
minorities in China, but not all of them would
produce this kind of artwork. Members of the Hui
ethnic group (with the greatest population) and
the Dongxiang are more likely to make these scrolls
than other ethnic groups, such as the Tajiks or
the Uyghurs [4].
In contrast with other Arabic scripts such as Naskh
or Thuluth, which are written by calligraphers
throughout the Muslim world, the Chinese Islamic
scrolls bare inscriptions in the Arabic‐Chinese
script or Khat Sinni. It is commonly used to refer
to one with thick and tapered effects, much like
64 e‐conservation
Figure 1. General view of the China Gallery of the Islamic Arts Museum of Malaysia where the scrolls can be seen at the rear.
Chinese calligraphy. It is used extensively in
mosques and houses in north eastern China.
According to Liu Baojun [5], the imam of the
Habrin mosque Jing Zhai (1879‐1949) has
produced marvellous pieces of this particular
artwork.
The Chinese Islamic scrolls are produced mainly
on paper. The Chinese Shaun paper, popularly
known as rice paper, has been extensively used
to create these artworks [6]. Shaun paper has
good absorbance of inks and colours, even though
it is rather weak and fragile. In most cases, black
Chinese carbon‐based ink, made of carbon soot
or lamp black (pigments) and mixed with animal
glue (binder), is used for calligraphy. The Chinese
carbon ink is very durable and does not fade in
time; this is perhaps one of the reasons that this
ink was preferred. After completing his writing,
the calligrapher would stamp one or two seals in
red colour. Generally, the shape of most of these
stamps is square. The seal may contain the artist
name, wishes, his logotype, a date or studio name.
This tradition continues until our days. Hanging
scrolls appear mostly in vertical format, while
horizontal format of the calligraphy is usually
meant for framing. After its composition, the
paper artwork is either mounted or framed or
sometimes simply placed on the wall as it is.
Traditionally, these scrolls are framed or mounted
on paper rather than on silk, like ordinary Chinese
scrolls. Two or three layers of paper lining are used
to give the scroll shape. The scrolls are lined with
dyed dan yuan zhi paper and mian lian paper and
dried over a flat wooden drying board for several
weeks. Traditionally, various types of adhesives,
papers and brushes could be used for each dif‐
ferent stage of mounting process. However, unlike
the traditional ways, the commercial mounting in
Malaysian contemporary workshops (with limited
knowledge to the subject) uses rice starch paste
and only one type of Chinese paper (commercially
known as rice paper) for all purposes.
ARISTOTELES SAKELLARIOU et al.
e‐conservation 65
CHINESE ISLAMIC SCROLLS
Islamic Chinese scrolls are sometimes mounted
on silk, particularly since the 1990’s. In silk
mounting, the silk is lined on paper with an
aqueous adhesive. After drying, it is cut into
several pieces (e.g. for side strips, top and lower
panels). Chinese silk is available in different
colours. In fact, its considerable index of trans‐
parency makes the colour of the lining paper an
important factor to the final hue. The anticipated
result can vary in colour and motives. Flying
birds on white silk is a typical motif widely used.
The typical relining procedure is as follows. After
attaching various pieces of lined silk to the callig‐
raphy piece using slightly thicker paste, the object
is left to dry. In order to ensure a nice and regular
shape, the mounting craftsman folded the compo‐
sition half way bringing the one end over the
other, and then a hole was pierced on every corner
with a needle. The composition was opened flat
again and by using a ruler and a knife, guided by
the newly pierced holes, the edges were trimmed.
At that point, the paper and silk fibres of the trim‐
med edges were exposed. The mounting crafts‐
man folded a millimetre at the back in order to
secure the edges. Pockets are provided on top for
the wooden stick and at the bottom for the roller
by using thick paper. The scroll is then lined with
mulberry paper and left to dry over a drying board.
The IAMM Scroll
History of the Scroll
The object of this case study was most certainly
used for decoration. This opinion can be sup‐
ported by the Malaysian Ministry of Culture, Arts &
Tourism research on Muslim communities of China,
on similar artworks [7]. It is composed of several
pieces of different types of paper, including a
central one which bears the calligraphy (Figure 2).
The scroll dimensions before treatment were
161.8 x 68.9 cm. The paper pieces are white, or
off‐white, and the inks are predominantly black
and red for the two seals. The decorated surface
may be divided in three sections. The first is the
main calligraphy part, which reads Basmallah (or
Bismillah, which means ‘in the name of God, the
most Graceful and most Merciful’, Figure 2d),
written with black ink, and shapes a motif that
could be considered to be inspired by a dragon.
The second is the two red seals, one of which is
square (figure 2b) and mentions the name of the
artist (Kuai Qing), while the other is oval (Figure
2c) and presents a wish (Wan Gu Chang Chun, which
literally means ‘living till thousands of ages as
long as a forever spring season’ and can be inter‐
preted as ‘forever young’ or ‘ever‐lasting to a long
life’). The third section of the decorated surface
is a roughly written Arabic inscription, above the
seal of the artist: “Written [by] Abd Eldhayeq [who
was or which was] found at the sea” (Figure 2e).
