Barbara Borghese - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Barbara Borghese
conservation of oriental manuscripts housed in institutions and collections outside Asia, has bee... more conservation of oriental manuscripts housed in institutions and collections outside Asia, has been traditionally associated with highly skilled, traditionally trained conservators/restorers performing their jobs in purpose built studios utilising conventional setups , tools and techniques mainly 'imported' from China and Japan. This is at least what some well-known Western institutions with large oriental collections have put in place to deal with their treasures. However, the history of the whereabouts of such collections has told us that it has not always been like that; when these collections started to make their ways towards Europe, they were often misunderstood and their functions altered by wrong assumptions placed on their functions, history and values. Today, thanks to the work of international cooperative projects, the availability of information and the many outlets to share such knowledge, ignorance is no longer distorting the outcome of the preservation of such collections. Today the enemy is common to collections of any provenance and it is global in the way it threatens cultural heritage in general. The cut in funds experienced by cultural institutions and the diminished availability in grants means that the conservation and preservation needs as well as the setups of even well known institutions will have to be reassessed. Development of conservation treatments of oriental manuscripts The history of the conservation of oriental manuscripts represents an interesting chapter mirroring the development of the discipline of conservation/restoration and the changes in attitude and ethical approaches of the last century. It is quite obvious that the main concern regarding the objects brought back from Asia between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century was directed at the content rather than their physical make up and preservation. This is demonstrated by the cavalier attitude that officials demonstrated toward the safeguard and preservation of these items. It was not uncommon for these objects to be posted between institutions using the regular postal service and they were often repaired using office supplies such as transparent adhesive tapes. Early photographs taken by Sir Aurel Stein, an early and very successful explorer operating in Central Asia, survive showing the condition of the many manuscripts taken from Dunhuang when they were first brought back to London. It is primarily by studying these pictures that we can form an idea on what kind of conservation/restoration treatment these objects might have undergone in the last 100 years. In the case of the collections brought back from Stein to be housed in the British Museum in London for example, there are no records of intervention from 1909 to the 60's and all we know we have to assume from photographic evidence. It is
The e-paper from the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
The e-paper from the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
Welcome to NiC’s second thematic issue on the destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage. ... more Welcome to NiC’s second thematic issue on the destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage.
Last year, prompted by the incessant delivering of news about the situation in the Middle East that dominated the media and the public opinion, we felt that it was our duty to open up a discussion about cultural heritage. A year on, and unfortunately the bad news has kept coming, leaving me in no doubts that a second issue on the theme of cultural heritage in danger was needed.
This issue looks at the theme of heritage in times of conflict from a different angle, exploring aspects such as trafficking, looting and the markets that these activities fuel.
The first contribution comes from Deborah Lehr, founder of The Antiquities Coalition, a non-profit organisation working with governments across the Middle East to fight against antiquities trafficking and its use in funding terrorism and organised crime.
Following on, NiC interviewed Dominica D’Arcangelo from Heritage Without Borders to get an update on their activities in post-conflict countries.
Peter Stone, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Property Protection and Peace at Newcastle University talks about the challenges of preventing damage to cultural properties in conflict zone.
I hope you will agree that the work that these organisations and these people do is inspiring and needs to be showcased, shared and celebrated and hopefully this issue of NiC will represent a little contribution to doing just that.
Barbara Borghese
Editor
LONDON -We are dedicating this issue of News in Conservation to the theme of world heritage in ti... more LONDON -We are dedicating this issue of News in Conservation to the theme of world heritage in times of war and conflict. It's our first time, we never produced a thematic issue before, but we felt it was the right time to highlight the danger our collective memory is facing, focus on the people that are involved in the battles to save our heritage and express our clear condemnation of any act that endangers our shared memory.
