Survey

MS Marlay Sp. 2 detail © The Fitzwilliam Museum

The initial stage of this project was to conduct a conservation survey on the 91 fragments that had been identified as high priority in an earlier curatorial survey. The survey will help to identify the conservation problems the collection and it will then be possible to give the most damaged or vulnerable fragments immediate treatment.

Conducting the survey is also beneficial in allowing me to familiarise myself with the variety and extent of the conservation needs of the fragments. Having taken the time to fill out survey forms about the mounts, substrate and pigments, I will be able to make more informed decisions about the entire collection and how to proceed with treatments.

Box with fragments © The Fitzwilliam Museum

This post will specifically address the survey of mounts and parchment, as I will write a more in depth post about pigments when I begin conservation early in November.

I began with writing in depth condition reports on 10 of the fragments. They represented a wide range of mounting, parchment, and pigment problems that encompass typical concerns with the collection as a whole.

This was extremely beneficial as I learned how to quickly identify the fragments’ conservation needs. Discussion of the reports with my supervisor, Kristine Rose, helped to identify exactly which areas were essential to the survey and helped me learn more about pigment damage.

Writing an extensive and descriptive key after discussion was essential for creating a comprehensive survey and for my own and other’s ability to read the survey. It also acted as the template. An example of two areas are listed below:

Mount- the support the cutting is housed in.

·         Unmounted- the cutting has no current mount

·         Unstable- the cutting is mounted but it is not secure or the mount is causing damage to the cutting

o   The mount structure has been compromised by broken or detached elements, or the cutting is actively being damaged by the mounting structure.

·         Stable- requires some alterations to mounting, low priority

o   Not causing active damage, superficial or minimal changes. May require change of mount for better access, erasing of pencil marks, etc.

·         Good- Intact

o   The mount is in good structural condition and no action is required.

Parchment Condition- measured in degrees

·         0- good, no conservation needed

·         1- fair, some cockling or damage, not located in area with media

·         2- poor, some cockling or damage, located in area with media

·         3- bad, cockling or damage located in area with media, obviously causing pigment loss

An early version of the mount and substrate sections of the survey

This information was used to construct a basic survey in Microsoft Access.

The most recent version of the mount and substrate sections of the survey

As a working document, frequent changes and updates were added throughout the survey of the first 50 fragments. It was not unusual to come up with new descriptors with each new box of fragments I pulled out. An example of a later addition to the survey was MS Marlay G. 10’s wood panel backing. 
This unusual treatment was a late addition to the ‘Alterations’ in the Substrate section of my survey

MS Marlay G. 10 © The Fitzwilliam Museum

MS Marlay G. 10 © The Fitzwilliam Museum

A demonstration of my procedure when looking at a fragment is demonstrated with MS Marlay Sp. 2:

Mount 

MS Marlay Sp. 2 mount and inlay © The Fitzwilliam Museum 

I measured the mount and window dimensions in millimetres. The mount is unstable as the paper inlay is causing the parchment to cockle. Self-adhesive tape is used on all edges to attach the parchment to the paper inlay.

Substrate

Adhesive and paper lining © The Fitzwilliam Museum

The substrate is measured in millimetres. I included paper as a substrate in the survey, although as the collection is medieval fragments it was incredibly unlikely any would not be parchment.
 The facing side of the parchment is hair and has no surface treatments. Remains of paper lining are found on the verso. Accretions of dirt and adhesive are present on the parchment and need cleaning during conservation.

Parchment cockling © The Fitzwilliam Museum

The parchment is cockling to a degree that is causing damage to the pigment, and some small folds are present that have also damaged the parchment.

A more in depth post about historic mounting techniques, why they were used, and why we use different techniques today will be written as I begin to work on mounting later during this project. Similarly, more posts about parchment and associated conservation problems will be written as I begin work on parchment.

The next post with a glossary of conservation and bookbinding terms relevant to this project will post on Friday the 1st of November.