The scroll presented in this case study is a piece
of a wider collection of Chinese Islamic scrolls
belonging to the IAMM. This collection was kindly
donated by Puan Sri Sharifah Zarah Al‐Bukhary,
member of the board of directors of the Albukhary
Foundation which funds the museum. Our infor‐
mation regarding the history of this particular
collection is limited to some names of the artists
and the date of their production (around 1950).
Once the scroll came under IAMM’s custody in
1998, it went through the standard procedure
that applies to all new acquisitions. First, it was
taken to a special quarantine room, known as the
Handling Room, for observation. The time for this
process differs, depending on the nature of the
object. In this particular case, the scroll was
examined for less than a week.
The scroll was taken from the Handling Room
directly to the museum exhibition halls as there
66 e‐conservation
Figure 2. The scroll before treatment: a) general view; b,c) red stamps with Chinese characters; d) crown shaped Basmallah(or Bismillah); e) rough Arabic inscription.
was no Conservation Department at that time. It
was exhibited until the year 2000 at the China
Gallery. This gallery was redesigned in 2003 which
involved the rotation of some objects, including
this scroll. The scroll remained in storage for more
than nine years, when finally the conservation
staff took the initiative to treat it. One of the
reasons for choosing it was the availability of
restoration materials at the laboratories, which
matched the estimated needs of this particular
object.
Examination
When observing the condition of the scroll (Figure
2), it is easily assumed that the object was not
given the appropriate attention when handled in
the past, before it arrived to the museum. More‐
over, it was obvious that it was not kept under
adequate conditions. The scroll was examined
thoroughly and it was found that it was trimmed
in the past, perhaps due to lack of storage space.
The object suffered a number of tears and loose
ARISTOTELES SAKELLARIOU et al.
e‐conservation 67
CHINESE ISLAMIC SCROLLS
areas. The left and right edges and corners were
weak and damaged. A blue strip of machine‐made
paper applied along the edges was detached on
several parts. A possible reason for attaching the
blue paper could be for protecting the scroll edges.
The scroll had two lining layers, one made of thin
and the other of thick handmade paper. The thick
one has long fibres. There was no indication of
using silk for either layer. The object had lost its
elasticity due to the paper fibres aging, which was
accelerated by the lining paste. Dust and dirt
embedded on the lining paper affected further
the physical properties of the artefact. The lining
quality is not excellent, which is the reason that
it is assumed that the object was made at a work‐
shop with poor experience.
Works of art on paper become more fragile with
aging. Once the paper degrades it is difficult to
restore back its flexibility by chemical treatment.
In order to prevent the artwork from breaking into
pieces, aqueous treatment and relining with more
appropriate materials is usually recommended.
One of the major aesthetic problems of the scroll
is the extensive water stains. These stains ‘run’
all along from the top left to the lower left side.
Its pattern leads us to the assumption that they
might have occurred when the scroll was rolled.
The most likely scenario is that water came in
contact with one side of the object (either acci‐
dently or deliberately) and penetrated it forming
a repetitive design of stains after a regular inter‐
val. Additional water stains were found as well at
other places. There were also some stains of red
ink. The paper was slightly acidic, with pH 6. Brown
spots and other forms of discoloration, present
on the centre left side of the Arabic characters,
may have been caused by acidic activity. A solubi‐
lity spot test proved that the black ink was inso‐
luble in water while red ink was slightly soluble.
Intervention
Documentation
The object was thoroughly documented before
any action was taken. The IAMM standard docu‐
mentation form was completed and photographs
were taken before, during, and after every
treatment.
Removal of the Old Backing
Before the intervention, attention was given to
the selection of the most appropriate materials
for the treatment and the final display of the
object. As this scroll was not originally mounted
with silk, it was not considered to add it now.
A thin sheet of polyethylene was adhered to the
cleaned table top using water. The areas that
contained red ink were fixed with 1% Paraloid B‐72
in acetone. The object was humidified carefully
from both sides with a water sprayer and placed
facing up. As the object was thin and fragile there
was a risk that it would be torn if the thick backing
paper was removed at this stage. For this reason,
it was decided to provide a temporary lining to
the entire surface with lens tissue paper (facing),
using a weak solution of methyl cellulose (Figure
3). Afterwards, it was left to dry.
The scroll was humidified from both sides by
spraying it gently with distilled water and kept
over a polyethylene sheet. Then, it was covered
with another polythene sheet. Air bubbles and
creases were removed using a sponge, which was
slightly moisturized to slip with ease on the poly‐
ethylene. After some minutes, a small part of the
object was exposed uncovering the polyethylene
sheet. An attempt was made to remove the backing
paper with forceps but without success. Therefore
some more water was sprayed over the object and
68 e‐conservation
Figure 3. During the removal of the backing.
it was left for more time to soften the old adhesive.
At the same time, the condition of inks was exami‐
ned by lifting the lowermost polyethylene sheet.
Two layers of backing were removed carefully with
a tweezers and a scalpel (Figure 3).
