ICOM COMMITTEE FOR CONSERVATION Working Group no 10 Conservation of Leathercraft and Related Objects Interim Meeting on the Treatment of and Research into Leather, in Particular of Ethnographic Objects at the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science Amsterdam 5 - 8 April 1995 1 Postprints of the fourth Interim Meeting of the ICOM Committee for Conservation Working Group 10, Conservation of Leathercraft and Related Objects, 5- 8 April 1995 in Amsterdam. Editors: P.B. Hallebeek, J.A. Mosk DTP: J.A. Mosk Word processing: S.F. Fontijn ©1997 Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (containing the former Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science, Centraal Laboratorium voor Onderzoek van Voorwerpen van Kunst en Wetenschap), Amsterdam The illustrations were provided by the authors. Digital scans of photographs were made through the kind co-operation of Bas van Velzen, Amsterdam. Digital Reprint © 2014 by the ICOM-CC Working Group on Leather and Related Materials 2 Contents Preface Pieter B. Hallebeek, co-ordinator and Marion Kite, assistant co-ordinator........................................................ 5 The Transfer and Restoration of an Eighteenth Century- Gilt Leather Screen Thomas Bilson, Céline Bonnot .................................................................................................................................................. 6 Tensioning Gilded and Painted Leather: a Research Project Mariabianca Paris ........................................................................................................................................................................ 15 The Formation of Cracks on Leather with Respect to Gilt Leather Richard Moroz ............................................................................................................................................................................... 19 First Experiences with a Light Metal Stretching Frame system for Leather Tapestries in Climatically Instable Rooms Andreas Schulze ............................................................................................................................................................................ 26 Shoe Conservation: Freeze-drying Problems? June Swann ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 34 What is Wrong with Freeze-drying? Olaf Goubitz ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 36 Bookbindings and Folders Made of Gilt Leather Eloy Koldeweij ............................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Durability Test of Six New Bookbinding Leathers Pieter B. Hallebeek ...................................................................................................................................................................... 42 Preliminary Report on the Examination of Leather Bookbindings Belonging to the National Library of Greece Ekaterini Malea, Angeliki Stassinou, Vassilis Kilikoglou, Ioannis A. loannidis, David Watkinson ........................................................................................................................................................................... 50 Revised Guidelines for the Conservation of Leather and Parchment Bookbindings Ko van de Watering .................................................................................................................................................................... 56 Stabilization of a Large Rawhide Shadow Puppet. Ethics, Materials, Micro Environment Diana H. Dicus ............................................................................................................................................................................... 59 3 The Effect of the Thermo-Lignum Pest Eradication Treatment on Leather and Other Skin Products Roy S. Thomson ................................................................................................................................................................................ 67 Study on the Stability of Leather Treated with Polyethylene Glycol Claire Chahine, Christine Rottier.......................................................................................................................................................77 The Collection of the Egyptian Department of the Musée du Louvre: Primary Results of the Study Véronique Montembault ............................................................................................................................................................... 86 Some Conservation Problems Encountered when Treating Shoes Marion Kite ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 91 The conservation of some leather upholstery from Brodsworth Hall Aline Angus and Salwa-Victoria Joram .............................................................................................................................. 96 Some Remarks on the Conservation and the Exhibition of Ethnographic Leather Laura M. Chiotasso, Costantino Sarnelli ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 99 The Deltaplan and Skin-Related Materials Jaap van der Burg .......................................................................................................................................................................... 105 Conservation of a 17th- and 18th-Century Polish Gala Saddle Accessories from the Collections of the National Museum in Poznañ Dorota Jutrzenka-Supryn, Halina Rosa ................................................................................................................................. 109 Preserving Unique Specimens Anne Lisbeth Schmidt .................................................................................................................................................................... 116 Remounting Gilt Leather Tapestries with Velcro Vivi Lønborg Andersen ................................................................................................................................................................. 121 System to Refill Lacunae Isabel Herráez Martín ................................................................................................................................................................... 123 Addresses of the authors ........................................................................................................................................................... 126 List of participants ......................................................................................................................................................................... .128 4 Preface This publication is a compilation of the lectures given at the fourth Interim Meeting of the ICOM-CC Working Group ‘Conservation of Leathercraft and Related Objects’ held at the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam on April 5 till April 8, 1995. Altogether 53 delegates from 14 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the USA, and took part in the symposium. During three days twenty-two lectures were held which were followed by valuable contributions and discussions. The main themes of this meeting were: The conservation of parchment and gilt leather wall hangings, archaeological leather, book bindings, ethnographical objects and research. A special aspect to this meeting was the fact that on the first day there was a combined session of the ICOM-CC Working Group ‘Graphic Documents’ and the ICOM- CC Working Group ‘Conservation of Leathercraft and Related Objects’ with lectures on parchment and gilt leather wall hangings. This session could be held because both working groups organized an interim meeting in the same week and at the same place. It offered a perfect opportunity to combine the mutual interests of both groups just for this occasion. This publication would not have been possible without the financial assistance of: The Leather Conservation Centre The ICOM Committee for Conservation The Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science Pieter Hallebeek Marion Kite Co-ordinator Assistant Co-ordinator 5 The Transfer and Restoration of an Eighteenth Century Gilt Leather Screen Thomas Bilson 24 Church Road The perception and application of such an Piddington extreme technique has since altered in line with UK-Northamptonshire, NN7 2DE changes in the appreciation of the historic and artistic integrity of a work of art. For example, Céline Bonnot whilst Dalbon (1898) advised art lovers not to ARC Nucléart, Centre d’Études Nucléaires de hesitate in having it performed on paintings Grenoble whose paint was lifting; noting also the 17 rue des Martyrs exaggerations made by other authors of the F-38054 Grenoble Cedex 9 difficulties involved [3], Stout (1948) commented on the dramatic and sensational aspects of the technique. With greater objectivity than his Abstract predecessors, he cautioned against the detriment to pictures from its unwise use [4]. A current This paper