The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT
The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT
The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT
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estoratIon anD conserVatIon restoratIon anD conserVatIon<br />
SecTor for reSToraTion<br />
of STained glaSS<br />
STained glaSS panel lamenTaTion<br />
Germany, 16th century<br />
Restored by Ye. Krylova, V. Lebedev,<br />
Ye. Dutova<br />
<strong>The</strong> year 2010 saw the end of three years of<br />
restoration work on a unique stained glass<br />
panel from the Hermitage collection – Lamentation,<br />
a sixteenth-century German panel<br />
probably based on a drawing by Bartolomäus<br />
Bruyn. <strong>The</strong> panel is outstanding in its masterly<br />
use of multi-layered glass painting and<br />
an exquisite quality of the image betraying<br />
the art of High Renaissance. O. Novikova,<br />
a member of the Expert Examination Department,<br />
assessed the layers of paint on the<br />
glass frames to reveal the original glass panels.<br />
<strong>The</strong> numerous later overpaintings have<br />
significantly distorted the original look of<br />
the work. <strong>The</strong> conservators managed to find<br />
a solution to the challenging problem of<br />
replacing the old low-quality overpaintings<br />
in cold colours with new ones made in the<br />
traditional multi-layered technique. Many<br />
of the well-preserved overpaintings from the<br />
turn of the 20th century were left in place.<br />
<strong>The</strong> most challenging task was replacing<br />
the damaged glass panels containing fragments<br />
of figures from the central part of the<br />
stained glass.<br />
All the restoration additions were made of<br />
glass of one quality and shade, selected to fit<br />
the original glass. Opaque brown glass ink<br />
was used to achieve the necessary tint.<br />
<strong>The</strong> corroded lead pieces were replaced<br />
with new ones conforming to the shape<br />
and composition of the original material.<br />
<strong>The</strong> rusty fastenings were replaced with new<br />
brass ones.<br />
After the conservation and restoration, Lamentation<br />
will be included in the exhibition of<br />
German art.<br />
Lamentation, stained glass panel. After restoration<br />
“<strong>The</strong> head of Joseph of Arimathea”: a nineteenth-century addition removed<br />
by the restorers; modern overpainting and burning<br />
laBoraTory for ScienTific reSToraTion of oBJecTS<br />
made of organic maTerialS<br />
Headed by Ye. Mankova<br />
gun from <strong>The</strong> arSenal<br />
deparTmenT<br />
Painted wood and metal<br />
Iran (?), 18th century<br />
Restored by M. Michri<br />
A group of exhibits was prepared for display<br />
at the temporary exhibition Decorative Weapons<br />
from the State Hermitage Collection (Hermitage<br />
• Kazan Centre, February–October<br />
2011).<br />
<strong>The</strong> gun in question is among the most<br />
interesting and outstanding exhibits: it is<br />
around 2 metres long and decorated with<br />
floral patterns and images of “mythical” lions<br />
(beasts) and birds, which may be symbolic<br />
as well as decorative; the decoration is<br />
bright and eye-catching.<br />
<strong>The</strong> exhibit was sent to the Laboratory after<br />
the metal elements had been dismantled<br />
at the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration<br />
of Applied Art Objects. <strong>The</strong>re were<br />
signs of physical damage, dents and flaking<br />
wood along the edge of the wooden stock.<br />
Gun stock with image of a lion. Fragment.<br />
Before restoration<br />
Gun stock with image of a lion. Fragment.<br />
After restoration<br />
<strong>The</strong> brick-red paint layer was thick but partially<br />
lost, especially on the protruding parts<br />
in the central part of the butt-stock. <strong>The</strong> layer<br />
of textured yellow-golden paint had been<br />
rubbed off and lost in many places across<br />
the whole surface, and the paint was peeling.<br />
<strong>The</strong> original surface varnish had been<br />
renewed before. <strong>The</strong> original colour was<br />
distorted by the uneven layer of dark and<br />
yellow varnish. <strong>The</strong> painted surface of the<br />
stock had many scratches reaching the paint<br />
and wood layers.<br />
<strong>The</strong> surface was dusty and stained with grey<br />
paint.<br />
According to the task set by the Restoration<br />
Commission, the necessary technical<br />
and technological assessment was carried<br />
out, the surface impurities and paint stains<br />
were removed, the priming and paint layer<br />
were strengthened. <strong>The</strong> restorers worked<br />
out a method of removing the later varnish,<br />
thinning out the dark layer of the original<br />
varnish and covering the painted surface<br />
with a new protective layer of conservation<br />
varnish. Photographs were taken to record<br />
the different stages of the restoration process.<br />
<strong>The</strong> stock is made of walnut (the type of<br />
wood determined by M. Kolosova, member<br />
of the Expert Examination Department).<br />
<strong>The</strong> most challenging areas in terms of thinning<br />
out the varnish layer were those where<br />
the uneven varnish lay over the dilapidated<br />
ochre-yellow paint layer, especially on the<br />
images of the two beasts on the butt-stock.<br />
<strong>The</strong> clearing of these areas was performed<br />
in several stages, layer by layer. After the decorative<br />
painting was conserved, there was<br />
no more danger of further disintegration<br />
of the painting on the stock. <strong>The</strong> patterns<br />
became much clearer after the varnish layer<br />
had been diluted, with brighter colours and<br />
more prominent image details.<br />
After the complex conservation and restoration<br />
procedure, the exhibit was re-assembled.<br />
<strong>The</strong> gun became fit for display as an<br />
organic whole. <strong>The</strong> uncovered patterns will<br />
help to shed more light on the history of the<br />
artifact and pave the way for further art history<br />
research.<br />
Horse mask with a stag’s head.<br />
After restoration<br />
horSe maSK wiTh a STag’S head<br />
from <strong>The</strong> fifTh Burial mound,<br />
paZyryK SiTe<br />
Wood, leather; 4th – 3rd century B.C.<br />
Restored by Ye. Chekhova<br />
<strong>The</strong> final updating and re-launch of the<br />
permanent exhibition Siberian Antiquities<br />
marked the end of a long series of conservation<br />
projects for the finds from the<br />
so-called ice burials in the Altai Region.<br />
Most of the objects found during the Altai<br />
excavations between 1929 and 1947 were<br />
uncovered in a much fragmented state. An<br />
impressively ambitious emergency effort<br />
to re-assemble the fragments was first attempted<br />
in field conditions before the excavations<br />
were over. In the 1950s, once they<br />
had been given over to museums, the Altai<br />
finds underwent certain standard conservation<br />
procedures, which mostly involved removing<br />
the impurities, gluing together and<br />
backing up the fragments. A more regular<br />
restoration programme was started in the<br />
1970s, by which time the conservationists<br />
of the world had accumulated sufficient experience<br />
of working with archaeological artifacts,<br />
and a number of new conservation<br />
chemicals had become available.<br />
A leather horse mask with a stag’s head from<br />
the Fifth Pazyryk Burial Mound, like many<br />
other finds, had been torn in places, with<br />
some leather fragments and details lost.<br />
<strong>The</strong> leather had been deformed, crinkled<br />
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