Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 31. (Budapest, 2017)
Ildikó PANDUR: Restoration of Metalwork from the Esterházy Treasury in the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts: Past, Present and Future
16. a-b An ivory figure of the Triumph of Bacchus before and after renewed restoration Photo by Mária Szabóné Szilágyi, 2012 ments for these ornaments by grinding glass from simple bottles, no more suitable material being available in the early 1970s. Nowadays we can hardly conceive how difficult it must have been for restorers in that early period to replace some precious detail or even obtain some relatively simple materials. The body of one of the two ostrich egg cups in the treasury53 was a disintegrated plaster copy of an ostrich egg. During a tour of Hungarian ostrich farms in 2006/2007 a real ostrich egg of just the right shape and size was found. Its companion piece54 had had similar good fortune much earlier: its broken egg-shaped body was replaced by a suitable ostrich egg from Dresden Zoo in 1967. In 2013, the ivory figures of the Triumph of Bacchus55 (Fig. 16) needed to be completed because the plaster used for their replacement was ageing and soiled. The renewed restoration marks a change in outlook among the staff in charge of the collection. Although every category of material has specialized restorers in the Budapest Museum of Applied Arts, several external restorations—including Esterházy pieces such as glass artworks, sabres and maces—have been carried out over the years under proper supervision. Some of these have been carried out as diploma restoration by restoration students. I consider the project approach, where restorers of different specialities look on their work as a joint, coordinated activity. I feel that there will be an increasing need for this in the future, for many types of objects. In 2013, a decision was taken to move the Esterházy treasury material and other Esterházy-related artworks from the Museum of Applied Arts and other public collections to former Eszterháza. I think that just as it has retained its identity during its century or so in the Museum of Applied Arts, it will continued to be known, after its original location, as the Forchtenstein Treasury. 87
