Műtárgyvédelem, 2004 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum)
Összefoglalók
RESTORATION OF A LEATHER COVERED TRANSSYLVANIAN CHEST ORNAMENTED WITH COPPER MOUNTS Petronella Kovács - Judit B. Perjés The authors recently restored a chest preserved in the Tarisznyás Márton Museum in Gyergyószentmiklós. The chest is covered with leather and ornamented with copper mounts. Beside restoration, the authors studied the technology, the function, the origin and the owners of the chests. They collected and systemised the data of similar chests preserved in Hungarian museums, and publish two more items from Transsylvania, which are in the property of a private person and the Armenian church. All the studied chests came from Transsylvania, many of them from territories where a larger mass of Armenian population settled in the 17,h-18th centuries. It is not yet decided if the owners were people who travelled a lot or Armenian tradesmen, whose travelling kit included the travelling or coach chests, often decorated with iron or copper mounts. Another problem to be decided is if the leather covered, finely decorated chests were primarily bridal or hope chests or travelling chests, perhaps similar items were prepared for both purposes. The study describes the technology of leather-covered trunks, which became common in Germany in the 18th century probably after Dutch antecendents, after J. G. Krünitz’s “Oekonomisch-technologischen Encyklo- pädie” published in the 1790’s. The production of these trunks needed the collaboration of a group of craftsmen. It is known from the literature that the tanners and the locksmiths of Gyergyószentmiklós were active in more than one craft. Consequently, the authors think it is possible that not specialised craftsmen prepared the Transsylvanian chests they restored. The blacksmith or the locksmith could buy the tanned leather from the tanner and, switching over to the joiner’s job, prepared the simple wooden case as it was ordered, than nailed on it the ornaments that had been cut out in advance together with the leather. The authors mechanically cleaned the metal applications. The dry cleaning of the leather cover was executed with vinyl eraser and vacuum cleaning, and various types of liquors (cleaning emulsions) were used for wet cleaning. To prevent further injuries, the fragmented and torn handles, which protected against dust, were completed with goatskin. Finally the leather cover was treated with Maroquin skin vaseline (an acid-free, colourless mineral fat, which protects from the environmental effects) and a protective coating of a 5% solution of Paraloid B72 dissolved in 1:1 mixture of acetone and toluol was applied on the metal mounts. The smaller cracks and fractures of the wooden material were glued with poly(vinyl-acetate)-based aqueous dispersion. The textile lining of the chest was cleaned with an aqueous emulsion and an emulsion of an organic 155
