Conservation technologies
Conservation technologies staff are currently involved in a number of long term projects, including a study of Pre-Hispanic Caribbean sculpture and reconstruction of a Viking cross. For further information please email conservation technologies.
Conservation technologies have recently installed a replica of a 1,000 year-old Anglo-Saxon tympanum inside St Peter's Church, Parwich, in the heart of the Peak District National Park. See out Parwich tympanum case study for more information about the replication process, or visit the Parwich community website to see photos of the installation.
Replica tympanum installed in St Peter's Church
Conservation technologies staff are working with curator Joanna Ostapkowicz of the ethnology department of World Museum Liverpool to deliver a 3D digital archive of 18 important pieces of Pre-Hispanic Caribbean wooden sculpture from around the world as part of the 'Taino' project funded by the Getty Foundation and British Academy. The archive will provide a valuable resource, which will allow curators and researchers to study these important pieces remotely. It is hoped that the resource will be accessible to the public also. To date objects from the collections at Kew Gardens, the British Museum, Manchester Museum, Musée du Quai Branly (Paris), Musée Barrois (Bar-le-Duc, France) and the University of Turin (Italy) have been scanned. Further trips are planned to museums in New York and St Louis (USA) and the Dominican Republic.
3D computer model of the Kew duho
CT staff are working with Viking experts Professor Stephen Harding (Nottingham University), Dr Roger White (Birmingham University) and Peter Rossiter of the Church of St Mary and St Helen in Neston, Wirral to recreate an important Viking cross from surviving fragments. One fragment is believed to show the earliest known depiction of jousting. Missing sections of the cross (including the cross-head) will be recreated so that a full reconstruction of the 1,100 year old carving can be undertaken. The surviving fragments have been scanned and the team is now working towards a full digital reconstruction of the ring-headed cross, before producing the full-scale painted replica.
Left hand image: replica of 18th-century terracotta statue of Atlas.
Right hand image: computer model of existing fragments from the Neston Viking cross and a cross-head believed to be of the ‘correct’ style. The earliest known depiction of jousting is shown on the lower right fragment.
For the latest news on the restoration of the three Atlas statues (replicas supplied by conservation technologies!) deliberately dropped by Turner-prize winning artist Simon Starling as part of an installation commissioned by the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, please visit the Atlas website. You can also see our Atlas case study for further information about the replication process.