Excerpt from The Principles and Practice of Dipping, Burnishing, Lacquering and Bronzing Brass Ware Screws, tin, and similar metals, must be carefully kept apart and treated by themselves, on no account being allowed to come into contact later with the dipping acid, and the whole of the brass work must, if very dirty or greasy, as they probably will be if gasfittings, lamps, or vases, be placed in a strong liquor or lye made of potash, and be boiled up therein till all dirt has been removed and the metal is clean. When this is so, take them out, rinse in hot water, and let them dry. With the exception of spun pieces, which would speedily melt away, the pieces must now be an nealed, that is, made red-hot, being careful not to bring the metal to a white heat, on a coke fire, and it is here that the forge and bellows will be found very useful. This annealing process makes the metal soft and the more amenable to the burnisher, while it also removes all dirt, etc. A pure coal fire must not be employed for annealing. If not very dirty, the. Work can be annealed without being previously boiled up; but if at all dirty, the metal should be -boiled up, as the annealing, without the boiling, is apt to burn small particles of dirt into the brass, which are afterwards extremely difficult. To remove. Therefore, for the sake of a little more trouble, time, and expense, it is better to both boil and anneal all work when possible. Of course my readers will understand that it is only cast or wrought work which can be annealed, as the spun work before alluded to will speedily collapse, as will also the other varieties if the greatest care is. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."

This is a review of 190 years of literature on copper and its alloys. It integrates information on pigments, corrosion and minerals, and discusses environmental conditions, conservation methods, ancient and historical technologies.

David A. Scott provides a detailed introduction to the structure and morphology of ancient and historic metallic materials. Much of the scientific research on this important topic has been inaccessible, scattered throughout the international literature, or unpublished; this volume, although not exhaustive in its coverage, fills an important need by assembling much of this information in a single source. Jointly published by the GCI and the J. Paul Getty Museum, the book deals with many practical matters relating to the mounting, preparation, etching, polishing, and microscopy of metallic samples and includes an account of the way in which phase diagrams can be used to assist in structural interpretation. The text is supplemented by an extensive number of microstructural studies carried out in the laboratory on ancient and historic metals. The student beginning the study of metallic materials and the conservation scientist who wishes to carry out structural studies of metallic objects of art will find this publication quite useful.

Bridging the fields of conservation, art history, and museum curating, this volume contains the principal papers from an international symposium titled "Historical Painting Techniques, Materials, and Studio Practice" at the University of Leiden in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from June 26 to 29, 1995. The symposium—designed for art historians, conservators, conservation scientists, and museum curators worldwide—was organized by the Department of Art History at the University of Leiden and the Art History Department of the Central Research Laboratory for Objects of Art and Science in Amsterdam. Twenty-five contributors representing museums and conservation institutions throughout the world provide recent research on historical painting techniques, including wall painting and polychrome sculpture. Topics cover the latest art historical research and scientific analyses of original techniques and materials, as well as historical sources, such as medieval treatises and descriptions of painting techniques in historical literature. Chapters include the painting methods of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Dutch 17th-century landscape painting, wall paintings in English churches, Chinese paintings on paper and canvas, and Tibetan thangkas. Color plates and black-and-white photographs illustrate works from the Middle Ages to the 20th century.

Over the concluding decades of the twentieth century, the historic preservation community increasingly turned its attention to modern buildings, including bungalows from the 1930s, gas stations and diners from the 1940s, and office buildings and architectural homes from the 1950s. Conservation efforts, however, were often hampered by a lack of technical information about the products used in these structures, and to fill this gap Twentieth-Century Building Materials was developed by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Park Service and first published in 1995. Now, this invaluable guide is being reissued—with a new preface by the book’s original editor. With more than 250 illustrations, including a full-color photographic essay, the volume remains an indispensable reference on the history and conservation of modern building materials. Thirty-seven essays written by leading experts offer insights into the history, manufacturing processes, and uses of a wide range of materials, including glass block, aluminum, plywood, linoleum, and gypsum board. Readers will also learn about how these materials perform over time and discover valuable conservation and repair techniques. Bibliographies and sources for further research complete the volume. The book is intended for a wide range of conservation professionals including architects, engineers, conservators, and material scientists engaged in the conservation of modern buildings, as well as scholars in related disciplines.

Illustrated in color throughout, this handsome volume presents selected papers from an international symposium held in June 2001 marking the completion of a ten-year project to conserve the Last Judgment mosaic, at St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. The project was a partnership between the Office of the President of the Czech Republic, the Prague Castle Administration, and the Getty Conservation Institute. The goal of the symposium was to present the methodology, research, and results of the project, which involved conserving one of the finest examples of monumental medieval mosaic art in Europe. The volume's essays are divided into three parts, which cover the historical and art-historical context, conservation planning and methodology, and project implementation and maintenance. Topics addressed include the history, iconography, and visual documentation of the mosaic; the development and application of surface cleaning and protective coating techniques for the mosaic's glass tesserae; and post-treatment monitoring and maintenance.

Among the finest examples of European craftsmanship are the clocks produced for the luxury trade in the eighteenth century. The J. Paul Getty Museum is fortunate to have in its decorative arts collection twenty clocks dating from around 1680 to 1798: eighteen produced in France and two in Germany. They demonstrate the extraordinary workmanship that went into both the design and execution of the cases and the intricate movements by which the clocks operated. In this handsome volume, each clock is pictured and discussed in detail, and each movement diagrammed and described. In addition, biographies of the clockmakers and enamelers are included, as are indexes of the names of the makers, previous owners, and locations.