Conservation of a Venetian Goblet

The treatments we do in the conservation lab range from simple to very complicated. This is a relatively simple treatment I recently finished.

54.3.15 before and after treatment

The foot on this Venetian goblet broke. To repair it the break edges were carefully cleaned. The fragments were then taped into position and an epoxy resin was dripped onto the joins.

 

epoxy going into joins through capillary action

The epoxy gets wicked into the joins through capillary action. Air trapped in the joins reflects light. Where epoxy has replaced the air, the joins disappear.

The glass and the epoxy were both warmed slightly in an incubator oven (to about 50° C) to help the epoxy flow better.

goblet getting warmed in incubator oven

The end result looks great! The joins become almost invisible because the refractive index of the epoxy matches the glass closely, whhich means that the glass and the epoxy reflect, absorb, and transmit light in the same way.

detail of foot after treatment

-Astrid van Giffen, Assistant Conservator

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Astrid van Giffen is the Museum's associate conservator. In 2007, she completed the conservation training program of the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN) in Amsterdam, with a specialization in glass and ceramics. Her training included internships at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Md, and The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning. Since completing the ICN program, she has worked as a private conservator in Oregon and was the Samuel H. Kress Fellow in Objects Conservation at the Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies of the Harvard Art Museum (2008-2009). She also holds a BA (2001) in Classical Studies from Willamette University.

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