Cleaning
The scroll was placed over the washing table in a
supine position. A solution was prepared with 80
parts of deionized water and 20 parts ethanol with
a few drops of hydrogen peroxide and a few drops
of ammonia (Figure 4). Hydrogen peroxide worked
as a bleaching agent for the stains and was used
ammonia to neutralize it [8]. The solution was
applied on the paper and blotted after some time.
This process was repeated twice until the stains
were hardly visible. The object was rinsed with
deionised water. In order to make the object more
durable its acidity was counterbalanced with
calcium hydroxide solution (pH 8) resulting in a
final pH was almost neutral.
The scroll border was treated separately in a
similar manner. To dry, it was kept between
blotters in semi‐dry conditions, pressed under
light weight.
Relining
Parts of the scroll borders were lined over the Japa‐
nese machine‐made tissue (9 g/m2) yellowish in
colour using diluted Japanese wheat starch paste
in order to give some strength. Japanese wheat
starch paste is preferred due to its good physical
properties and mould growth resistance. Follow‐
ARISTOTELES SAKELLARIOU et al.
Figure 4. Application of solution during the cleaning procedure.
e‐conservation 69
CHINESE ISLAMIC SCROLLS
ing the classic preparation technique, after
cooking the paste was passed through a strainer
to eliminate lumps and create a homogenous
texture [9, 10].
After relining, the scroll and its borders could be
handled safely. To give the hanging scroll the
desired length, a final lining of Japanese machine‐
made tissue (19 g/m2) was added. Thus, the scroll
was lined on a long, single sheet of that tissue
over the terylene cloth which was fixed over the
working table. Japanese wheat starch paste was
diluted with water to get the desired viscosity,
and was used for relining (Figure 5). The facing
tissue papers were then removed carefully. After
drying, the pieces of the border were pasted back
to their original place. A thin cream‐coloured
Chinese paper was placed all around the object in
order to provide equal thickness to the entire
surface and to tone down the frame’s brightness.
The blue strip was placed at its original place as
it is considered part of the object’s history.
Drying
The lined scroll was placed over a table for a total
period of two months in order to allow all its
components to set together in relation with the
surrounding atmosphere. This period was required
because of the different drying times of each
type of paper and also the prevailing conditions.
Repairing and Retouching
The scroll’s missing parts were patched up using
thin Japanese paper of a matching colour. Minor
Figure 5. Removal of the polyethylene sheet after lining the scroll.
70 e‐conservation
retouching was done on spots of missing ink
with coloured pencils. Certain stains were also
retouched for aesthetic improvement. The
materials used to repair and to retouch the
scroll can be easily removed with safety or even
retreated.
Finishing Touches
A wooden stick was added to the top of the scroll
and a roller with two wooden knobs at the lower
part. The stick was flat at the front and semi‐circu‐
lar at the back. This is to make a small gap between
the scroll and the wall allowing the air to circulate
freely.
Storage
The final step would be to exhibit the scroll
(Figure 6) in IAMM’s China Gallery. However, that
was not feasible at the moment since the exhibi‐
tion space devoted to Chinese Islamic scrolls is
full. Therefore, the scroll will be exhibited when
the gallery will be rearranged, or perhaps when
the objects will be rotated.
Until this decision is to be taken by the curatorial
and display staff, the scroll should remain in
storage. One of the most common forms of dete‐
rioration for Chinese, Japanese and Tibetan scrolls
is creases or cracks from rolling [11], which meant
ARISTOTELES SAKELLARIOU et al.
e‐conservation 71
Figure 6. General view of the scroll after treatment.
CHINESE ISLAMIC SCROLLS
that a suitable solution had to be found. Our
preference was to place it flat on a mount. Never‐
theless, this solution proved to be unpractical
due to the large size of the object and also the
lack of storage space.
The best system for storing rolled scrolls is the
Japanese system: it consists of a box and a rolling
cylinder made of a seasoned, light and durable
wood such as paulownia or kiri. The scroll’s edge
is fixed in an ajar gap alongside the cylinder, and
then it is rolled around it. The box includes two
hollow semicircle ‘stands’ on its two interior sides.
This is where the cylinder sides are fixed prevent‐
ing the scroll from laying on its own weight.
Even though this method seems to be the most
suitable, it proved to be economically unafford‐
able for the amount of Chinese Islamic scrolls
there are in the collection. This includes the costs
of buying and shipping the materials from Japan
to Malaysia, plus potential implications at the
customs office.
Thus, an alternative solution had to be found. The
solution came from our experienced box making
staff. We would try to imitate the Japanese scroll
boxes, making one from paper and cardboard
(Figure 7). Our box had similar properties to the
Japanese system in that it held the scroll safe from
handling, light and vibrations. However, there
is a possibility that our box does not meet the
humidity buffering properties of the Japanese
wooden boxes. This is a subject that must be inves‐
tigated in the near future.
Conclusions
Planning for conserving this object triggered the
conservation staff to search more about the Chi‐
nese Islamic Scrolls’ history. This research provided
a fascinating insight to their rather obscure past.
This article shows some of the scarce bibliogra‐
phical resources in English.
