Paper Conservation: Decisions & Compromises

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Risk and Safety of Illuminated Manuscripts with Brittle Paint Layers: Can the Digital Scan Substitute Old Manuscripts? Are Old Choices of <strong>Conservation</strong> Reversible? Robert Fuchs CICS University of Applied Sciences Cologne, Germany Fig.1: Prudentius 9. Jh., Burgerbibliothek Bern, Cod. 264, 2, p.18 detail: a drop of petrolatum lays on the surface. Fig.2: Prudentius 9. Jh., Burgerbibliothek Bern, Cod. 264, 2, p.21 detail: the petrolatum drops are so soft, so that scratches by touching can be seen. Fig.3: Prudentius 9. Jh., Burgerbibliothek Bern, Cod. 264, 2, p.33 detail: the blue pigments are embedded in the waxy mass. Paintings on paper or in manuscripts were normally made in the watercolor technique. Pigments and dyes were mixed with a water soluble media and painted with a brush. Even the ground of gold or silver leaves and the gold and silver inks were bound with water-soluble glue. Therefore one thought as a first idea for the consolidation of brittle paint layer to use a nonwater soluble fixing agent. The idea was the reversibility of polymer agents with non-water solvents. But unfortunately it is not seldom that dyestuffs of the illuminations bleeded with the solvents. This made the restorer helpless and therefore it was decided to start researching the technique of mediaeval book paintings with a research institute at Göttingen University. This paper is based on research experience of more than 25 years. Even up to now older consolidation techniques can present difficult problems for conservation. The digitization project of the Bern library made it necessary to investigate some precious illuminations because the paint layer seemed too brittle for digitalization. We could prove that in the restoration of 1937 the restorer used petrolatum (Vaseline) to fix supposed brittle paint layers in many manuscripts. This soft waxy substance is still soft and glossy and has changed the appearance of the paintings. This paper will compare different consolidation techniques and discuss the reversibility. Finely the question if the digital scan can substitute the old manuscripts will also be discussed. Prof. Dr. Robert Fuchs CICS University of Applied Sciences – Cologne Ubierring 40 D-50678 Köln, Germany robert.fuchs@fh-koeln.de ICOM-CC Graphic Documents Working Group Interim Meeting | Vienna 17 – 19 April 2013 28
Integrating Analytical Tools in Treatment Decision-making for a 1513 Hand-colored Ptolemy Geographia Atlas Lynn Brostoff | Sylvia R. Albro | John Bertonaschi Library of Congress, Washington D.C., USA Fig. 1 Introduction In 2009, conservators from the Library of Congress (LC) undertook the technical examination of Claudius Ptolemy’s Geographia, an atlas printed by Johannes Schott in Strasbourg in 1513 and now part of the Lessing J. Rosenwald Collection in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. Bound in stiff-board vellum, the Atlas contains the text and mathematical coordinates from Ptolemy’s second century A.C.E. work on world geography, a sixteenth century supplemental text, and forty-seven hand colored woodblock and letterpress printed maps. All but one of the maps in the Atlas are hand-colored in six hues, including a problematic green used for mountain features throughout the maps. The final map in the volume illustrates the territory of the book’s patron, the Duke of Lorraine, and is an early example of multiple color woodblock printing. The Rosenwald 1513 Ptolemy Atlas has been unavailable for study or display for some time due to its fragile condition. Initial examination of the Atlas by LC paper and book conservators confirmed that the vellum binding was extremely tight, preventing the book from opening completely and contributing to breaks in the gutter of the pages. In addition, conservators noted that approximately forty of the maps appear in relatively good condition, while seven of the maps (Fig. 1), are in extremely poor condition, with all colors dull or darkened, the green pigment sometimes powdery, and the paper generally soft and discolored. The green on these maps has sunk to the back of the support and caused offset onto the opposite pages. In order to best approach the complex preservation of this important volume, a research team composed of conservators, scientists, and curators joined forces, resulting in an investigation into how the Atlas was produced, how it developed its current condition issues, and how to formulate a treatment strategy. Many of the specific research questions posed by the group have been systematically answered over the past two years through scholarly research and technical analysis, leading to informed conservation treatment planning and decision-making. The initial discoveries of the research team have been detailed elsewhere [1, 2, 3, 4], but are summarized here. History records that the production of the 1513 Ptolemy Atlas began in the early 16th century in St. Dié, France, where a small group of humanist scholars known as the Gymnasium Vosagense, including Matthias Ringmann, Martin Waldseemüller, and their patron the Duke of Lorraine, combined efforts to produce a volume with newly corrected Ptolemy information, along with updated maps based on European discoveries of the late 1400’s. This project appears to have been interrupted by the untimely deaths of the Duke and Ringmann and the volume was left unfinished until 1513, when it was published in Strasbourg by another consortium that included Waldseemüller. Examination reveals that the Atlas is constructed from three different types of laid papers: twenty maps contain a slightly variant Crown watermark; four maps and seventeen text papers have a Lily watermark; and the remaining papers contain no watermark. Throughout the ICOM-CC Graphic Documents Working Group Interim Meeting | Vienna 17 – 19 April 2013 29
