Series editors' preface - Wood Tools

370 Conservation of Furniture
and other persons directly or indirectly
involved in preservation activities.
9.1.4 The business of conservation
What might be termed the business of conservation
covers a wide range of issues. A partial
list includes:
• Accommodation and space – setting up and
maintenance of premises
• Establishing terms and conditions, writing
contracts
• Costing, estimating and planning work
• The organization, planning, control and
execution of conservation treatments
• Handling packing and transport
• Financial issues including the keeping of
accounts and tax records
• Presentation, advertising and negotiation
• Staff issues including recruiting, training,
pensions, insurance, sickness and injury
• Health and safety.
All of these issues are capable of influencing
the life of the conservator, whether institutional
or private and need to be considered as part of
the job. They can all affect the outcomes of
conservation. The legislative framework within
which we operate is ever expanding and the
requirement for accountability continually
growing, whether in providing value for
money, health and safety, or in demonstrating
ethical behaviour. A range of publications on
general management issues is available and it
is superfluous to specify particular sources.
Information of specific relevance to conservation
can be found in Keene (1996). Advice and
help with finding services is available from the
professional bodies.
9.2 Ethics
Ethics provide a conceptual framework for
conservation treatment. This section begins
with the broadly accepted principles found in
the codes of ethics of the conservation profession.
It discusses the historical conflict between
restoration and preservation and the implications
of this conflict for conservation. Finally, it
offers some tools for making well-considered
ethical judgements for conservation treatments.
9.2.1 Codes of ethics and practice
Conservators should always remember their
responsibility for the material preservation of
furniture and the impact they can have on the
aesthetics of the treated objects. Owners and
curators should have a major input in the decision-making
of the treatment options of the
object and with the conservator, arrive at a
responsible treatment proposal (Van Horne,
1991a). In the end, however, it is the ‘hands-on’
work, choice of materials and manual dexterity,
combined with (art-)historical understanding,
appropriate research and sense of aesthetic
evaluation and balance, which makes the conservator
accountable for the quality of the treatment
(Price et al., 1996). It has been widely
published and accepted among museum professionals
that the overall integrity of works of
art should be respected and that any conservation
treatment should be guided by this principle.
It is not always easy to define the integrity
of an object because this involves value judgements
and therefore is subjective. Views on the
integrity of an object may also change with
time. Choice of construction and decoration
material, proportions and volume of the object,
shape and ornamentation, colour and texture of
materials, natural ageing of the object and
sometimes alterations to the object are important
to this concept. There are several generally
accepted (ideal) ethical principles and codes of
practice to guide the conservation of works of
art. These include, but are not limited to:
• An emphasis on preservation for the future
(stewardship for future generations), though
often a balance must be found between
preservation and the demands of use
• Understanding and appreciation
• An emphasis on preventive conservation
• A responsibility to owners, custodians or an
object’s creator/s
• The application of high standards to conservation
practice
• The recognition of the limits of one’s skills
• Documentation of the nature and extent of
conservation work
• The principle that work need not be obtrusive
but should be detectable without reference
to documentation (the ‘six foot–six
inch rule’)
• The keeping of intervention to a minimum
to achieve an agreed goal