Almost ten years ago, the museum followed the
trend of ‘sandwiching’ the scrolls between two
sheets of Perspex. However, when the conserva‐
tion department was established not only focused
on their conservation, but also to their historical
context. Therefore, the ‘scroll’ had to be on a
scroll form for a better historical interpretation.
This object was exceptional challenging for the
conservation staff due to its dimensions. The
72 e‐conservation
Figure 7. The concept (above) and implementation of thestorage box.
conservation staff handling skills were tested,
especially when the scroll was wet. The object had
been quite acidic, weak and fragile. Particular
attention had to be addressed to remove the hard
‘glue dipped’ backing without damaging the
painted surface. A temporary lining from the front
side with lens tissue paper (facing) protected the
painted paper. Finally, the choice of materials and
methods was also tested and proven suitable after
observing it for 4 months.
Generally, there has been little attention given to
Islamic Chinese scrolls by conservation experts
and researchers. With this article, we hope to
contribute to a corpus of understanding for this
distinctive artistic expression which brings
together the Art from East and West.
Acknowledgments
The authors of this article would like to thank to
Mrs. Britt Spyrou for the English editing, curator
Rosmawati Ahmad Zakharia for the archival infor‐
mation, researcher Assim Quisho for reading the
Arabic inscription, and the Deputy director of
Centre for Malaysian‐Chinese Studies Chiam Yan
Tuan for reading the Chinese seals. We acknowl‐
edge Pauline Webber for providing notes on re‐
mounting and restoration of Chinese paintings.
We also thank the Director of IAMM, Tuan Syed
Mohammad Albukhary, for his ample support.
References
[1] A. G. Sakellariou, “The Fungus Trolley”, News
in Conservation 18, IIC, June 2010, p. 3
[2] L. De Guise, Introduction, IAMM website, 2009,
URL (accessed 05.06.2011)
[3] J. Berlie, Islam in China: Hui and Uyghurs,
Lotus, Bangkok, 2004, p. 1
[4] M. Dillon, ”Language and the Hui”, The Hui of
China, Curzon, Richmond Surrey, 1999, pp. 153‐
161
[5] Y. Liu Baojun, A Glance at the Chinese Muslims,
Malaysian Encyclopedia Centre, Kuala Lumpur, 1998
[6] J. Hough, Chinese Calligraphy and Painting
Scrolls and Mounting: Introduction to Chinese
Mounting & Scrolls, URL (accessed 06.10.2008)
[7] “Chinese Muslim Calligraphy”, Muslim in China
(English‐Malay version), The Malaysian Ministry
of Culture, Kuala Lumpur, 2003, pp. 33‐37
[8] O. P. Agrawal, M. Barkeshli, “5.2.3 Aqueous
Cleaning”, Conservation of Books, Manuscripts and
Paper Documents, INTACH, Lucknow, 1997
[9] G. Harrison, Wheat Starch Paste, Indiana Uni‐
versity Libraries Preservation Department, URL
(accessed 20.06.2011)
[10] N. Ash, “A Note on the Use of Magnesium Bi‐
carbonate in Hydrogen Peroxide Solutions”, The
Book and Paper Group Annual 2, AIC, 1983, URL
(accessed 08.06.2011)
[11] N. Yosiyuki, “Maintenance of East Asian
Painting”, The Book and Paper Group Annual 12,
AIC, 1993, p. 3, URL (accessed 08.06.2011)
ARISTOTELES SAKELLARIOU et al.
e‐conservation 73
CHINESE ISLAMIC SCROLLS
ARISTOTELES SAKELLARIOUSenior Preventive ConservatorContact: [email protected]
Aristoteles Georgios Sakellariou has been Head of
Conservation at the Islamic Arts Museum of Malay‐
sia for the past two years. He has an MA in Preven‐
tive Conservation from Northumbria University, UK
and a BA Hons in Conservation and Restoration
from the University of Lincoln, UK. He worked as
site conservator and as freelance conservation con‐
sultant for the University of Athens, the Hellenic
Museum of Folklore Art and the Hellenic Society
of Near Eastern Studies. He managed large projects
for the Jordanian Ministry of Culture, and the Minis‐
try of Tourism of Oman. His interest and research
include strategies for the storage and display of
objects in their original or historic context.
LALIT KUMAR PATHAKSenior ConservatorContact: [email protected]
Lalit Kumar Pathak holds a BSc in Chemistry, a
MSc in Geology and a Diploma in Museology. He
trained in Paper conservation at India and abroad.
Previously, he worked for several years as a senior
paper conservator and project coordinator at the
conservation laboratory of Rampur Raza Library,
Rampur (India) under INTACH ICI project. His past
experience includes working as a Senior Paper
Conservator for Ossian’s Connoisseurs of Art, New
Delhi. He joined the Conservation and Research
Laboratories of IAMM, Malaysia in 2003. He has
restored several Chinese scrolls, Quran Manu‐
scripts, Miniature Paintings. One of his most chal‐
lenging projects was the treatment of a 700 pages
‘Shahnameh’, an illustrated Persian manuscript by
Firdaus. During his 18 years long carrier in paper
conservation he had restored hundreds of arti‐
facts on paper.
