Mx. Rebecca C. Rosen and Dr. Sarah E. Noll
Abstract
This paper presents an evolving approach to the treatment of an enigmatic polychrome composite sculpture of a standing female figure, likely made in southern India in the late 19th to early 20th century. The materials used to construct this mold-made object were not evident based on visual examination alone, and changes made to the sculpture over time complicated both its interpretation and care. The treatment, shaped by scientific analysis and art historical research, aimed to harmonize the disparate materials and histories evident across the sculpture’s surface and structure.
The sculpture was brought by private collectors to the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University for treatment and study as part of Professor Michele Marincola’s course “Polychromy and Monochromy: Examination and Treatment of Wooden Sculpture.” Further technical analysis was completed as part of Dr. Sarah Noll’s course on instrumental analysis. Acquired in the 1990s, the figure was described to the collectors as temple decoration from the south of India. Because of the lack of comparanda, unknown factors in the object’s construction and history, and the courses’ emphasis on discovery and innovation, this treatment and analysis called for a creative approach that adapted tools and materials to accommodate practical challenges, bringing about solutions suitable to the individual object and the aspects of it that remained unexpected and unknown. The treatment approach was informed by technical analysis, including multiband imaging, FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, X-radiography, optical microscopy, and SEM-EDS, which shed light on the materials and techniques used to create and alter this piece.
The figure was constructed using a compressible papier-mâché-like material around a discontinuous metal armature, with layers of cellulosic material, textile, ground, and paint. Prior modifications and applied materials suggest that this piece was overpainted during its use life and used to make a mold to create additional figures. Such alterations greatly reduced the sculpture’s legibility and threatened its stability, and treatment involved deciding which alterations to keep or remove.
Structural repairs required creative clamping, cauls, and bracing to respond to the combination of a spongy substrate and sensitive surface decorations. The shape and composite nature of the sculpture complicated efforts to stabilize separating layers and to consolidate severely flaking paint. Surface cleaning revealed previously hidden details and a historic overpaint layer more consistent with the original surface. The painted surfaces were unified using a sensitive approach to inpainting, centering the legibility of the piece as a whole without obscuring the object’s history, in accordance with the collectors’ wishes and current conservation ethics.
The care of South Asian papier-mâché is underrepresented in conservation literature. Taking cues from the treatment of polychrome wooden sculpture, this treatment required adaptations of traditional methods for the soft structural material, changes in treatment material selection due to differing responses across the artwork, and shifting goals in consideration of new information revealed as work progressed.