News in Conservation is the e-paper published by the International Institute for Conservation of ... more News in Conservation is the e-paper published by the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
News in Conservation, Apr 20, 2014
Is it just our impression or has heritage been featured prominently within mainstream media in th... more Is it just our impression or has heritage been featured prominently within mainstream media in the past two months? This is obviously a good thing as heritage issues receive attention and are exposed to a wider audience; the flip side of the coin is that the focus tends to lie on bad news rather than highlighting the
positives. So we’ve heard about more collapses in Pompeii, more destruction to cultural heritage in Syria and more looting
in war-affected countries. Far from shunning away from the harsh
reality of cultural heritage in the world, here at NiC we like to bring you a balanced collection of news, articles and features,
focussing on the bad, the good and the
outstanding - so welcome to the April
edition of NiC. In this issue we travel to Turkey to learn about Göbekli Tepe, an early Neolithic archaeological site that is undergoing an impressive preservation campaign under the watchful eye of the Global Heritage Fund. Following on we move to Portugal with the first of our long features: here we explore the conservation approach of the team from the Instituto Politecnico de Tomar and Geobiotec that carried out an intervention on an 18th Century wall tile panel. The second feature is the interesting
chronicle of a conservation course that took place in San Gemini, Italy told by one of the course’s tutor. Lastly, do not miss the IIC News section with important information about the Hong Kong Congress! f you are thinking of submitting an article for NiC, make a note of the next deadline, May 1st and send your proposal to news@iiconservation.org
Barbara Borghese
Editor
At the time of writing this editorial I am feverishly waiting for the opening of the movie “The M... more At the time of writing this editorial I am feverishly waiting for the opening of the movie “The Monuments Men”, a film about the a group of museum directors, curators and art historians co-opted on a mission to recover art works stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. If you are a social media follower you will be aware of the link with IIC – the principal character in the movie, played by George Clooney is based on George L. Stout, one of the founding members and Honorary Fellow of IIC.
If you have watched the film or want to share some informations about these events please get in touch, we want to hear your opinion.
In this issue of NiC Kate Cooper and Julia Fenn treats us to a ‘mystery’ story. In their article they talk about the events that saw an ivory figurine representing a female deity to be acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum and the subsequent quest to establish whether the figurine is indeed a Minoan artefact or just a fake.
Following on, Marcus Stanton tells us about the conservation of Building 17 – a large mill at Sir Richard Arkwright’s Cromford Mills in Derbyshire, UK and Kate Bailey delivers a review of the 4th Heritage Conference - Asiatic Traditional Painting, Its History and Conservation – held in London in October 2013.
If you couldn’t attend the 2014 IIC AGM you not only missed a great event and a very interesting talk by Tom Learner, but also the announcement of the 2016 IIC Congress which will take place in Los Angeles, USA. But fear not, you can find all the details on the IIC website and a short account of the evening on page 18.
Barbara Borghese
Editor
At the time of writing this editorial I am feverishly waiting for the opening of the movie “The M... more At the time of writing this editorial I am feverishly waiting for the opening of the movie “The Monuments Men”, a film about the a group of museum directors, curators and art historians co-opted on a mission to recover art works stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. If you are a social media follower you will be aware of the link with IIC – the principal character in the movie, played by George Clooney is based on George L. Stout, one of the founding members and Honorary Fellow of IIC.
If you have watched the film or want to share some informations about these events please get in touch, we want to hear your opinion.
In this issue of NiC Kate Cooper and Julia Fenn treats us to a ‘mystery’ story. In their article they talk about the events that saw an ivory figurine representing a female deity to be acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum and the subsequent quest to establish whether the figurine is indeed a Minoan artefact or just a fake.
Following on, Marcus Stanton tells us about the conservation of Building 17 – a large mill at Sir Richard Arkwright’s Cromford Mills in Derbyshire, UK and Kate Bailey delivers a review of the 4th Heritage Conference - Asiatic Traditional Painting, Its History and Conservation – held in London in October 2013.
If you couldn’t attend the 2014 IIC AGM you not only missed a great event and a very interesting talk by Tom Learner, but also the announcement of the 2016 IIC Congress which will take place in Los Angeles, USA. But fear not, you can find all the details on the IIC website and a short account of the evening on page 18.