SITI YUHAINIZARConservatorContact: [email protected]
Siti Yuhainizar Mohd Ismail received her BSc
Science in Information Management (Hons)
specialised in Record Management, in University
Technology MARA Malaysia (2005). In her studies,
she focused on Preservation of Archival Materials.
She has received extensive training in paper con‐
servation from conservation masters at the Con‐
servation and Research Laboratories, Islamic Art
Museum, Malaysia, where she currently works. In
2005 she was hired as a trainee conservator and
then promoted to Assistant Paper Conservator.
ByAlessia Bianco
CONSERVATION INTERVENTIONOF VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURES:
TWO CASE STUDIES IN CALABRIA, ITALY
A Theoretical Approach on “InnovativeRestoration” and “Conservative Preservation”
Without wanting to go into the difficult and spe‐
cialized topic of restoration theory, the article
proposes two different approaches to restoration
matter, with a reflection in terms of balancing
the theoretical and pragmatic judgments [1‐2].
The first applicative case regards Calanna and it
represents a type of restoration that can be called
"case‐by‐case restoration", which is implemented
according to previously established guidelines with‐
out following a certain methodological approach,
but choosing reasonably adequate solutions to spe‐
cific needs. This approach is valuable in its ability
overcome ideological approaches although has
the risk of devaluing the restoration, depriving it
of its intellectual and technical character.
Hence, the difficult choices of the Calanna project
(Figure 1) initially met some planner’s resistance
who, due to their training and professional
practice, in a first phase of preliminary project
purposed to use modern restoration solution than
traditional ones, who instead were considered
better by me thanks their capability to respect the
structural and technologic identity of buildings.
The second case, in Scilla, led to an approach that
developed an intervention proposal that can be
roughly defined as “innovative restoration”
because it sought to follow a methodological
preference for the use of structural and technical
solutions related to the vocabulary of contempo‐
rary planning rather than founding solutions
similar to the building historical specificities [3].
Thus, “innovative restoration” may be defined as
a theoretical and practical approach that prefers
the use of materials and technologies homologous
to those in use in new buildings.
The proposed project was significantly reformu‐
lated according to a cultural orientation called
“conservative preservation” and based on the
teachings of Professor Antonino Giuffré [4]. This
has been commonly practiced in the last two
decades and turned to combination and satisfac‐
tion of safety, especially in terms of performance
in case of earthquake, and preservation of the
characteristics of historical buildings. Here,
“conservative preservation” can be defined as a
theoretical and practical approach that prefers
using materials and technologies homologous to
those in use in the specific building or monument
in intervention.
The paper presents a reflection on the relationship between “innovative restoration” and “conservative
preservation” regarding two cases of vernacular buildings in Calabria, southern Italy. The first case
concerns the supervision of planning activities related to the restoration, reuse and development project
of the historic center of Calanna. The variety and articulation of buildings undergoing restoration was
an opportunity for a reflection about decision making concerning technical decisions of restoration and
it has highlighted how often it is not possible to purpose interventions inspired by an unique theoretical
approach (using traditional technics or using innovative materials and so on), but sometimes it is
needed to prefer an pragmatic mediation, free by cultural ties. The second case pertains to an
experience of the participating planning of a restoration intervention of Church of St. John the Baptist
in Scilla, a prefabricated wooden building, built after the 1908 earthquake. The project’s preliminary
draft proposed a substantial change of its technical and structural characteristics, although a second
version was prepared to pursue several primary conservative instances.
e‐conservation 75
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURES IN CALABRIA
Case I: The Historic Centre of Calanna
The project for the architectural restoration of the
historic centre of Calanna included a reconversion
of four buildings for touristic use, selected on
bureaucratic and administrative basis such as the
centre commercial perspectives and development
strategy [5]. Following these criteria, the buildings
were selected regardless of their architectural or
conservation state similarities. Due to this type of
heterogeneous selection, the strategies for their
restoration were also adjusted to their necessity
following a "case‐by‐case restoration".
The first two buildings, the Lazzaro‐Romeo house
and Musicò house, were not so relevant from the
architectural point of view or conservation state.
In this cases, the restoration solutions were equi‐
valent to those related to the specific local tech‐
nology such as, for example the replacement of
deteriorated brick‐cement floors with wooden ones
and re‐roofing. A more complex and hard‐fought
task was the choice of solutions for the Barillà‐
Provenzano house (Figure 2), which showed some
architectural interests and the worst conservation
state, largely due to material decay problems
caused by the lack of maintenance and inadequacy
of certain interventions made after the 1908
earthquake. An initial project included abusive
interventions such as a concrete curb at the top,
armed walls, large reconstructions of masonry,
completely ignoring the building intrinsic structu‐
ral value. This treatment could have led not only
to behavioural and structural damages that are
typical of this type of solution but also to an
increase of the hygrothermal discomfort condi‐
tions, specifically considering Calanna’s climatic
context characterized by hard winters.
Therefore, it was necessary to prove throughout an
exhaustive study the inadequacy of this approach.
