Objects Conservation

The history of the Objects Conservation Workshop is closely connected to the history of the Museum and its collections. The first works on retouching and mending the plaster copies lead by V. Sukhov, an art conservator, started in 1911, before the official opening of the Museum. In 1924 the Workshop for Sculpture Conservation was founded, the conservators who worked there at the time were M. Alexandrovsky, E. Bolotnikova, N. Trofimov, and I. Kasyanenko.

As the museum developed, its collections grew, and new funds had to be established. Thanks to the private collectors and archaeological expeditions of the museum's employees the collections were completed with ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman art, ancient coins and eastern European applied arts. A permanent exhibition was gradually formed, requiring, along with the constantly growing collections, constant monitoring from the conservation specialists of different fields.

Currently there are several divisions within the Objects Conservation Workshop:

- Ceramics, porcelain and glass conservation

- Metal conservation

- Furniture and frames conservation

- Stone and plaster conservation

- Textile conservation

The ongoing studying and cataloging of museum collections, as well as preparing for the exhibitions, have determined the main directions or work for the workshop's specialists. Since the mid 90-s extensive works on ancient art conservation have been carried out.

The workshop conservators along with the various research institutions specialists have developed and applied unique methods of research, conservation, and restoration of applied arts. The results of their work are presented in our 'Publications'section.

The workshop's works

PROJECT:
Donatello and Other Renaissance Masters: Research and Conservation

Restoration of Flagellation of Christ

Restoration of the wooden sculpture The Apostle John

Restoration of the Bust of a young woman

Unique paint layer of plaster casts from the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

Rhyton with a lion's head

Conservation of objects for the exhibition Mummies of Ancient Egypt. The Art of Immortality

Fragment of a mummy cartonnage

Baroque frame

Funerary mask of Mahu

Display Cabinet

Parchment book bindings

Bead embroidery "By the rivers of Babylon"

Silver rhyton with a Horse Protome

Flagellation of Christ

Brisé Fan

Hydrangea vase

Pieta

Antonio Salviati, Venetian Pink Glass Goblet

Venus Khvoshchinsky

Egyptian mummy cartonnage

Giulio Mazzoni, Francesco del Nero

Large oenochoe with four-sided décor

Krater with an ivy branch

Scene in the park

Ceramic bath tub

PROJECT:
Research and Conservation of an Ancient Egyptian Shroud