#bkmconservation

Can you help us pinpoint which animal this hide belongs to?

This papier-mâché mask is a recent acquisition, likely originating from Korea. With its four “golden” eyes, this mask likely represents a Bangsangssi character. 

Our conservators have identified the methods of construction, but we are still working to identify which animal the damaged skin, which adorns the piece, came from. In the Conservation Lab, we have studied the skin morphology and narrowed down some possible candidates, including: tanuki, golden jackal, binturong, corsac fox, wolverine, or mongolian wolf. But it has been difficult to assess due to insect damage. 

We also examined guard hairs from the skin under the microscope. The thick hairs vary in color, have an undulating shape and are roughly 3.98 ± 1.33 cm in length. The cuticle of the guard hair has a flattened distal-scale pattern. The pigment bodies are dispersed throughout the cortex. The medulla is irregularly vacuolated. The thick shield of the root bulb is spade-shaped and larger than the shaft. 

This work by French sculptor François Rude is a ceramic maquette, or scale model, of a sculptural decoration for the Arc de Triomphe, a commission awarded to Rude by the French government in 1833. The final sculpture, Départ des volontaires de 1792 (Departure of the Volunteers of 1792), also known as La Marseillaise, decorates the right pillar on the front of the Arc de Triomphe and is nearly 42 ½ feet tall. It depicts men in classical-style armor, led by a winged female warrior figure. This is a stylized rendering of a real historical event, the Battle of Valmy, where a French citizen army was victorious against Prussian and Austrian forces early in the Revolutionary Wars after the French Revolution. 

This maquette is considerably smaller at only 27 ½ inches tall, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in sheer dynamism. The hand of the artist is visible in the roughly modeled surface and the abundant tool and finger marks. Though the figures are not carefully finished, they nevertheless seem alive, in fluid motion. The variegated colors and many inclusions and imperfections in the ceramic body hint to Rude using a lower quality clay which may never have meant to have been fired; sculptors often use clay to work out their thoughts before recycling it to craft the next iteration of their ideas. For whatever reason, however, this piece of sculpting was deemed important enough to be saved by firing it. The many cracks in the piece may have occurred during the firing process due to the impurities in the clay.

Above: detail of rightmost figure, showing toolmarks and fingerprints in the clay

Before conservation could begin on the sculpture, it had to be assessed to determine what prior treatment it had undergone. Thankfully, in this case, we have records of its treatment in 1984, as well as notes from former Brooklyn Museum conservator Jane Carpenter upon its acquisition by the Brooklyn Museum in 1989. Some time before 1984, both of the female figure’s hands had broken off and were lost, as were the proper right hands of two of the male figures. The work had suffered severe damage in the form of a horizontal break across the entire sculpture at the female figure’s waist, and was repaired (along with other cracks and breaks) with tinted plaster, which also covered the entire back surface. Finally, the entire front surface was coated with reddish-brown pigment. In 1984, the plaster and reddish-brown pigment was (mostly) removed, and the back was reinforced with four aluminum brackets adhered with epoxy and cotton tape. Losses along the horizontal break were filled in and inpainted with gouache.

Above: the back side of the maquette before treatment 

There were many spots of plaster and reddish-brown pigment that remained from the previous treatments, and there was also something oddly flat and one-dimensional about the color, too. Typically, a conservator will cover as little of the object’s surface as possible when inpainting fill material to match the surrounding area; in this case, it was found that almost the entire surface was coated with gouache! This may have been done to unify the repair work and create a more homogeneous appearance, as the gouache obscured the mottled coloring of the clay. However, this is an important feature in understanding the complicated history of this sculpture as well as its status as a “process object” created as part of a larger work. Though it is unclear what the “original” surface of the maquette may have looked like at the time of its creation, it was determined that removal of the gouache to reveal the current surface was preferable.