A significant support for this assessment, meant
to point out the structural resources of this house,
came from the Municipality of Calanna, which
commissioned a rigorous in situ diagnosis and
testing.
The aim of the investigations was to collect scien‐
tific data for understanding the conservation
state and the structural technology, especially
concerning the masonry in order to change the
previous inadequate intervention proposal of
using detrimental cement injections in favour of
traditional interventions with diatonics. Therefore,
a protocol for extensive investigations, such as
passive thermograms, sonic and ultrasonic tests,
was prepared. A general and detailed thermogra‐
phic analysis (Figure 3) was performed only on two
accessible sides of the building and did not show
any specific thermal anomalies. In fact, it was
detected no particular material decay of stones,
bricks or mortars, but a significant presence of
rising damp (within 1 m in the lower part), capil‐
lary (in walls in contact with the ground) and water
infiltration (at the top).
After the first investigations, a simple restoration
treatment had already been justified. Remaking
Figure 1. General view of Calanna.
ALESSIA BIANCO
76 e‐conservation
the mortar from the masonry joints, which was
friable as a result of high humidity, creating an
air space and insulation of walls at the ground
level, re‐roofing and rainwater regimentation
system were the final proposed interventions.
The sonic and ultrasonic tests, located in different
and representative points of the building (angled
wall tracks near the openings), showed no signi‐
ficant anormalities or the presence of inconsisten‐
cies between the paramental walls and the inner
organization; moreover the endoscopic investiga‐
tion did not show cavity and inner cores. In this
way we concluded that the masonry have not spe‐
cific and relevant problems, in terms of techno‐
logical characteristic and of conservative condi‐
tions; so it was possible to exclude the hypothesis
to have to realization of expensive interventions
as concrete injections and reinforced plasters.
Furthermore, sonic and ultrasonic analysis carried
out on the wall corners confirmed the existence
of cracks, highlighting the lack of angle connec‐
tions. For further confirmation of the non‐invasive
analysis results, some few specific endoscopies
(Figure 4) were performed, which confirmed the
corners structural problems. So, to solve this weak‐
ness, it was suggested the creation of a brick diato‐
nic in breach, affixing a system of chaining and
disassembly and reassembly of two corners of walls.
Finally, SONREB tests performed on concrete ele‐
ments made after the 1908 earthquake (Figure 5)
[6] highlighted for windows a particular technolo‐
gical constructive problem of reinforced concrete
lintels and balconies (consisting in a not adequate
disposition of principal iron bars) and a serious
deterioration by oxidation. The complete replace‐
ment of these concrete elements (lintels, balco‐
nies, etc.) was recommended.
77e‐conservation
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURES IN CALABRIA
Figure 2. Barillà‐Provenzano house, Calanna.
In conclusion, the analysis of the structural beha‐
vioural of the Barillà‐Provenzano house, which
resulted in a series of qualitative and quantitative
data, allowed the choice of the most appropriate
conservative measures instead of other more
innovative or abusive ones, with a clear advantage
in terms of conservation and in reducing time,
risks and costs of intervention.
In this regard, it is interesting to note that making
that simple diagnostic investigation (thermogra‐
phy‐SONREB‐endoscopy), with an investment of
only €1.000, allowed a deduction of €20.000,
which is about 40% of the intervention total cost
and in a first phase assigned to realize interven‐
tions as cement injections and reinforced plasters,
but after avoided thank the good results of diag‐
nostic investigation about the material and
technological characteristics of masonry. So it
was possible also to assign this saving for reuse
activities, as furniture, equipment and so on.
The Barillà house (Figure 2) presents a certain
importance in terms of construction technologies
and typology, namely an arcade built with bricks
and limestone, a wooden roof realized with two
crossed layers, peculiar for this area. The house
was in a poor conservation state induced by exten‐
sive demolition after the 1908 earthquake, followed
by an incapable intervention and ultimately by a
long abandonment. For these reasons, the material
point of the Barillà house is so compromised that
a project aimed to propose its reconfiguration
risks to produce an alteration of its identity and
to realize a false. So, after a long consideration
of different design options the planning group
decided to proceed with the demolition and
reconstruction with the suggestion to use new
building elements largely inspired by the Barilla
house, in terms of functional design, formal
distribution, and volumetric proportion, and to
ensure good compatibility with the traditional
architectures from its surroundings.
78 e‐conservation
Figure 3. Instrumental diagnostic investigation, thermography.
ALESSIA BIANCO
This choice produced an advantage in terms of
costs, with 15% savings. However, it must be said
that this case is rather unusual and attributable to
the very bad conservation and structural condition
of the building. In fact, from the economic point
of view the conservation is usually presents more
advantages than the demolition‐reconstruction [7].
Case II: The Wooden Church of St. John theBaptist in Scilla
The restoration project of the Church of St. John
the Baptist in the district of San Giorgio in Scilla is
part of a wider research and scientific consulting
project that the PAU (Patrimonio Architettonico
ed Urbanistico) Department of the Mediterranea
University of Reggio Calabria is making for the
Mary Immaculate’s Parish of Scilla, for the conser‐
vation, protection and enhancement of the cultural
and historical heritage of Scilla.
