Kovács Petronella (szerk.): Isis - Erdélyi magyar restaurátor füzetek 8-9. (Székelyudvarhely, 2009)
Puskás Éva: A Szatmári Római Katolikus Egyhámegye kulturális javaainak megmentése
by step and the finished parts were pressed and dried. After drying, the cradled area was shaped to the plane and the form matching the original, and it was polished. The missing ornamental elements were reconstructed from the existing ones. First a skeleton was prepared from laths, which was fixed along the central axis and the sides of the ornamental element with putty prepared from bone glue and linden saw dust. After drying, the missing ornamental elements, which had been prepared from pieces of wood coated with putty, were gradually mounted on this skeleton. The laminated execution was chosen to evade secondary stretching impacts between the original elements and the materials of the completions and to secure long-term durability. The completed elements were primed. First the necessary shape was prepared from a sealant composed of bone glue and wood dust and then a mass prepared from the 12 % solution of fish glue and mountain chalk was applied. Finally, the completions were polished. The missing areas of the paint layer were replaced in the level of the original paint layer. Before completion, grease was removed from the relevant surfaces with 1:1 mixture of ethyl alcohol and water, and the more persistent dirt was mechanically removed. Then, 12 % fish glue was applied on the surfaces with a brush. The mixture of 12 % fish glue and chalk were applied in subsequent layers during puttying. The surfaces completed with cradling were primed with the same putty. In the case of emergence holes, first oakum balls impregnated in bone glue were pushed into the holes, and then they were filled in with the above described putty. A thicker mass was used for the completions of the carved elements. It was applied step by step with a palette knife until the original shapes were reconstructed. We paid special attention to follow the irregularities of the patterns. After drying, the putty was polished. The aesthetic completion was started with the application of a transparent paint layer of the same tone as the missing colour, then a “trattegio” technique was used, in which the brush followed the shapes of the carved elements. The fissures of the paint layer and the completions of the emergence holes were retouched with a “ritocco” technique. On the painted surfaces, we intended to create the uniform colour reconstruction of the original tones with the aesthetic completion of the lights, the shadows and the carnation. Egg emulsion (in a proportion of 1/4) and watercolour were used for retouching. The following aspects were considered during conservation: compatibility of the used materials, partial or complete reversibility of the processes and the aesthetic standard. The primary objective was the conservation of the frieze to hinder further deterioration and not to restore the original function of the object. Cornelia Bordaşiu Painting conservator, university lecturer George Enescu Universitaty of Arts Tel.:+40-232-225-333 E-mail: bordaşiu@arteiasi.ro Petronella Kovács Leather covered 18"' c. Transylvanian chests Part 1 Cultural historical research, technology and investigation of the materials The study deals with an object type that can generally be found at the back of store-rooms: leather-covered travelling chests, more exactly Transylvanian items decorated with floral motives cut from metal plaques. The aim of the research was: to find more items, to study their technology and to compare them with the 18th century sources, to identify the materials that were used to make these objects. The research comprises the classification of chests according the motives on the lids, and the identification the nationality of the former owners. The ornamental technique of the chests is different from the decoration of other European items. Seven of the chests were published until the start of the research, but only one publication discussed this specific decoration technique. The author Jolán Balogh compared the field arrangement of the ornamental and the floral motives to coffer-ceilings. Eight more chests were found during the investigations. According to the dates on the lids, or on the front in the case of one item, the chests were prepared in the second half of the 18th century. Beside the similarities, a striking difference can be observed in the ornamentation of the lids. Seven of these are decorated only with floral motives; five also contain a double-headed eagle with a crown above the heads holding a sword and a sceptre. On one item, there are a laurel wreath and a crown and on another one two crowns can be seen. Another divergence between the chests is that the items of the latter two groups also bear monograms. The question arises if the double-eagle is purely an ornamental motive on the chests or it had some other meaning. We can perhaps exclude the possibility of it being a purely decorative element by the fact that all the chests with double headed-eagles were owned by Armenians, while according to the actual state of research the ones decorated only with floral motives were possessed by Hungarians, Székelys or Saxons. In the 18th century, many Armenian families were granted a patent of nobility with coats-of-arms. Thus it seems more likely that these Armenians expressed this way their loyalty to the Hapsburg house. The owners of these chests could also hold offices in the Hapsburg administration, which they expressed on their travelling chests with the crowned double-headed eagle. The original function of the chests is uncertain. According to the family traditions, one of the items decorated with a double-eagle was Rebeka Issekutz’s hope chest. The part of the lid where the monogram and the date must have been is incomplete. The Armenian girl was bom in 1813 and married in 1839. Nevertheless, the stylistic traits affiliate the chest with the other items from between 1762 and 1790, so it could not be made on the occasion of the marriage. This chest is a typical example of how the chests were inherited from generation to generation and the changes of their function. Rebeka’s 188
