This week in objects conservation: This early 1920’s porcelain bowl is in the lab for cleaning and repair. The bowl has an old break along the rim with a hairline crack that extends from the break down into the base. This ceramic piece also has the remains of an old repair, seen by the small holes near the break in the rim. In the past ceramics were sometimes repaired with metal staples, applied by drilling small holes in the ceramic and inserting a bent piece of metal to hold the pieces together. Though the staples have been removed from this piece, the holes remain, showing that this piece has been repaired multiple times in its history. Now, when repairing small ceramics like this bowl, we use adhesives that hold together more securely and discretely than the metal staples.

Bowl, Tea Set, Mikhail M. Adamovich (b. 1884, d. 1947), ceramic, private collection, L12.2019