The wooden Church of St. John the Baptist belongs
to a set of British prefabricated wooden churches,
donated in occasion of the 1908 earthquake by
Pope Pius X in July 1909 and assembled in site by
local workers [8]. The Church, however, has some
distinctive features from the others: first, because
assuming a planimetric shape, both the body and
Latin cross are characterized by a significant size
and form, and second because having been made
to replace the baroque Church of St. John, which
was severely damaged by the earthquake, has
inherited a part of its artistic heritage, such as
a wooden statue and a painting of St. John, an
altarpiece, and a wooden statue of St. Anthony
of Padua (Figures 6‐8).
The church did not suffer significant functional
changes and represents an interesting testimony
of the post‐1908 wooden church typology. How‐
ever, the Church was built according to a braced
wooden framed, internally coated with wood and
externally with British sheet (manufactured by
Ewart & Son , London 1834), as proved by the
stamps still existing in the metal sheet covers
and labelled rivets from a metal chimney roof
ventilation. Nevertheless, the building suffered
some interventions in the early 70s, such as the
renovation of the facade, demolition of the wooden
coat, reconstruction of a side access, and some
internal changes following the requirements of
Vatican II to move the altar piece from its existing
position at the left wall to the centre of the apse.
The conservation state of the Church was good
enough to be still functional. The building presented
material decay due to the rotting of the wooden
frame elements, particularly in the more exposed
portions, such as the feet, which being in contact
with the foundation presented a high percentage
79e‐conservation
Figure 4. Instrumental diagnostic investigation, endoscopy.
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURES IN CALABRIA
of rising damp. At the upper level, improper regi‐
mentation of rainwater led to a spread deterio‐
ration of the roof and cornices. These moisture
conditions together with the poor maintenance
of the Church favoured xylophagous attack making
necessary the conservation interventions for re‐
establishing the building structural security.
The preliminary project draft suggested the re‐
building of the whole wooden frame structure
with a laminated timber frame, consolidation of
the foundation with reinforced concrete, overlap‐
ping the original masonry foundation and roofing
with laminated wooden trusses, preserving the
wooden flooring planks, wooden lining and exte‐
rior metal sheet (Figure 7). The estimated cost,
including the works, inspections and investiga‐
tions, technical and administrative costs, and VAT
led to a quantification of just under €113.000.
The involvement of the PAU (Patrimonio Architet‐
tonico ed Urbanistico) Department offered the
consultancy to prepare a project not to replace the
planners but to help finding the best solutions.
This approach has two goals: diffusing in profes‐
sionals and technicians the culture of “conser‐
vative preservation” against an aprioristic “inno‐
vative restoration”; improving capability of
80 e‐conservation
Figure 5. Instrumental diagnostic investigation, Schmidthammer.
scientific and academic world to dialogue with
professional one.
The final project presented a possibility of explo‐
ring a different option aimed to the conservation
of the technical construction and preservation of
the building’s original materials, recognizing the
value of the original wooden framed system con‐
struction. The project planned the replacement of
significantly deteriorated that affected the struc‐
tural and functional performance of the structure, as
well as proposed small local improvements (Fig. 9).
The calculation of the project budget involved
some effort considering the fact that given the
specific technology of this Church, many of the
processes envisaged do not include restoration
works, and thus the need for new opinions to
articulate and define the associated costs [9]. The
budget calculation forecast that followed, even
including works, inspections and investigations,
technical and administrative costs, and VAT, lead
to a quantification of just under €90.000, with a
cost deduction of approximately more than 20%
when compared to the preliminary design solution.
In this specific case, it also was realized a para‐
metric cost analysis, concerning only a selection
Figure 6. Outside view of the Church of St. John the Baptist.
ALESSIA BIANCO
81e‐conservation
of structural interventions (masonry consolida‐
tions, new roof and repairs of cracks), comparing
the traditional solutions with the innovative
solutions. We obtained the determination of the
economic convenience of the first kind of inter‐
ventions, in accordance with a perception already
gained in field of scientific research, but most
common in the professional field, where it is
still unjustifiably widespread the notion that
restoration is more expensive in terms of costs,
but also risks, execution time, etc., than conserva‐
tion [10]. Furthermore, a possibility of providing
a debate between “conservative preservation”
and “innovative restoration”, as well as qualitative
aspects such as security and storage, compatibility
and reversibility, which calculation of budget of a
purely quantity is an element of great interest, as
well as a decisive contribution in decision making.
For this reason, it is determined to implement a
participatory planning process for the conserva‐
tion of St. John the Baptist’s Church in Scilla,
which involves a commission and the local com‐
munity that had already considered and accepted
the first proposal project. However, the proposal
for a conservative intervention has found an
unexpected agreement among parties, a sign of
consolidation of sensitivity to conservation, which
finally seems to start coming in usual sense of
community, perhaps more that in planners.
