The Ceramics and Glass Group hosted two very successful online Student Lunchtime Lectures on the 18th April 2023 and 4th May 2023 which provided an excellent opportunity to hear from the new generation of conservators and the types of projects they have been working on.
Speakers – 18 April 2023
Working with Historic Repairs: The Conservation of a Pair of Qing Dynasty Lidded Baluster Jars
Anna Crowther & Davina Thompson, Durham University, UK
Anna Crowther and Davina Thompson (both 2nd Year MA Conservation of Archaeological and Museum Objects, Durham University) will discuss the challenges presented by a pair of Lidded Baluster Jars with differing, unstable historic repairs. They will outline how solutions were found to show respect to historic treatments whilst improving the structural integrity and aesthetic appearance of each ceramic. Some of the challenges and successes include working with staples, adhesive identification and removal and reducing staining through use of poultices.
Findings on Structurally Supportive Fills for Archaeological Glass
Marceline Graham, University College London, UK
Marceline Graham is the 2022-2023 Conservator-in-Residence at Slade School of Fine Art. She is currently in her final year of UCL’s MSc Conservation for Archaeology and Museums, where she previously received her MA in Principles of Conservation. Prior to her return to university, Marceline was Associate Director at Ocula, a digital platform for contemporary art. Her current research centres on the potential of conservation knowledge-sharing, particularly within arts education. She will be presenting her findings from experimentation with archaeology glass fills during the treatment of a highly fragmented Islamic vessel, including adaptations from contemporary and historic methods.
Ubumba Olungashi: A Case Study of Unfired Ceramics by South African Artist Hezekiel Ntuli
Chelsea Roberts, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Chelsea Roberts is currently completing a master's degree in Tangible Heritage Conservation, at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. This programme is currently the only art and heritage conservation master’s degree in Southern Africa. The topic Chelsea is looking at is the South African artist Hezekiel Ntuli and his clay sculptures. Hezekiel Ntuli’s sculptures are made of unfired clay, an artistic medium fraught with conservation challenges. The main aim of the project is to develop treatment proposals and carry out conservation treatments for three small clay sculptures at the University of Pretoria Museums.
Pharmaceutical glass containers in the Swiss National Museum: Study and intervention protocol for the consolidation of cold painted inscriptions
Annick Simon, Haute École Arc, Switzerland
Annick Simon is a student in the final year of her Master’s degree in Conservation-restoration of archaeological, historical and ethnographic objects. With a bachelor’s degree in art history and social anthropology, she then grew an interest in conservation, wishing to participate actively in the preservation of heritage for future generations and to reconcile theory with practice. Alongside her studies, she has worked in museums such as the Bern History Museum, the Swiss National Museum and the Museum of History and Archeology in Lausanne (Switzerland). Her dream is to work one day in a dynamic institution that puts forward both tangible and intangible heritage.
Speakers – 4 May 2023
Operation under heat: Chlorakas – Palloures pottery conservation project
Chenyue Xu, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Chenyue Xu is a second-year Master of Science student from the University of Amsterdam (UvA, the Netherlands), specializing in the Conservation and Restoration of Glass and Ceramics. Before coming to the UvA, she completed her graduate diploma in the conservation of ceramics and related materials at West Dean College (UK). This presentation tackles several aspects through her internship experience in the Palloures Pot Cluster Restoration Project in the summer of 2022 in Cyprus, which was part of the Palloures excavation project to support the investigation of building biographies of the Cypriot Chalcolithic. A number of questions are considered: What did the objects look like after excavation? How does conservation operate within an archaeological project? What is needed when working outside a studio setting? How does the conservation contribute to further archaeological research?
Thin and Shattered: Repairing a Roman Glass Beaker
Roisin Thompson, Durham University, UK
Roisin Hancock-Thompson is a recent graduate of the Durham University MA in the Conservation of Archaeological and Museum Objects. In 2021/2022, Roisin undertook her placement year at the National Museum of Wales with the supervision of Louise Mumford. Roisin is primarily interested in the rather diverse fields of glass and ceramic conservation, and paper conservation. This presentation explores the interventive treatment undertaken to repair a very thin, fragmented, archaeological glass beaker from Usk (Caerleon, Wales) to display status. This object had previously rejected conservation treatments over time and had been returned to the conservation studio a number of times. Due to the repeated failure of previous adhesives, the author turned to Paraloid B72 to adhere the pieces. In addition to this, the large areas of loss were infilled for the first time, using Paraloid B72 impregnated Japanese tissue as the fill. This was done with the hope of adding strength to the joins to prevent future collapse again.
The Vrolik Glass Project: Understanding Degradation Mechanisms in Glass Containers for Fluid Preserved Specimens
Ash Dupuis, Haute École Arc, Switzerland
Ash Dupuis (they/them) did their Bachelor’s at the Sorbonne University in Paris, and is currently finishing a Master’s degree in conservation at the Haute Ecole Arc in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Their interests in conservation include archaeology, natural history, human remains and organic materials. For their thesis, Ash is studying the physical and chemical degradation mechanisms in glass used to hold fluid preserved specimens. The focus being on a neuroscientific collection from the early 20th century recently donated to the Vrolik Museum in Amsterdam. Their presentation will be on this ongoing project, sharing its current advancement as well as potential prospects for the study of glass in fluid collections.
A Work Placement at the Royal Oak Foundation Conservation Studio at Knole Park
Duncan McCall, West Dean College, UK
Duncan McCall is an MA student specialising in the conservation of ceramics and related materials at West Dean College. He had a previous career as a barrister, but was drawn to conservation through his interest in ceramics. This presentation will cover his experience of a 6-week work placement at the National Trust’s conservation studio at Knole Park in Kent, where objects of all types from the National Trust’s collections across the country are conserved.
Conserving Cartonnage/Conserving Papyrus: Two Egyptian Masks from the Greco-Roman Branch of the Egyptian Exploration Society
Maxim Chesnokov, University College London, UK
Max is a final-year intern student studying MSc Conservation for Archaeology and Museums at University College London (UCL). In this presentation, he will be talking about his cartonnage project on a pair of Ptolemaic cartonnage masks from the Egyptian Exploration Society (EES), which he carried out during the first half of his internship year at the UCL Culture laboratories, and the challenges and achievements that he has encountered whilst doing so. He will share a treatment progress report, documenting each stage of treatment from initial entry into the laboratory through to humidification and mounting, and present the analytical data that have been obtained through X-rays, FTIR, pXRF, and multispectral imaging surveys (including very exciting results with revealing faded inscriptions on recycled papyri used within the masks!). He will also discuss some of the ethical and practical issues encountered with this material, chiefly the problem of conserving the papyrus within or prioritising the masks as a whole, which is a central focus of his dissertation on the same topic.