Műtárgyvédelem, 2008 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum)
Tumpek Eta: Egy 18. századi tóraszekrény-függöny restaurálása
Eta Tumpek The restored object is an Ark curtain from the 18th century prepared from silk, flax, gilded silver, silver and silver-coated copper. It is owner by the Hungarian Jewish Museum. Its measurements are 184 cmx128 cm. The velvet central part (mirror) of the curtain decorated with metal threads and pseudo-gems bears a Hebrew inscription and it is framed with a silk cloth decorated with petit point. The border is secondarily used. Animal figures, flower stems were embroidered and Stars of David, prepared from ribbons, were applied on the territory bordered by the finely shaded plant ornament of the original cloth when the curtain was assembled. The restoration of the Ark curtain was necessary since it was very dirty, torn and weakened. There were fissures and missing areas in the base cloth, the silver thread embroidery tore, the metal lamellae of the tora crown prepared from bouillons became weakened and entangled. The gilded silver spangle row that decorated the middle of the embroidered inscription was incomplete, a few of the glass pseudo-gems in the crown got lost, and even the mountings of two of them were missing. The black threads coloured with iron mordant peeled off from the petit point ornaments of the border. The flowers and the animal figures embroidered with silk threads in the centre were partly worn off, and the applied stars were damaged. The assessment of the condition was completed with the analysis of the materials, and then the conservation of the object started after careful planning. With the partial disassembling of the object, we got units that could be treated and moved. Cleaning started with the velvet mirror of the curtain. After dry cleaning and the wiping of the ornaments with ethyl alcohol, watery treatment followed with the mixture of surfactant (Hostapon T) and soft water to protect the metal threads and the cardboard reinforcement supporting the embroidery. The elements of the border were cleaned together with the thinning of the binding matters (glue and organic water soluble adhesive) applied on the back sides of the embroideries. The first step was to reduce the quantity of the adhesives. The adhesives swelled and then partly dissolved from the cloths when the back sides of the elements of the object were placed on flannel cloths soaked in warm water. The curtain became significantly cleaner during cleaning with detergents, and the warps and wefts settled and the textile smoothed in the course of stretched drying. The silk cloth was stitched together with the lining under the mirror, while at the edges they could be separated, so a special frame had to be constructed for the drying of the largest element of the curtain after treatment with detergent. After cleaning, the cloths and the ribbon stars were conserved and completed: they were placed on support cloths of appropriate shades, and fixed with silk threads using couching stitches. Glass completions similar to the original ones replaced the missing pseudogems of the mirror. The colours of three missing pseudo-gems could not be determined: they were replaced with ones polished from uncoloured glass. To fix the gems, the two missing mountings had to be replaced. The weakened metal Restoration of an 18th century Ark curtain 137