Barbara Borghese
Editor
News in Conservation, Dec 1, 2013
Welcome to the December issue of News in Conservation. For some of us December is a month of refl... more Welcome to the December issue of News in Conservation. For some of us December is a month of reflection, a time to look back at what we’ve done with an eye at what the next twelve months are going to bring. Inevitably for me that means looking at what NiC has achieved and start planning the next phase.
Shamelessly I’d say that NiC has made us all at IIC proud! I wanted to make sure NiC’s strong presence in the world of cultural heritage remained a reference point for an international community of like-minded people and an advocate voice for heritage worldwide.
In a time that has been recognised as challenging for print and digital publications alike, has NiC achieved this goal? In the past two years, thanks to a new open-access digital format NiC’s global reach potential has increased tenfold. An analysis of the submissions from the three-year period 2010-2013 showed that the geographic distribution of articles was heterogeneous with 32 long features submitted from 27 different countries!
For the year ahead I’d like to see the trend continuing and that can only be achieved with your contribution - we still have under-represented countries we would like to hear from. Have you heard the say ‘sharing is caring’? Help NiC reach even more readers by sharing it with your network, taking advantage of the open-access format.
Lastly a big thank you to all the contributors that took the time to write for NiC, what incredible stories you’ve shared with us!
I only have space left to wish all a very special holiday season, and leave you to enjoy this issue!
Barbara Borghese
Editor
Since the emergence of a market for art and antiques, one of the fundamental problems with its de... more Since the emergence of a market for art and antiques, one of the fundamental problems with its development has been the creation of instruments allowing for the pricing of goods to be sold on such market. Pricing has become increasingly significant, as the art market has developed into an alternative investment choice for portfolio managers. The lack of dependable sources of information has so far meant that the art market has not developed as well as other more sophisticated markets where reliable indexes have been created to allow a near accurate pricing of tradable goods. In a number of ways, art objects are extraordinary economic goods as they can be at the same time financial assets and durable consumer goods. When the works of deceased artists are considered, works of art are “non-augmentable”. Works of art are considered public goods when exhibited in a museum, and their value ranges from a few hundreds pounds to millions. Because of their physical make-up, their materials, the history, their provenance, works of art are one of the most heterogeneous groups of goods. I will argue that due to the inherent differences with other markets it might not be possible to accurately price works of art and antiques.
Since the emergence of a market for art and antiques, one of the fundamental problems with its de... more Since the emergence of a market for art and antiques, one of the fundamental problems with its development has been the creation of instruments allowing for the pricing of goods to be sold on such market. Pricing has become increasingly significant, as the art market has developed into an alternative investment choice for portfolio managers. The lack of dependable sources of information has so far meant that the art market has not developed as well as other more sophisticated markets where reliable indexes have been created to allow a near accurate pricing of tradable goods. In a number of ways, art objects are extraordinary economic goods as they can be at the same time financial assets and durable consumer goods. When the works of deceased artists are considered, works of art are “non-augmentable”. Works of art are considered public goods when exhibited in a museum, and their value ranges from a few hundreds pounds to millions. Because of their physical make-up, their materials, the history, their provenance, works of art are one of the most heterogeneous groups of goods. I will argue that due to the inherent differences with other markets it might not be possible to accurately price works of art and antiques.
Digital preservation is the activity designed to ensure that digital material is preserved from d... more Digital preservation is the activity designed to ensure that digital material is preserved from destruction; as such it should be viewed as integral part of collection management not only by traditional repositories of information such as libraries and archives but also by museums and galleries. The two main tasks of digital preservation should be the preservation of the “digital object” both in its integrity and in allowing future access to the information embedded in that object.
