Storage of Museum Objects

     There is a natural tendency to relax conservation vigilance when the museum objects are out of sight in storage or vaults. The basic principle of storage is to keep the objects in a physically secured environment and yet to permit ready access for inspection before their removal to the galleries, storage or to other locations. There are various storage devices such as stacking, shelving, drawers and cabinets, sliding screens, compaction devices, vaults etc., and they are expected to meet the physical and environmental criteria intended for preserving the museum objects against damages. Sliding screens are introduced in this museum recently for the storage of paintings. Sliding screens are very common for paintings and flat works and occasionally for decorative art, or arts, which can be suspended by appropriate hooks. Such system is economical of floor space and is efficient for examination and retrieval purposes.

Shelving of Paintings

Before Treatment

Painting on Leather

     Art on leather originated from Persia. Illustrated manuscripts were bound with richly decorated leather covers. These covers were either painted with miniatures or leather tooled and embossed with gold was used. Miniature paintings on leather were found in the form of royal playing cards. The themes of these cards were primarily based on Hindu mythology. The processed leather is used as a support for paintings. A ground is prepared by priming the leather. The subject is drawn and natural colour pigments applied. Varnish is applied as a protective coating.

     Leather being organic in nature easily deteriorates. High humidity encourages the growth of microorganisms, insects and pests. Dryness leads to brittleness, wrinkling and hardening of the leather. Dust, grease and dirt obscure the painting. Natural pollutants like oxides of sulphur, carbon, nitrogen, etc., dissolve in the moisture present in the atmosphere, resulting in acidity to the leather.

     To treat hardened, brittle leather, leather-dressing materials like caster oil, lemon grass oil or citronella oil in rectified spirit is used. This restores flexibility. O.1% of chlorophenol is added as fungicide. Wrinkles may be removed by placing the leather under a weight press. Glycerin and rectified spirit are also used to flatten cupped leather. Fumigation with thymol and para-dichloro-benzene are required for prevention of insect and fungal attack.

After Treatment

Before Treatment

Oil Painting on Canvas

     The art of painting on canvas was introduced to India from the West. The cotton or linen canvas is the support. The support is made as a ground for the painting by the application of primers like lead oxide, zinc oxide, titanium oxide. After drying, the surface is smoothened and then the painting is executed. In order to keep the pigments protected, a varnish coating is provided.

     Generally, the defects can be in any layer, viz., Support, Ground, Pigment and Varnish.

     The aged varnish layer, which masks the painting, may be removed by dissolution using rectified spirit as solvent and turpentine as the restrainer. The removal of the varnish layer makes the painting to look fresh.

     Relining using fresh seasoned canvas and a suitable and reversible adhesive like mastic resin-wax mixture can strengthen the weakened canvas.

     The loss of pigments may be restored using fresh pigments by a method called infilling followed by retouching.

After Treatment