Conclusions
The case study of Calanna presented the connection
between the diversity of the buildings undergoing
conservation, and the decision making related to
each technical choice. It has been highlighted
how often a pragmatic approach to problems may
reduce the risk of a poor approach to value the
method, and can help in finding flexible solutions
to overcame aprioristic ideological positions. In
fact, although planning choice for the Barillà
house may seem at odds, even jarring, with field
Figure 7. First restoration project of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Scilla by arch. Domenica Currò, September 2010.
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURES IN CALABRIA
82 e‐conservation
ALESSIA BIANCO
efforts for other three buildings, a pragmatic and
no ideological approach has led to opt for a solu‐
tion of demolition‐reconstruction, based on the
“case–by‐case” principle. In this, decision‐making
has played a key role for careful analysis of costs,
associated with different intervention scenarios.
This, even if it may not appear in first instance in
accordance with orientation that preservation has
primarily a cultural value, shows, that a theoretical
approach may involve risk to disconnect with the
world of planners, clients and administrative and
technical institutions interested to value interven‐
tions on classified buildings, as in these cases,
national heritage.
In conclusion, both cases of Scilla and Calanna
show how it is possible to pursue an ambition of
collimation between conservative instances and
professional ones, through an integrative approach
of two aspects: critical analysis of real technolo‐
gical and conservative conditions of buildings;
introduction of estimative economic evaluation
as preliminary factor of choice.
Acknowledgments
LaborEst, the Laboratorio di Estimo e valutazione
dei piani e dei progetti of PAU (Patrimonio Architet‐
tonico ed Urbanistico) Department from Mediter‐
ranea University of Reggio Calabria, is conducting
the consultancy projects of ‘Calanna’ case for the
Municipality of Calanna and ‘Scilla’ for the Saint
Mary Immaculate’s Parish of Scilla. The author
thanks the Municipality of Calanna for its authori‐
zation to publish the image from figure 1. Figures
3 to 5 belong to the diagnostic research planned,
conducted and validated by the SIS Section (Sezione
Indagini in Situ) of MARe (Materiali ed Analisi per
il Restauro) Laboratory of PAU Department from
Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria. Finally,
the author acknowledges arch. Domenica Currò for
her authorization to publish figure 7.
References
[1] M. Andaloro, La teoria del restauro nel Novecento
da Riegl a Brandi, International Conference, Viterbo,
12‐15 November 2003, Nardini, Firenze, 2006
[2] C. Brandi, Il restauro: teoria e pratica 1939‐1986,
Editori Riuniti, Roma,2005
[3] A. M. Racheli, Restauro e architettura : teoria e
critica del restauro architettonico e urbano dal XVIII
al XXI secolo, Gangemi, Roma, 2007
[4] C. F. Carocci, C. Tocci, Leggendo il libro delle
antiche architetture: aspetti statici del restauro.
Saggi 1985‐1997 / Antonino Giuffre, Gangemi,
Roma, 2010
[5] P. Cimino Ranieri, Calanna e la sua pretura,
Ceruso, Reggio Calabria, 1891
Figure 8. Inside view of the Church of St. John the Baptist.
83e‐conservation
[6] S. Valtieri (ed.), 28 dicembre 1908. La
Grande Ricostruzione dopo il terremoto del
1908 nell'area dello Stretto, CLEAR, Roma,
2008
[7] L'innovazione per il restauro sostenibile [Mi‐
nistero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Direzione
Generale per il bilancio e la programmazione
economica, la promozione, la qualità e la stan‐
dardizzazione delle procedure], Edizioni MP
Mirabilia, Roma, 2009
[8] A. Bianco, La casa baraccata: guida al pro‐
getto e al cantiere di restauro, Ginevra Bentivo‐
glio EditoriA, Roma, 2010
[9] La conservazione del patrimonio storico ed
architettonico, metodi e strumenti: strategie
di raccordo tra innovazione e tradizione delle
tecniche sostenibili per il restauro ed il recupero
degli edifici e della citta storica, Adda, Bari,
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[10] V. Ceradini, "Dalla ricostruzione breve di
Reggio Calabria alla lunga distruzione della
Reggio ricostruita", in VARIA, Il Secolo Breve
Rovine e Ricostruzione, CsA, Reggio Calabria,
2009, pp. 30‐31
ALESSIA BIANCOArchitect
Contact: [email protected]
Alessia Bianco holds a degree in Conservation
of Architecture and a PhD in Architectural
Conservation. She is a research fellow at the
Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria,
Italy.Figure 9. Some drawings of the final project.
VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURES IN CALABRIA
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No. 22, November 2011
ISSN: 1646‐9283
Registration Number125248
Entidade Reguladorapara a Comunicação Social
Propertye‐conservationline, Teodora Poiata
PeriodicityBimonthly
CoverChinese Islamic Scroll
Islamic Arts Museum of Malaysia
Executive EditorRui Bordalo
EditorsTeodora Poiata, Anca Nicolaescu
CollaboratorsAna Bidarra
Daniel Cull
Graphic Design and PhotographyAnca Poiata, Radu Matase
ExecutionTeodora Poiata
AddressRua de Santa Catarina, nº 467, 4D
4480‐779 Vila do Conde, Portugal
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