This research argues the importance of integrating digital preservation in the overall planning and budget stage by institutions and applying the principles of life cycle collection management to all aspects of collection management from acquisition to eventual disposal.
conservation of oriental manuscripts housed in institutions and collections outside Asia, has bee... more conservation of oriental manuscripts housed in institutions and collections outside Asia, has been traditionally associated with highly skilled, traditionally trained conservators/restorers performing their jobs in purpose built studios utilising conventional setups , tools and techniques mainly 'imported' from China and Japan. This is at least what some well-known Western institutions with large oriental collections have put in place to deal with their treasures. However, the history of the whereabouts of such collections has told us that it has not always been like that; when these collections started to make their ways towards Europe, they were often misunderstood and their functions altered by wrong assumptions placed on their functions, history and values. Today, thanks to the work of international cooperative projects, the availability of information and the many outlets to share such knowledge, ignorance is no longer distorting the outcome of the preservation of such collections. Today the enemy is common to collections of any provenance and it is global in the way it threatens cultural heritage in general. The cut in funds experienced by cultural institutions and the diminished availability in grants means that the conservation and preservation needs as well as the setups of even well known institutions will have to be reassessed. Development of conservation treatments of oriental manuscripts The history of the conservation of oriental manuscripts represents an interesting chapter mirroring the development of the discipline of conservation/restoration and the changes in attitude and ethical approaches of the last century. It is quite obvious that the main concern regarding the objects brought back from Asia between the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century was directed at the content rather than their physical make up and preservation. This is demonstrated by the cavalier attitude that officials demonstrated toward the safeguard and preservation of these items. It was not uncommon for these objects to be posted between institutions using the regular postal service and they were often repaired using office supplies such as transparent adhesive tapes. Early photographs taken by Sir Aurel Stein, an early and very successful explorer operating in Central Asia, survive showing the condition of the many manuscripts taken from Dunhuang when they were first brought back to London. It is primarily by studying these pictures that we can form an idea on what kind of conservation/restoration treatment these objects might have undergone in the last 100 years. In the case of the collections brought back from Stein to be housed in the British Museum in London for example, there are no records of intervention from 1909 to the 60's and all we know we have to assume from photographic evidence. It is
The e-paper from the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
The e-paper from the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
Welcome to NiC’s second thematic issue on the destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage. ... more Welcome to NiC’s second thematic issue on the destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage.
Last year, prompted by the incessant delivering of news about the situation in the Middle East that dominated the media and the public opinion, we felt that it was our duty to open up a discussion about cultural heritage. A year on, and unfortunately the bad news has kept coming, leaving me in no doubts that a second issue on the theme of cultural heritage in danger was needed.
This issue looks at the theme of heritage in times of conflict from a different angle, exploring aspects such as trafficking, looting and the markets that these activities fuel.
The first contribution comes from Deborah Lehr, founder of The Antiquities Coalition, a non-profit organisation working with governments across the Middle East to fight against antiquities trafficking and its use in funding terrorism and organised crime.
Following on, NiC interviewed Dominica D’Arcangelo from Heritage Without Borders to get an update on their activities in post-conflict countries.
Peter Stone, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Property Protection and Peace at Newcastle University talks about the challenges of preventing damage to cultural properties in conflict zone.
I hope you will agree that the work that these organisations and these people do is inspiring and needs to be showcased, shared and celebrated and hopefully this issue of NiC will represent a little contribution to doing just that.
Barbara Borghese
Editor
LONDON -We are dedicating this issue of News in Conservation to the theme of world heritage in ti... more LONDON -We are dedicating this issue of News in Conservation to the theme of world heritage in times of war and conflict. It's our first time, we never produced a thematic issue before, but we felt it was the right time to highlight the danger our collective memory is facing, focus on the people that are involved in the battles to save our heritage and express our clear condemnation of any act that endangers our shared memory.
