Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 27. (Budapest, 2009)
Emese PÁSZTOR - Márta TÓTH - Anikó PATAKI - Andrea VÁRFALVI: Turkish Cases from the Esterházy Treasury
broidered velvet with Hostapon T 4 7 foam, rinsing it many times. I then spread it out on a Nikecell 4 8 sheet and dried it in cold air. The cleaning and conservation of the artefacts leather back and leather lining took place in many stages. First ot all, I made a pattern by drawing around the velvet, since it was on the basis of this that I wished to fashion leather pieces of appropriate size in the course of the conservation. Next, I performed the conservation of the leather on the basis of directions from Márta K. Bendefy, employing procedures successfully developed in the treatment of archaeological leather, as the condition of the layers of leather approximated to the very poor states experienced with archaeological leathers. An important consideration was that both the moistening and the drying of the leather should only be performed slowly and by degrees. Moistening - sofiening I placed the thick leather back panel and the layers of leather lining between layers of blotting paper. I used blotting paper three sheets thick. A sheet in direct contact with the leather was dry, and so was the next sheet. The third, outermost, sheet I sprayed with softened water, to which I had added a 0.1 per cent isopropyl alcohol solution of Preventol CMK 4 9 Finally, I covered the leather and the layers of blotting paper with airtight plastic film. During the treatment, the moisture very slowly and by degrees seeped into the leather, through the layers of dry paper. I performed the moistening-softening process over two days, during which time I continually monitored the condition of the leather. After two days, the thin leather used for lining was fully moist and had become soft. However, the back panel made of thick calfskin absorbed the moisture with greater difficulty; it became damp and softer to the touch, but continued to be hard and stiff (fig. 1/8). Cleaning with water I removed the loosened layers of grime from the moistened leather with the use of
