J.CAC VOLUME 33 (2008)
Conservation of the Chinese Temple Painting The Paradise of Maitreya from the Bishop White Gallery, Royal Ontario Museum
In 2005, The Paradise of Maitreya, a Chinese fresco-secco wall painting belonging to the Far Eastern Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), and dating to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), underwent extensive treatment to address both surface and structural problems. In the early 1930s, several years after its acquisition, the painting was mounted onto Masonite panels and installed on the north wall of the Bishop White Gallery by George Stout. The preparation of the painting fragments for mounting used a process developed by Stout and Gettens at the Fogg Art Museum. A description of this process that relied heavily on the use of polyvinyl acetate (PVA) resin will be outlined as well as a brief history of past treatments as these relate to the present condition of the wall painting and its current treatment. The treatment, carried out in 2005 involved surface cleaning and consolidation, but most specifically addressed the problem of cracking and general breakdown in the joint material between the Masonite panels. In order to address the instability in the joints, Plastazote® LD45, a closed-cell, cross-linked polyethylene foam, chosen for its flexibility and imperviousness to fluctuations in relative humidity, was used as a support for the fills between the Masonite panels.
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