Above: removal of gouache with a swab, revealing ceramic surface underneath

Since gouache is soluble in water, cleaning the surface of the maquette was simple yet time-consuming. Small cotton swabs were hand-made, dampened, and carefully rolled across the surface. Along with the gouache, more of the old reddish-brown pigment was removed, though traces still remain in the many crevices. In total, wet cleaning the sculpture took over fifteen hours of work.

Above: before (left) and after (right) inpainting a filled crack

Instead of completely removing and redoing the old fills, which were made of a cellulose-based filler that appeared perfectly stable, they were shaped and resurfaced using an acrylic-based modern product to help them more effectively blend texturally into the surrounding area. Finally, since the color of the fills didn’t perfectly match the ceramic, they were aesthetically integrated with watercolor and gouache (applied only over the fills and not the entire surface!). These materials are easily soluble in water so the piece can be re-treated in the future if necessary. Now, instead of obscuring the complex and interesting surface of the maquette, it can be more fully appreciated as an object that gives unique and intimate insight into a great sculptor’s working processes. 

Below: the maquette after treatment

The only approach to the Mut Precinct is along the avenue of rams built by Nectanebo II (362-343 BC), the last native Egyptian pharaoh. The sandstone paving is original, even if somewhat worn and broken. Pretty amazing when you consider that it is about 2,400 years old.

As he promised, Abdel Aziz has been sending us regular updates on the column restoration project. By February 21, the work on the east column was in its final stages. As you can see here, the semi-final coating, toned to match the sandstone, has been applied. The herringbone pattern of grooves is to allow the final coat to adhere. A worker, wearing the protective gear, is using a grinder to smooth the surface of the lower column drums cut by Sayyid. The lowest column drums of most columns curved out from the column base, mimicking plants. The worker is grinding the new stone to match the ancient shape.

By February 27, the east column was finished. This is the better-preserved east side of the column.

The other side of the column was in worse condition and essentially had to be rebuilt. The missing parts have been filled in so that it is now complete and stable. Originally there were thin walls between the columns (called “intercolumnar walls”), their junction with the columns marked by a projection on the lowest column drums. The restorers have mimicked this feature on the restored column. Talk about attention to detail.

In our last post on-site, the base of the west column had just been cleared of the deteriorated sandstone. By February 21, a new base had been constructed and one of the restorers was creating a new support for the column drums using baked brick and a cement mixture. We used a similar method to create new bases for the smaller columns in Temple A that we restored in 2019.

It takes time for the cement to cure properly, but by February 27 the two ancient column drums had been mounted on the new column base and the scaffold had been set up, ready to lift the remaining drums into place. Stay tuned for the final installment.

One big attraction for tourists is a dawn balloon ride over the monuments on the west bank: Deir el Bahari, the Valley of the Kings, the Ramesseum and Medinet Habu. We saw as many as 21 balloons at a time this year.

I’m Carolina Benitez, and this summer I was the conservation intern at the Brooklyn Museum. As a pre-program intern, getting experience in the field can be particularly difficult, and it’s hard to decide which specialty you’re most interested in without having the proper experience first. Working at one of the oldest conservation labs in the US was an incredible experience, and having an open lab meant that conservators working in different specialties work within the same space, making collaboration within the department more feasible. 

Through the support of the Andrew W. Mellon Opportunity for Diversity in Conservation Program, I was able to be placed to work at the Brooklyn Museum to properly develop my skills through a variety of projects under several supervisors.

Under the direction of our head of conservation Lisa Bruno, I worked in Objects Conservation with project conservator Celeste Mahoney in order to treat 18th century Rajasthani sandstone balcony pieces to ensure their preparation for our fall exhibition. Removing mortar and inpainting these pieces was incredibly fun, and gave me the opportunity to utilize and develop my skills in manual dexterity and color theory.

In Paintings Conservation, we worked with Mellon Fellow Isaac Messina to create a database of paint swatches from the lab’s pigment collection in order to create a record for further research through technical photography and multiband imaging. I learned how to make paint with deionized water and rabbit skin glue and got to help with photography to learn more about properties within certain pigments.

