The STaTe hermiTage muSeum annual reporT

estoratIon anD conserVatIon restoratIon anD conserVatIon
SecTor for reSToraTion
of STained glaSS
STained glaSS panel lamenTaTion
Germany, 16th century
Restored by Ye. Krylova, V. Lebedev,
Ye. Dutova
The year 2010 saw the end of three years of
restoration work on a unique stained glass
panel from the Hermitage collection – Lamentation,
a sixteenth-century German panel
probably based on a drawing by Bartolomäus
Bruyn. The panel is outstanding in its masterly
use of multi-layered glass painting and
an exquisite quality of the image betraying
the art of High Renaissance. O. Novikova,
a member of the Expert Examination Department,
assessed the layers of paint on the
glass frames to reveal the original glass panels.
The numerous later overpaintings have
significantly distorted the original look of
the work. The conservators managed to find
a solution to the challenging problem of
replacing the old low-quality overpaintings
in cold colours with new ones made in the
traditional multi-layered technique. Many
of the well-preserved overpaintings from the
turn of the 20th century were left in place.
The most challenging task was replacing
the damaged glass panels containing fragments
of figures from the central part of the
stained glass.
All the restoration additions were made of
glass of one quality and shade, selected to fit
the original glass. Opaque brown glass ink
was used to achieve the necessary tint.
The corroded lead pieces were replaced
with new ones conforming to the shape
and composition of the original material.
The rusty fastenings were replaced with new
brass ones.
After the conservation and restoration, Lamentation
will be included in the exhibition of
German art.
Lamentation, stained glass panel. After restoration
“The head of Joseph of Arimathea”: a nineteenth-century addition removed
by the restorers; modern overpainting and burning
laBoraTory for ScienTific reSToraTion of oBJecTS
made of organic maTerialS
Headed by Ye. Mankova
gun from The arSenal
deparTmenT
Painted wood and metal
Iran (?), 18th century
Restored by M. Michri
A group of exhibits was prepared for display
at the temporary exhibition Decorative Weapons
from the State Hermitage Collection (Hermitage
• Kazan Centre, February–October
2011).
The gun in question is among the most
interesting and outstanding exhibits: it is
around 2 metres long and decorated with
floral patterns and images of “mythical” lions
(beasts) and birds, which may be symbolic
as well as decorative; the decoration is
bright and eye-catching.
The exhibit was sent to the Laboratory after
the metal elements had been dismantled
at the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration
of Applied Art Objects. There were
signs of physical damage, dents and flaking
wood along the edge of the wooden stock.
Gun stock with image of a lion. Fragment.
Before restoration
Gun stock with image of a lion. Fragment.
After restoration
The brick-red paint layer was thick but partially
lost, especially on the protruding parts
in the central part of the butt-stock. The layer
of textured yellow-golden paint had been
rubbed off and lost in many places across
the whole surface, and the paint was peeling.
The original surface varnish had been
renewed before. The original colour was
distorted by the uneven layer of dark and
yellow varnish. The painted surface of the
stock had many scratches reaching the paint
and wood layers.
The surface was dusty and stained with grey
paint.
According to the task set by the Restoration
Commission, the necessary technical
and technological assessment was carried
out, the surface impurities and paint stains
were removed, the priming and paint layer
were strengthened. The restorers worked
out a method of removing the later varnish,
thinning out the dark layer of the original
varnish and covering the painted surface
with a new protective layer of conservation
varnish. Photographs were taken to record
the different stages of the restoration process.
The stock is made of walnut (the type of
wood determined by M. Kolosova, member
of the Expert Examination Department).
The most challenging areas in terms of thinning
out the varnish layer were those where
the uneven varnish lay over the dilapidated
ochre-yellow paint layer, especially on the
images of the two beasts on the butt-stock.
The clearing of these areas was performed
in several stages, layer by layer. After the decorative
painting was conserved, there was
no more danger of further disintegration
of the painting on the stock. The patterns
became much clearer after the varnish layer
had been diluted, with brighter colours and
more prominent image details.
After the complex conservation and restoration
procedure, the exhibit was re-assembled.
The gun became fit for display as an
organic whole. The uncovered patterns will
help to shed more light on the history of the
artifact and pave the way for further art history
research.
Horse mask with a stag’s head.
After restoration
horSe maSK wiTh a STag’S head
from The fifTh Burial mound,
paZyryK SiTe
Wood, leather; 4th – 3rd century B.C.
Restored by Ye. Chekhova
The final updating and re-launch of the
permanent exhibition Siberian Antiquities
marked the end of a long series of conservation
projects for the finds from the
so-called ice burials in the Altai Region.
Most of the objects found during the Altai
excavations between 1929 and 1947 were
uncovered in a much fragmented state. An
impressively ambitious emergency effort
to re-assemble the fragments was first attempted
in field conditions before the excavations
were over. In the 1950s, once they
had been given over to museums, the Altai
finds underwent certain standard conservation
procedures, which mostly involved removing
the impurities, gluing together and
backing up the fragments. A more regular
restoration programme was started in the
1970s, by which time the conservationists
of the world had accumulated sufficient experience
of working with archaeological artifacts,
and a number of new conservation
chemicals had become available.
A leather horse mask with a stag’s head from
the Fifth Pazyryk Burial Mound, like many
other finds, had been torn in places, with
some leather fragments and details lost.
The leather had been deformed, crinkled
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