Conservation departments
The conservation of ceramics and glass is by no means a recent development. People have been repairing these items for centuries. The oldest ceramic repairs in the British Museum date from around 7000 BC!
National Museums Liverpool’s collections of ceramics and glass are both fascinating and diverse. There are approximately 57,000 individual items. They cover a wide variety of areas, including:
At any one time, we could be working on Bronze Age pottery, Roman glass, Venetian glass, stained glass, Liverpool pottery and porcelain, Egyptian faience (glazed ceramic) necklaces, Oriental porcelains, tile panels or Victorian sanitary ware.
The ceramics and glass conservation section is responsible for the care of these collections on many levels. Much of our work concerns preparing objects for exhibition. This can involve basic care, such as surface cleaning, or more interventive treatments which may involve restoring a damaged item to a known previous state. This could include re-bonding objects that have been in many pieces, or the full reconstruction of missing areas to add structural support and improve stability.
Our other activities include:
Objects cared for range from the antique to the modern
From time to time we take on external contracts. These have included the conservation of an 18th century Dutch Delftware tile panel from Speke Hall for the National Trust and the conservation of an opalotype (a photograph taken on frosted or translucent glass) of Josephine Butler for Liverpool University. Butler was a 19th century campaigner for women’s health and education. Liverpool University holds a large collection of items relating to her life and work.
The section regularly provides practical training in the form of undergraduate or postgraduate internships and work placements. We have trained conservation students from a variety of courses in the UK and students from the Netherlands and Sweden.