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Conservation of a Japanese living doll 2011

Conservation of a Japanese living doll 2011

The work involved in the conservation of a Japanese iki ningyo (living doll).Archive – this blog closed in 2011

The Helmet

The helmet was treated by Andy Thackeray, an intern in Furniture Conservation. He describes his treatment below. - Cracked and lifting lacquer on the iron substrate rim of the helmet bowl, and where lifting from the iron supporting bars of the neck plates (ita jikoro), were consolidated with an application of xylene followed by a 10% solution of Paraloid B48N in xylene. If moving...
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The head and arms

The head and arms of the Iki-ningyo were treated by Sofia Marques in sculpture conservation and Richard Mulholland in paper conservation. It appears that there is a very fine top layer applied to the flesh colour. This is possibly known as ‘nikawa’ and is made of animal glue and fine pigments. It is water soluble. The layer on the face of this living doll seems to...
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Sleeves

The sleeve on the armour was in the worst condition (in terms of the textiles) of all the pieces that made up the armour, and required the most intricate treatment. The silk damask was very brittle and had begun to split. In some areas the fibres had been lost altogether and the metal thread was also very brittle. The conservation challenge was to stabilise these areas but with...
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Thighguards

The thighguards are made from lacquer, lacing and silk damask. The damask was splitting in some areas and needed to be supported. First they were cleaned using a low suction museum vacuum in order to remove surface dust and particulate soiling. Then a chemical sponge was used to gently brush the surface of the leather in order to remove some of the black greasy soiling. Part of...
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Textiles: Dyeing support fabric

Currently the furniture and textile conservators are working on the armour, with the textile work estimated at over 250 hours work. The textile conservation treatment requires a great deal of preparation of support fabrics, including dyeing fine nylon net, silk crepeline and silk, as well as casting adhesives on to various support substrates.I decided to do all of the dyeing together, firstly...
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Beginnings

As with all of the objects that make their way through the conservation department, the first job is to do a full assessment of the object.Each of the conservation departments involved (Metals, Sculpture, Textiles and Furniture and the Mount team) have examined the doll and given an estimate for the length of time needed to carry out the work on their particular material.The lacquer and the...
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