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Organisers:
Portuguese Catholic University (UCP)
The VI Symposium of Art and Science (VI Jornadas de Arte e Ciência) was a one day meeting that took place in February 27, 2010 at the Portuguese Catholic University (UCP) in Porto. UCP, which teaches several degrees in conservation and restoration, was the organiser of this event. On its sixth edition, this symposium has already some tradition. Since its first edition in 2003, each meeting has been dedicated to a different theme. The present one was dedicated to the conservation and restoration of Decorative Arts. As established by the organisers, the meeting intended to contribute to the valorisation of decorative arts by presenting current conservation and restoration methodologies that are applied to these arts. Decorative Arts gather a wide number of object typologies and materials, and thus an wide number of conservation specialties. This one-day event, somehow short for the number and diversity of the projects and interventions described, was not organised in specialty panels but rather in continuous presentations. The meeting comprised 11 presentations from several specialties. The traditional opening was made by Joaquim Azevedo, director of the School of the Arts (EA) and of the Research Center for Science and Technology in Art (CITAR), followed by Gonçalo de Vasconcelos e Sousa, director of the Department of Art and Restoration of the School of the Arts. The first presentation was given by Daniela Coelho, from CITAR-UCP. The lecture focused on a study of painted furniture from the late XVII and XVIII centuries of Portuguese manufacture. One of the main objectives was the relationship between the original materials and the techniques used with the actual state of conservation. In fact, there seems to be a difference between those pieces which were ordered for the national market and those with a strong external influence, such as oriental trends. Thus, there were national craftsman ateliers that tried to reproduce some techniques without mastering them which had repercussions on the furniture degradation and its actual state of conservation. The next presentation was given by Eulália Subtil, from EA-UCP, who spoke about an intervention on an XVI century ivory counter. This Indian-Portuguese counter was originally made in Kotte, Ceilan, and is made of teak and ebony wood and completely covered by plaques of ivory. These plaques, highly worked in detail with vegetal and geometric motifs, presented several problems such as lacunas and alteration of its aspect. The intervention focused, thus, on the cleaning, consolidation and volumetric reintegration of the ivory. Mafalda Veleda, conservator-restorer in private practice, presented the conservation of an historic interior, more precisely of the wallpapers from Casa de Ínsua. The presentation promised to be interesting. The lecturer spoke enthusiastically about what the work entailed, from the study of the historical background of the wallpapers to their manufacturing in Germany, their purchase and finally their mounting at that historic house. Due to the long explanation on the historical background the presentation of the actual conservation intervention had to be considerably shortened, nevertheless, the treatment, which included fixation, lacuna filling and chromatic reintegration, was worthy of interest. Conservator-restorer Rita Maltieira presented an intervention on a textile map of England, dating from the XVIII-XIX century. This intervention is part of her master degree project at the Textile Conservation Centre (UK). The map, of silk satin, is characteristic of the English school system from the late XVIII century and early XIX century. The map is owned by the Bristol City Museum and was in rather advanced degradation state. The intervention included consolidation with a synthetic adhesive and the making of a support for the storage of the map. Paula Monteiro, conservator-restorer from the Institute of Museums and Conservation (IMC), introduced the audience to the intervention on a most original object, a sedan chair (also know as palanquin or litter). This XVIII century chair belongs to the Museum Quinta das Cruzes, in Madeira. This singular object involves a multiplicity of materials in its making, from the wood structure to the lining and textile wrapping, including woodcarving. The chair structure was so degraded by wood-boring insects that the structure was literally holding up on the exterior textiles. The description of the techniques and materials and of the chair’s intricate conservation problems was followed by the step-by-step methodology that was found to overcome all those problems and to achieve an adequate conservation treatment at all levels. From left to right: Figure 1. Conference poster. Figure 2. Opening session (from left to right): Gonçalo de Vasconcelos e Sousa, Ana Calvo and Eduarda Moreira da Silva. Figure 3. Daniela Coelho speaking about the conservation treatment of Portuguese painted furniture from the 18th century. Figure 4. Belmira Maduro(IMC) during her presentation about the conservation of Custódia de Belém. Next, Belmira Maduro, conservator-restorer at IMC, introduced the audience to the most recent intervention (2008-2009) on Custódia de Belém, a masterpiece of Portuguese goldsmithing. This gold and silver monstrance was made in 1506 by the order of king Manuel I of Portugal. The presentation included a highly detailed view of its construction techniques and their importance for the actual intervention, as well as an overview of past interventions such as the one from 1929. The conservation intervention did not involved only conservator-restorers but a whole team of researches. This team was able to study the materials and construction techniques providing valuable information for the history of the object and for the conservation methodology. Isabel Tissot, conservator-restorer of metals, presented a general overview of some problematics of the conservation of metals and the predominant use of metals in decorative arts. On a richly illustrative presentation, several case studies were discussed, focused on the development of methodologies for the treatment of corrosion and the maintenance of the natural occurring patina. Although the presentation did not focus on the study of a single case, it was very educative for those who are not familiar with that particular area. One of the most discussed interventions was the one given by Nuno Proença, conservator-restorer in private practice, who spoke about a methodology for the treatment of lacunas in old tiles. The results are from an ongoing project that his company is undertaking and thus the results were preliminary. His approach was based on the use of polymeric materials rather than the traditional preparation of new tiles in large areas of lacunas. The presentation of such method, or just variation of a method according to some, arose some comments although the novelty and use of this methodology may have been somehow misunderstood. However, from my point of view as paintings conservator-restorer, this new method presents a flaw on the level of chromatic reintegration of large areas when no exact model is available. Towards the end of the day, Teresa Lança, conservator-restorer and chief of the Division of Preservation and Conservation of the National Library, introduced the audience to methodologies, equipments and projects that are currently put in practice in the field of conservation and restoration of paper at the National Library in Lisbon. This presentation brought me memories as an ex-intern at that institution during my formative years. Although it was clear to me that most methodologies didn’t change much since then, from consolidation to washing and from filling lacunas to bookbinding, it was good to see an update after so many years. Finally, the last intervention was given by Maria João Petisca, conservator-restorer at IMC, who spoke about the treatment of a Chinese lacquered folding screen from the XVIII century. This folding screen, made of wood and covered by urushi lacquer, consisted of nine pieces that were once separated and now belong to two separate Portuguese museums. Maintained during part of their life in different conditions, the pieces presented also different state of conservation, and degradations which may also be connected to the urushi application technique. The conservation intervention, performed at IMC, took into account these conditions but presented a similar approach for the conservation of the different pieces once they were part of the same piece of furniture. The meeting finished with the launching of the third number of an annual magazine published by CITAR and dedicated to the study of decorative arts by Gonçalo de Vasconcelos e Sousa, who also thanked the audience for their presence and closed the long day meeting. This event is a clear example of dynamism that Universities promoting research in conservation and restoration are having in the organisation of events to support relevant discussions and exchange of information in this field. The next symposium will be dedicated to Research in Conservation of North Portuguese Paintings and is scheduled to take place already on June, 11-12.
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