Understanding the choices, materials and techniques involved when an object was originally put together and the repair and renewal processes that it has undergone can be vital for both the curator and the conservator. For the curator, knowledge of the construction and ancient repair methods is essential to understanding possible social and economic implications in the study of the cultures that originally made, and subsequently preserved, the objects. For the conservator, the importance of such techniques is perhaps even more obvious. A conservator's role can include preserving the integrity of an object by using various methods of joining, consolidation and repair, but these methods need to be sympathetic both to the original materials and to often highly significant later repairs. Many such joining methods (ancient, traditional and modern) applied to a wide range of materials (metals, ceramics, textiles, glass, etc.) are included in this volume of papers presented at a conference at the British Museum.
While much can be learned from ancient repair techniques, the evaluation of modern materials continues to be an essential element for the conservation process, both in general terms and for specific materials. Informed interpretation of the relationship between historic and modern methods used in the making and remaking of objects is also important in the continuing study of their significance and history and when developing strategies for their future preservation. All these aspects are addressed here in a way that is accessible to curators, conservators, conservation scientists and students.
Foreward
Acknowledgements
Part 1 Joins and repairs: ancient and traditional
Glass and ceramics
Ancient glass gluing recipes
Gerhard Eggert and Daniela Simone Straub
Ancient repairs in archaeological research: a Near Eastern perspective
Renske Dooijes and Olivier Peter Nieuwenhuyse
Joining clay: a comparison of modern and ancient techniques
Dean E. Arnold
Prehistoric and ethnographic repair techniques and materials on southwestern Native American pottery
Chris White, Nancy Odegaard and Arianna Lea Shackle
The use of ethnographic and scientific knowledge to explore creosote lac repairs on pottery vessels at the Arizona State Museum
Arianna Lea Shackle, Dean Sully, Renata Peters and Chris White
Metals
Bronze Age metalwork from central Norway: some examples of ancient and modern repair
Lucy Skinner
Interpreting the construction and function of the terrets from the Ferry Fryston chariot burial
Sonia O'Connor
Rivets: connection and repair in Mississipian period copper artefacts
Kim Cullen Cobb and Thomas Evans
Organics
A 13,000 year old repair: new observations on a Late Magdalenian spearthrower from Montastruc, Tarn-et-Garonne, France
Clare Ward, Janet Ambers and Jill Cook
Continuity or change? The use and function of birch bark tar in Norwegian Early Iron Age grave contexts
Camilla C. Nordby
Construction, modification and repair of Mexican mosaics: evidence from the adhesives
Rebecca J. Stacey and Caroline R. Cartwright
The historic repair and re-use of Byzantine wooden bookboards in the manuscript collection of the monastery of St Catherine, Sinai
Andrew Honey and Athanasios Velios
The Palkane crucifix: unusual joining materials in a polychrome crucifix from Finland
Suvi Leukumaavaara
Overview
Repairs in antiquity illustrated by examples from the prehistory of Denmark
Helge Brinch Madsen
Part 2 Joins and repairs: modern (post nineteenth century)
Modern adhesives
Poly(vinyl acetate) and acrylic adhesives: a research update
Jane L. Down
Identification of a formulation change in a conservation-grade adhesive
Petronella Nel and Deborah Lau
Glass and ceramics
A history of joining glass fragments
Sandra Davison
Paraloid B-72: 25 years of use as a consolidant and adhesive for ceramics and glass
Stephen P. Koob
Internal fractures on stained glass windows: a conservation study
Katrin Wittstadt and Peter Mottner
Studies of the degradation of epoxy resins used for the conservation of glass
Ines Coutinho, Ana Maria Ramos, Augusta M. Lima and Francisco Braz Fernandes
Stone
Never forever: assembly of sculpture guided by the demands of disassembly
Jerry Podany, Erik Risser and Eduardo Sanchez
An evaluation of potential adhesives for marble repair
Mersedeh Jorjani, George Wheeler, Carolyn Riccardelli, Wole Soboyejo and Nima Rahbar
Organics
The consolidation of wood with Paraloid B-72 solutions
Irena Kucerova and Daniela Drncova
A study of the effects of PVAC on works of art on paper and wood: pH and colour change
Gema Campo Frances, Anna Nualart Torroja, Marta Oriola Folch and Cristina Ruiz Recasens
Part 3 Case studies
Means, materials and ethics: the conservation of two Egyptian mummies for long term display
Jane T. Bouvard and Melangell Penrhys Jones
Ancient and modern joining techniques on a bronze Hellenistic urn
Eleni Asderaki-Tzoumerkioti
Modelling the Caergwrle bowl; ancient, historic and modern methods
Mary Davis and Annette Townsend
An investigation of repairs to Chinese bronze artefacts at the Harvard Art Museum
Susan D. Costello, Katherine Eremin and Francesca G. Bewer
Boundaries and authenticity in the Monument to Marchese Spinetta Malaspina
Sarah Healey-Dilkes and Jonathan Kemp
The mechanical assembly of a Renaissance terracotta relief: restoring a tin glazed work of art
Elisabeth Huber, Antonio Iaccarino Idelson and Carlo Serino
Investigation and analysis of historic early twentieth century Mexican restoration fills and repairs on Casas Grandes ceramics at the Arizona State Museum
Caitlin O'Grady
Reviews
This volume is interesting and informative. Although ostensibly focused on joining methods, it brings together many of the issues important to conservators: materials science, the meaning of objects, historical context, reversibility, restoration and relationships with other communities, traditional, academic, etc. It has been well edited and produced...[and the] many colour illustrations, both in charts and pictures, add considerably to its clarity and enjoyment.
Journal of the Institute of Conservation 33(2) (September 2010) 199-200
La obra va dirigida tanto a los investigadores interesados en el conocimiento de los materiales y las técnicas como a los conservadores-restauradores de arqueología y artes decorativas, resultando una completa revisión de productos tradicionales y actuales empleados para la adhesión y el ensamblado de las obras...Los casos presentados son variados, tanto por la diversidad de soportes que se abordan como por su enfoque histórico, técnico o científico, resultando una recopilación interesante sobre la casuística de la adhesión y el ensamblado de objetos, una revisión de las técnicas y los productos utilizados a lo largo del tiempo, comparando su eficacia, durabilidad, estabilidad, reversibilidad, tanto desde un enfoque científico como practico. Existían ediciones anteriores con un planteamiento científico…pero no teníamos una publicación actualizada que abordara este tema con cáracter monográfico, por lo que supone una herramienta de consulta y referencia muy útil para los profesionales y estudiosos del tema.
Ge-conservación/ conservação 1 (2010) 266-267
...Holding it All Together presents a rich selection of papers, which will surely be of interest to conservators and technical investigators and should stimulate further and deeper investigations into this topic.
Studies in Conservation 56(4) (2011) 316-319