News in Conservation is the e-paper published by the International Institute for Conservation of ... more News in Conservation is the e-paper published by the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
News in Conservation, Apr 20, 2014
Is it just our impression or has heritage been featured prominently within mainstream media in th... more Is it just our impression or has heritage been featured prominently within mainstream media in the past two months? This is obviously a good thing as heritage issues receive attention and are exposed to a wider audience; the flip side of the coin is that the focus tends to lie on bad news rather than highlighting the
positives. So we’ve heard about more collapses in Pompeii, more destruction to cultural heritage in Syria and more looting
in war-affected countries. Far from shunning away from the harsh
reality of cultural heritage in the world, here at NiC we like to bring you a balanced collection of news, articles and features,
focussing on the bad, the good and the
outstanding - so welcome to the April
edition of NiC. In this issue we travel to Turkey to learn about Göbekli Tepe, an early Neolithic archaeological site that is undergoing an impressive preservation campaign under the watchful eye of the Global Heritage Fund. Following on we move to Portugal with the first of our long features: here we explore the conservation approach of the team from the Instituto Politecnico de Tomar and Geobiotec that carried out an intervention on an 18th Century wall tile panel. The second feature is the interesting
chronicle of a conservation course that took place in San Gemini, Italy told by one of the course’s tutor. Lastly, do not miss the IIC News section with important information about the Hong Kong Congress! f you are thinking of submitting an article for NiC, make a note of the next deadline, May 1st and send your proposal to news@iiconservation.org
Barbara Borghese
Editor
At the time of writing this editorial I am feverishly waiting for the opening of the movie “The M... more At the time of writing this editorial I am feverishly waiting for the opening of the movie “The Monuments Men”, a film about the a group of museum directors, curators and art historians co-opted on a mission to recover art works stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. If you are a social media follower you will be aware of the link with IIC – the principal character in the movie, played by George Clooney is based on George L. Stout, one of the founding members and Honorary Fellow of IIC.
If you have watched the film or want to share some informations about these events please get in touch, we want to hear your opinion.
In this issue of NiC Kate Cooper and Julia Fenn treats us to a ‘mystery’ story. In their article they talk about the events that saw an ivory figurine representing a female deity to be acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum and the subsequent quest to establish whether the figurine is indeed a Minoan artefact or just a fake.
Following on, Marcus Stanton tells us about the conservation of Building 17 – a large mill at Sir Richard Arkwright’s Cromford Mills in Derbyshire, UK and Kate Bailey delivers a review of the 4th Heritage Conference - Asiatic Traditional Painting, Its History and Conservation – held in London in October 2013.
If you couldn’t attend the 2014 IIC AGM you not only missed a great event and a very interesting talk by Tom Learner, but also the announcement of the 2016 IIC Congress which will take place in Los Angeles, USA. But fear not, you can find all the details on the IIC website and a short account of the evening on page 18.
Barbara Borghese
Editor
At the time of writing this editorial I am feverishly waiting for the opening of the movie “The M... more At the time of writing this editorial I am feverishly waiting for the opening of the movie “The Monuments Men”, a film about the a group of museum directors, curators and art historians co-opted on a mission to recover art works stolen by the Nazis during the Second World War. If you are a social media follower you will be aware of the link with IIC – the principal character in the movie, played by George Clooney is based on George L. Stout, one of the founding members and Honorary Fellow of IIC.
If you have watched the film or want to share some informations about these events please get in touch, we want to hear your opinion.
In this issue of NiC Kate Cooper and Julia Fenn treats us to a ‘mystery’ story. In their article they talk about the events that saw an ivory figurine representing a female deity to be acquired by the Royal Ontario Museum and the subsequent quest to establish whether the figurine is indeed a Minoan artefact or just a fake.
Following on, Marcus Stanton tells us about the conservation of Building 17 – a large mill at Sir Richard Arkwright’s Cromford Mills in Derbyshire, UK and Kate Bailey delivers a review of the 4th Heritage Conference - Asiatic Traditional Painting, Its History and Conservation – held in London in October 2013.
If you couldn’t attend the 2014 IIC AGM you not only missed a great event and a very interesting talk by Tom Learner, but also the announcement of the 2016 IIC Congress which will take place in Los Angeles, USA. But fear not, you can find all the details on the IIC website and a short account of the evening on page 18.
