Kovács Petronella (szerk.): Isis - Erdélyi magyar restaurátor füzetek 10. (Székelyudvarhely, 2010)

B. Perjés Judit - Domokos Levente - Puskás Katalin: Tíz nap a "Nagy-Küküllő felső folyása mentén" avagy hazi és vendég restaurátorok a székelykeresztúri Molnár István Múzeum születő állandó kiállításán

and both the wood and the nails can be damaged when trying to pull the nails out. The copper heads of iron nails can easily fall of because of the corrosion that developed in consequence off electrochemical processes. The dismantling of thin metal plaques can cause mechanical injuries. The lifting of leathers full of micro-fissures from the wood to which they were glued can lead to further physical injuries, etc. All these confirmed what may not be self-evident that the chests should not be disassembled in order that the various materials could separately be treated. Three chests have already been conserved without being disassembled. In the followings, the suggestions the methods and the experiences will be summed up.

The wood of the chests was cleaned with vacuumcleaning and with sulphur-free vinyl rubber. The by insects deteriorated areas were consolidated with 15% solution of Paraloid B 72. Completion of wooden elements was made only for structural reason. The copper sheets were treated on the chests with the neutral or slightly acidic (pH 5 at the most) solutions of Selecton B2 gelled with methyl-cellulose. The iron ornaments were treated with R055 also gelled. After chemical treatment, the metal surfaces were wiped with distilled water using propylene sponges of a great absorbing capacity. The metal ornaments that curled up and got corrugated to smaller and larger degrees were partially evened. But because of it can result the elongation of the plaques and cracks in it, it is advised only at curled up edges and fracture surfaces, which are apt to cause further damages. The gluing of the broken metal ornament caused a series of problems. The application of a Japanese paper support in these cases brought a good result. It was attached to the backsides of the plaques with the 20-25% solution of Paraloid B 72 in acetone. The missing metal parts can be replaced with elements cut from metal sheets similarly to the original ones. Gluing the metal elements along the edges is difficult, as discussed above, so it seems more practical to cut a larger element for completion and attach it to the original with half-lapping. The question arises, not to get around the above problems but because of the change of the approach in the field of conservation in the past 10-15 years, if the metal ornaments of the chests should be completed or it is sufficient to somehow fix the broken metal elements, for example with tiny nails. Both solutions were applied at the conserved chests. The solutions of various acrylates can be used for the coating of the metal mounts. Anticorrosive greases should not be used because of the leather cover.

After dry cleaning of the leather covers with sulphurfree vinyl rubber wet cleaning was carried out with watery or alcoholic liquor depending on the condition of the leather. One should be careful not to apply too much liquor since the fat/oil content of the leather can rise over the 5% that is necessary for elasticity. The presence of iron content of the leather covers is to be expected around iron elements on chests with copper mountings even when the leather does not show discolouration. On one

of the three chests, the hardened and shrunken leather was moistened with water through a semi permeable Sympatex membrane. Despite continuous control, the iron ions of the leather continued spreading on the effect of the water, and the poorly preserved leather darkened and cracked after desiccation. The shrinkage temperature measured during the research was very low at the leather samples of all the chests, in a few cases it staid under 36-37 °C. On the base of the experiences above it is not advised to use watery detergents and liquors of high water content by the treatment of the examined chests since water permeates between the fibres through the cracks and sticks them together during drying because of its high surface tension. This can lead to shrinking, which is especially emphasised at leathers of iron content, which is sensitive to hydrolysis.

The detached leather elements were glued back at the conservation of the first two Transylvanian chests with the 5:1 mixture of Planatol BB superior and wheat starch. The tom and detached leather fragments on the third chest were glued with rice starch mixed in the mixtures of Lascaux 498 and Lascaux 360 acrylic adhesives. The missing areas of the leather covers were completed with leather from the same animal species that were determined by the analyses. They were glued by the edges or fit to original ones with half-laps. No completion of the leather covering was made at the very incomplete chest considering also the missing metal and textile elements.

In certain cases, it was enough to remove the dust from the lining cloths of the chests. At the strongly stained items distilled water was used, while the greasy stains were removed with organic solvents. The above-mentioned polypropylene sponge proved useful at the wet cleaning. Where it was only the weakened adhesive that caused the detachment, the linings could directly be glued back with starch to the wooden base. At the poorly preserved parts, linen of a similar weave to the original was applied as a support, which also served as a completion.

The preservation of the original materials was the primary aim at the conservation of the chests. The completions were also applied mainly to protect the injured materials although sometimes aesthetic aspects were also considered. Despite the assessments and analyses carried out during the research and the experiences gathered in the course of the conservation of three chests, no recipes can be given that are valid for all the chests since the condition of the individual items, the degree of their damages can influence the necessary interventions and their depths. It should be added, however, that the approach that considers the preservation of the materials of the objects of art and the retardation of their deterioration the most important and not the aesthetic reconstruction has generally been gaining preference.

It is very sad that nowadays, several examples are in the WEB of the conservation of leather covered travelling chests, when the above aspects were totally disregarded, the objects were completely disassembled and the

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