Page 1 and 2: Paper Conservation: Decisions & Com
Page 3 and 4: Content Lieve Watteeuw Introduction
Page 5: Michael Wheeler | Nicholas Barnard
Page 8 and 9: New Trends in Preservation in the D
Page 10 and 11: and monitoring against adverse envi
Page 12 and 13: Steve Hobaica, Patrick Loughney, Ma
Page 14 and 15: The Albums of Duke Charles de Croÿ
Page 16 and 17: Fig. 4: turning the supporting pape
Page 18 and 19: Fig. 2: Close-up of some of the los
Page 20 and 21: manuscript paper, the binding would
Page 22 and 23: Figure 2 partial sewing: the blue d
Page 24 and 25: Books in Exhibitions: History and A
Page 26 and 27: Fig. 4 Museum in London and the pre
Page 30 and 31: Fig. 2 Atlas, the Crown papers are
Page 32 and 33: Acknowledgments The authors would l
Page 34 and 35: Verdigris I: Compromises in Conserv
Page 36 and 37: Verdigris 2: Wet Chemical Treatment
Page 38 and 39: Integrated Modelling: The Demograph
Page 40 and 41: Fig. 3: The consequence of 50 insta
Page 42 and 43: Characterisation of Historical Pape
Page 44 and 45: pling is required, tide-lines are c
Page 46 and 47: Study of Phytate Chelating Treatmen
Page 48 and 49: Evaluation of stochiometric effects
Page 50 and 51: Practice and Progress in the Conser
Page 52 and 53: Fig. 1 Fig. 2 plex picture and prov
Page 54 and 55: Fig. 2: Coloured paper strips place
Page 56 and 57: the fire (on the other hand paper,
Page 58 and 59: inform decisions on conservation tr
Page 60 and 61: This paper summarizes what is known
Page 62 and 63: 2. Methods An interdisciplinary met
Page 64 and 65: Fig. 4: Dyed endpaper pasted at the
Page 66 and 67: Preservation of Architectural Drawi
Page 68 and 69: Notes 1 According Salvador Muñoz V
Page 70 and 71: course of time under the influence
Page 72 and 73: the curators in review of the treat
Page 74 and 75: cellulose powders with cellulose et
Page 76 and 77: Authors Xing Kung Liao Conservator
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Fig. 2: Our Railroad Workers and th
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The Restoration of Cartoons at the
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tation presumes that the works are
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To Remove or Retain? - Extensive In
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Fig. 4 repeated applications until
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The Migration of Hydroxy Propyl Cel
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tion issue allowed a visualisation
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Ethical Considerations Concerning t
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emoved with damp cotton swab. Then
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Conservation of a Book of Hours fro
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Fig. 4: Pigments movement and conse
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Notes 1 Brazilwood lake, lapis lazu
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pages, which would easily have torn
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The Microflora Inhabiting Leonardo
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Acknowledgments The authors would l
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Microorganisms in Books - First Res
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hyaline white mycelia on and in the
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Deconstructing the Reconstruction E
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Fig. 3: Poster after 2012 conservat
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Conservators’ Investigation of Ch
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had been used, may be false-positiv
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function will provide a holistic pi
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Fig. 2: Patriarchs of Chan Buddhism
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ing techniques, which build upon fu
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Applications of Image Processing So
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Fig. 3 Fig. 4 images in a single wi
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Analysing Deterioration Artifacts i
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Fig. 3 similarity maps. Similarity
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Strategy in the Case of a Wrecked P
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without preliminary consolidation.
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Fiber Optic Reflectance Spectroscop
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Fig. 3: 18 th century paper seal, i
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Fig. 3 Fig. 4 of responsibilities r
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Characterising the Origin of Carbon
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Fig. 3: Sampling depth for ATR spec
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Fig. 2: Filmoplast® tape attached
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Pluchart, F. 1971. Pop Art Et Cie.
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Fig. 3: The reverse of left screen
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porting the reverse of severe creas
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Paper Conservation: Decisions & Compromises

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