Barbara Borghese
Editor
News in Conservation, Dec 1, 2013
Welcome to the December issue of News in Conservation. For some of us December is a month of refl... more Welcome to the December issue of News in Conservation. For some of us December is a month of reflection, a time to look back at what we’ve done with an eye at what the next twelve months are going to bring. Inevitably for me that means looking at what NiC has achieved and start planning the next phase.
Shamelessly I’d say that NiC has made us all at IIC proud! I wanted to make sure NiC’s strong presence in the world of cultural heritage remained a reference point for an international community of like-minded people and an advocate voice for heritage worldwide.
In a time that has been recognised as challenging for print and digital publications alike, has NiC achieved this goal? In the past two years, thanks to a new open-access digital format NiC’s global reach potential has increased tenfold. An analysis of the submissions from the three-year period 2010-2013 showed that the geographic distribution of articles was heterogeneous with 32 long features submitted from 27 different countries!
For the year ahead I’d like to see the trend continuing and that can only be achieved with your contribution - we still have under-represented countries we would like to hear from. Have you heard the say ‘sharing is caring’? Help NiC reach even more readers by sharing it with your network, taking advantage of the open-access format.
Lastly a big thank you to all the contributors that took the time to write for NiC, what incredible stories you’ve shared with us!
I only have space left to wish all a very special holiday season, and leave you to enjoy this issue!
Barbara Borghese
Editor
Since the emergence of a market for art and antiques, one of the fundamental problems with its de... more Since the emergence of a market for art and antiques, one of the fundamental problems with its development has been the creation of instruments allowing for the pricing of goods to be sold on such market. Pricing has become increasingly significant, as the art market has developed into an alternative investment choice for portfolio managers. The lack of dependable sources of information has so far meant that the art market has not developed as well as other more sophisticated markets where reliable indexes have been created to allow a near accurate pricing of tradable goods. In a number of ways, art objects are extraordinary economic goods as they can be at the same time financial assets and durable consumer goods. When the works of deceased artists are considered, works of art are “non-augmentable”. Works of art are considered public goods when exhibited in a museum, and their value ranges from a few hundreds pounds to millions. Because of their physical make-up, their materials, the history, their provenance, works of art are one of the most heterogeneous groups of goods. I will argue that due to the inherent differences with other markets it might not be possible to accurately price works of art and antiques.
Since the emergence of a market for art and antiques, one of the fundamental problems with its de... more Since the emergence of a market for art and antiques, one of the fundamental problems with its development has been the creation of instruments allowing for the pricing of goods to be sold on such market. Pricing has become increasingly significant, as the art market has developed into an alternative investment choice for portfolio managers. The lack of dependable sources of information has so far meant that the art market has not developed as well as other more sophisticated markets where reliable indexes have been created to allow a near accurate pricing of tradable goods. In a number of ways, art objects are extraordinary economic goods as they can be at the same time financial assets and durable consumer goods. When the works of deceased artists are considered, works of art are “non-augmentable”. Works of art are considered public goods when exhibited in a museum, and their value ranges from a few hundreds pounds to millions. Because of their physical make-up, their materials, the history, their provenance, works of art are one of the most heterogeneous groups of goods. I will argue that due to the inherent differences with other markets it might not be possible to accurately price works of art and antiques.
Digital preservation is the activity designed to ensure that digital material is preserved from d... more Digital preservation is the activity designed to ensure that digital material is preserved from destruction; as such it should be viewed as integral part of collection management not only by traditional repositories of information such as libraries and archives but also by museums and galleries. The two main tasks of digital preservation should be the preservation of the “digital object” both in its integrity and in allowing future access to the information embedded in that object.
This research argues the importance of integrating digital preservation in the overall planning and budget stage by institutions and applying the principles of life cycle collection management to all aspects of collection management from acquisition to eventual disposal.