Lewis, A. Et Al. Conserving a Car Tonnage Foot Case. 2010

8/3/2019 Lewis, A. Et Al. Conserving a Car Tonnage Foot Case. 2010

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Inside The Conservator's Art

A behind-the-scenes look at conserving Egyptian artifacts at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum ofAnthropology

http://conservationblog.hearstmuseum.dreamhosters.com/?p=572

{ 2010 09 09 }

A delicate case: conserving a car tonnage footcase

Cartonnage foot case, PAHMA 5-409.


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This cartonnage foot case from Egypts Greco-Roman period was recently treated live in the gallery. Footcases are hollow coverings placed over the feet of a mummy. They are often decorated to resemblehuman feet. This foot case depicts a pair of sandaled feet, with three-dimensional toes modeled in plaster.

The foot case was torn, missing one large section and several smaller ones, and soiled with unidentifiedwhite deposits and fine grey dust. In order to stabilize it and to make it ready for possible display, Icleaned, reshaped, repaired and rehoused the foot case.

Loss in side wall of foot case, PAHMA 5-409.

I cleaned the surfaces with a slightly tacky, eraser-like product called GROOM/STICK. GROOM/STICKcan be rolled into small balls and lightly touched to the painted surface to remove accreted material. Iteffectively removed the fine grey dust and grime that had built up on the foot cases surface.


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Foot case PAHMA 5-409 during treatment. One side has been cleaned, the other has not.

The loss on the proper right side wall caused the back side edge to droop inwards. In order to restorestructural stability to the foot case, I filled the loss. I mixed glass microballoons and cellulose powder into acellulose ether adhesive (Klucel G) to create a lightweight, easy-to-shape mixture. Before adding thecellulose powder I toasted it, or heated it to impart a cream/brown color and introduce chromaticvariation. I shaped and smoothed the fill with a small spatula, swabs and fine sand paper.


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The creamy color of the toasted cellulose resembled the painted surfaces surrounding the loss, providing abase color that I adjusted by inpainting the surfaces with acrylic paints. Inpainting the fill caused it be lessnoticeable upon first glance, allowing viewers to see the object first, rather than immediately seeing thedamage.


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Fill after treatment, foot case PAHMA 5-409.

After treating the foot case I created a storage mount to support it and to facilitate safe handling. Thestorage mount is made out of archival materials including polyethylene foam and Tyvek, a smooth non-woven olefin fabric. It consists of an interior form to maintain the side walls in the correct position and afoam bed on which the foot case is mounted upright to display all painted surfaces.


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Proper right side of the foot case (PAHMA 5-409) after treatment on support.


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Bottom surface of the foot case (PAHMA 5-409) after treatment on support.

Posted by Allison on Thursday, September 9, 2010, at 8:46 am. Filed under Cartonnage, Conservationtreatments, Live in the gallery. Tagged Cartonnage. Follow any responses to this post with its comments

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{ 7 } Commen ts

1. Ozge | 09/09/2010 at 3:41 pm | Permalink

Thank you for the detailed explanation.

2. Don Major | 09/09/2010 at 8:55 pm | Permalink


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What a beautiful foot case. I remember seeing a silver foot case or shoes on the body of St.Spiradon in a church on the island of Corfu. I cant help but think that perhaps our ancestorsrevered the feet more than we do today.

3. Vanessa | 09/13/2010 at 11:36 am | Permalink

Your fill for the loss on the foot case looks great! I really like the use of toasted cellulose powderto add that extra color and variation to the fill.

4. Bruce | 09/16/2010 at 8:42 pm | Permalink

Allison, thanks for taking the time from your work on the crushed mask to answer all myrestoration/conservation questions! The volume of your knowledge is astounding, yet you put it allinto language that a visitor could understand. It was great to meet one of the many talentedpeople who keep history intact and accessible. I hope were fortunate enough to keep you atHearst for another year. Or two. Thanks again.

5. Allison | 10/12/2010 at 12:05 pm | Permalink

@Bruce, Thanks for your kind words, and glad you enjoyed the exhibit!

6. Holly Lundberg | 11/18/2010 at 10:28 am | Permalink

Hi Allison,

I just ran across your blog and as a fellow conservator amd interested in the fill you used for thefoot case. Id like to try out this fill mix and am wondering what concentrations you used ofmicroballoons, Klucel, and cellulose powder. Also did you use a solution of Klucel G in H20 or inan alcohol (ethanol, isoproanol or reagent alcohol). Thanks in advance.

7. Allison | 11/19/2010 at 8:23 am | Permalink8. Hi Holly,

I used 5% Klucel G in ethanol with a 1:1 v:v mixture of microballoons and cellulose powder.Thanks for checking out the blog!

Lewis, A. Et Al. Conserving a Car Tonnage Foot Case. 2010

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