Gilt Leather Screen

This project was a collaboration between the artifacts specialization and the paintings specialization in order to come up with a solution for the gilt leather which has been previously conserved and since then has experienced more damage. The object first came into the lab in 2011. Students had done the initial documentation along with surface cleaning. The following year they patched all the fractures with local humidification to give some flexibility then used nylon gossamer and cellulose powder. Once this this had been completed nearly the next day some of the patches had begun to fail. This is largely due to the nature of the material which is a leather that has been stretched onto a wooden frame then painted. This set up doesn't allow the leather to move which it will naturally want to do in fluctuating temperatures and humidity. During this time the lab was suffering from fume extraction problems and temperature control issues. The issue had not been resolved until 2016 and during that time the lab and all of its objects within it had suffered severe humidity fluctuations.

For our collaboration we were split into three groups to come up with various solutions to treat the leather screen. Over the course of two months and various meetings with the private client owner, the final decision was made by the head supervisor of the artifacts lab. The final decision was to come up with a pressure mount system that would allow the leather to move within a micro-climate environment. The treatment for the leather screen was as follows:

• Cut fragments down to client the following approximate dimensions:
  • Dog: 5” x 5”
  • Tree: 20” x 14”
  • House: 20.5” x 13.25”
  • Boat and ducks: 8” x 12”
  • Wagon and Tree: 24” x 16”
  • Farmers in field: 9” x 10”
  • Washer woman: 5” x 5”
• Clean surface with static electric charged soft bristle brush to remove loose surface deposits.
• Consolidate cut edges with 1% Klucel G in isopropanol with two to three applications to ensure strength and diffusion into the leather.
• Inpainting with 20% Paraloid B-72 in Xylenes. Additional retouching done with 20% Regalrez in OMS for corrections in gloss and saturation.
• Construct a pressure mount micro enclosure for storage and display that includes Zorflex® Activated Carbon Cloth, MicroChamber/SilverSafe Type II Lig-free board, Plexiglas, Marvelseal, Reemay, Window mat board, Volara foam rabbet tape, foil tape, and Artspacers.
• Provide client with instructions for framing, display and care for object.
• Create box for storage and transportation to the client.