Műtárgyvédelem, 2010 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum)
Kusztor Gergely: Egy 16. századi aranyozott ezüstpohár restaurálása
Kusztor Gergely • Egy 16. századi aranyozott ezüstpohár restaurálása The Restoration of a Silver-Gilt Beaker from the 16'1' Century Gergely Kusztor The artefact, which is from the late 16th century, is one of the beakers in the so-called ‘Szombathely Renaissance horde’, an assemblage consisting of 104 pieces.This horde came to light in November 1963, during an archaeological excavation. Made from silver alloy and with a brim that splays outwards, the beaker is cylindrical. It is partly gilded, on the edges of the chased ornamentation. The presence of mercury, demonstrated in the course of electron radiation microanalysis, proved that the surface was fire gilded. No master’s mark was stamped onto the artefact, but on the bottom ZA, a smaller Z, and the letters I and P can be seen. The beaker had been restored earlier. The material in the find unearthed in the course of the excavation had very much aged while in the earth, becoming brittle. The surface of the beaker had been covered in corrosion products of silver, which had been removed during the first intervention. Since the earlier restoration, many splits, holes, and cracks had developed on the artefact. The presumably inter-crystal corrosion ruled out softening the material prior to the smoothing out of deformations. The last mentioned could only be removed by hand, when the artefact was cold. The ending of surface corrosion was achieved using a solution of Silved Dip (Argentol). Acidic compounds remaining were neutralised using a solution of sodium bicarbonate in distilled water, before being rinsed oft with distilled water. The fashioning of repair parts made from sheet silver after the hammering out was performed by means of drilling and filing. After this came the composition, drawing on, and chasing of the missing motifs, before the conducting of the gilding work (with galvanising in places). Splits and replacement parts were glued using Aradite Liquid Steel, a two- component epoxy resin. This provided the artefact with an appropriate rigidity, but nevertheless supplied a certain give, this counterbalancing the stresses in the beaker. The entire artefact was coated with a 5% solution of polyvinyl acetate in a mixture of acetone and toluene (two parts acetone to eight parts toluene), thus preventing any corrosion in the future. A szerző cime/Author’s address: Kusztor Gergely Fém-ötvös restaurátor művész/Metal and goldsmith conservator MA Vas Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága H-9700 Szombathely, Kisfaludy Sándor u. 9. Tel.: +36-20-406-6100 e-mail: coostor@gmail.com 47
