Elle Friedberg
Walters Art Museum
September 2023 - Present
Mellon Fellow in Objects Conservation
Primary Supervisors
Angie Elliott, Head of Objects Conservation
Greg Bailey, Senior Objects Conservator
TREATMENT PROJECTS
Below are a small selection of treatment projects from my fellowship.
Please click the "Learn More" buttons for more information on each project.
RESEARCH PROJECT
A portion of my fellowship is dedicated to developing and executing a research project that results in a publishable paper or formal presentation. My topic is a technical study of a four-panel Coromandel screen.
Coromandel lacquer is a type of lacquerware produced utilizing the Chinese technique of carving decorative scenes into smooth lacquer and filling the recesses with colored oil or lacquer-based pigments. This process is known as kuan cai, meaning “incised colors,” and emerged in the 16th century and was mainly used on large, multi-panel screens. ​The screen was acquired by the Walters Art Museum in 2012 and has never been on view due to its condition. The panels have undergone multiple restoration campaigns that disguise its original surface which remains unknown. Due to their mixed-media and multi-layer composition, these objects present unique conservation challenges. The goal of the project is to answer:
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What is the material composition of the screen?
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What was the original intended appearance of the object versus the result of restoration campaign(s)?
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How does this information inform treatment, historical context, and dating of the object?
Four Panel Folding Screen Depicting a Tea Ceremony; 67.675; Chinese (K’ang Hsi, Qing); 1681; Wood, lacquer, polychromy, traces of gilding; 217.2 cm x 60.5 cm x 3.2 cm (per screen), Walters Art Museum.
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Coming soon!