For my favorite project this summer, I got to examine and carry out treatment of a gelatin silver photograph; a portrait of sculptor William Edmonson by the photographer Consuelo Kanaga. With Associate Paper Conservator Elyse Driscoll, I was able to treat the photograph’s cracked surface with 1% photo grade gelatin. Afterwards, I conducted a dry cleaning of smudging on the surface of the mount with a kneaded eraser, a vinyl eraser, and vinyl eraser crumbs. Finally, I was able to work on the back of the mount in order to remove residual linen tape with 4% methyl cellulose as a poultice. 

The most rewarding part of these projects is getting to have a direct hand in preserving important pieces of art history. As an art historian and a museum lover, I feel that learning and seeing objects and artworks can be fulfilling in itself. The most rewarding aspect of this career is knowing that your preservation ensures the protection of history and knowledge for future generations. After my internship, I can say that my experience at the Brooklyn Museum exceeded my expectations, and I am more adequately prepared for my next chapter.

Meanwhile in the Conservation Lab at the Brooklyn Museum… 🌼🔬

The Brooklyn Museum paintings conservators welcomed scientists from the Met’s the Network Initiative for Conservation Science (NICS) to assist with a long-term treatment of a work in the Brooklyn Museum's collection by Mary Moser, a celebrated 18th century artist and one of the only two female founding members of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Over the course of two and a ​half days, we analyzed the pigments used by Moser in this painting using a portable X-ray fluorescence scanning system, which allows us to visualize the distribution of chemical elements on an artwork surface without the need to remove a sample. Here you can see the set-up for this scanning process as well as the distribution of arsenic in a yellow flower from the still life painting, which likely indicates the use of the arsenic-based pigment orpiment.

November 4th is #AskAConservator Day! Conservators around the world will be answering questions about their work in the spirit of sharing knowledge and celebrating the growth of the field, and our #BKMConservation staff would love to hear from you. Our conservation lab is made up of ten conservators, four interns working across paper, painting, and object conservation as well as four Collection Management staff. Our conservators worked on approximately 840 objects and artworks this year while our Collections Management team has worked on multiple large, long-term storage/rehousing projects across all our collections.

Have a question for any of them? Look out for our post and Instagram stories on November 4th. The lab will be answering questions from 9am-5pm EST.⁠

In just two short weeks, Baseera Khan: I Am an Archive opens debuting eleven new artworks, in conversation with key works made by the Brooklyn artist since 2017. For several of these works, Khan collaborated with museum conservator Victoria Schussler and curator Ayşin Yoltar-Yıldırım to stage intercessions with objects from our Arts of Islamic World collection. The series’s title “Law of Antiquities” refers to relatively recent global regulations that safeguard cultural objects—such as the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict—but do not afford individuals and communities that same protection. It also refers to guidelines prescribed by Brooklyn Museum conservators for interacting with the artworks, around which Khan constructed the project’s rules of engagement.

See this series and more on October 1, when Baseera Khan: I Am an Archive opens, presented as part of the UOVO Prize for an emerging Brooklyn artist.

In Baseera Khan’s Law of Antiquities series, on view in I Am an Archive, the artist’s hands often approach and mimic the positioning of the museum conservator’s hands. While this safeguards the fragile surfaces of these historic collection objects, it also alludes to the way that museum procedures disallow touch and proximity in objects that were very much used and functional, such as the 13th-cenury candle stand (from present-day Iran or Central Asia) and late 19th-century earrings and headdress (from Tafraout, Morocco) pictured here. 

Khan designed a set of nitrile gloves, used to protect art objects, for the Law of Antiquities photoshoot. The bespoke gloves layer varied colors, and include collaged black-and-white images of a textile in the collection that was too fragile to be included in the shoot. As Brooklyn Museum conservator Victoria Schussler handled the objects, she wore Khan’s creations.