Treatment of an Ancient
Roman Glass Vessel
4th - 6th century CE
Roman (Syro-Palestinian)
Late Imperial Roman or Early Byzantine
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This ancient glass vessel is in the collection of a museum in Lebanon, Syria. A large blast resulting from a terror attack had broken the vessel into 5 fragments and created several blind cracks which compromised the structural integrity of the object. Reassembly and recreation of missing components brought the work back to its original form without compromising the weathered surface.
Initial Condition
The weathering layers on the vessel, a testament to its age, were first consolidated using a low concentration acrylic adhesive solubilized in acetone, applied with a fine brush to flood the delaminating areas and permeate the cracks.
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The vessel was then reassembled. First, the break edges of all fragments were cleaned before a ~30% w/v concentration of adhesive resin was brushed onto the break edges for piece-by-piece reassembly.
Recreation of a Loss
on the Upper Handle
A small loss on the tip of one of the handles was visually distracting, so a small fill was made by dyeing Hyxtal NYL-1 epoxy resin with Orasol dyes. The blue-green color and transparency of the fill were refined by adding dry pigments adhered with a water-soluble synthetic resinand a small amount of Golden liquid acrylic paint, including the color-interference variety.
Completed Treatment
