This painting on silk was given to the Ackland in 1997 by Eric and Martha Murray. Some time before it came into their possession, the painting had been crudely pasted onto a heavy cardboard backing which was causing physical and chemical damage to the painting. The work’s silk had darkened and become brittle with age, and the paint was beginning the crumble off the surface.

CONSERVATION TREATMENT AND REMOUNTING COMPLETED AT THE NISHIO

CONSERVATION STUDIO, WASHINGTON, D.C.

Mekata MorimichiJapanese, 1815–1880 One Hundred Birds Admiring the Peacock, 1860Mineral pigments, ink and gold on silkGift of Eric and Martha Murray, ’87 and ’88

Raking light reveals numerous air bubbles between the silk and cardboardbacking. The silk was so brittle that raised areas were easily breaking off.

The work’s paint is composed of ground mineral pigments and animal glue (gelatin). The greens of the peacock’s tail are malachite and the blues are azurite.

One of the first steps of conservation was to secure the many areas where the paint was cracking or powdering off the silk. A dilute solution of isinglass— a very pure and colorless gelatin made from the air bladders of certain fish—was brushed into these areas.

Removing the cardboard backing was a laborious process, working from the back with the painting face down. The first layers of cardboard were cut or torn away layer by layer. Water was then applied to soften the paste between the silk and the backings.

During this process, several conservators worked as a team with the painting face down on a light box. Plastic sheeting prevented it from drying out.

The transmitted light from the light box helped the conservators distinguish the cardboard backing and lining paper from the silk of the painting.

In a few areas of the translucent silk, there was evidence of painting on both the front and the reverse, in which case the last thin layer of lining paper was left in place.

appearance when wet appearance when dry

Moist cotton swabs and soft brushes were used to remove streaky paste and discoloration from the reverse of the delicate silk.

The left half of this detail has been cleaned.

With the linings removed and the silk dry, it is easy to see how thin the silk is. The artist painted these birds on top of the branches.

reverse of paintingfront of painting

The next step is lining the silk with thin, hand-made Japanese paper which has been dyed to harmonize with the color of the silk. Here, several different colored swatches are being considered.

Note the numerous losses in the old silk.

Conservator Yoshi Nishio brushes dilute wheat starch paste onto a large sheet of hand-made Japanese paper that will be used to line the silk.

With the painting face down and moist, the pasted-out lining paper is carefully smoothed into place to avoid any bubbles, wrinkles, or distortions.

Because the painting is much larger than the sheets of hand-made paper, the lining was applied in sections. After several layers of lining, the painting was pasted along its edges onto a specially constructed drying board.

These photos show that the lining process has corrected the wrinkles and bubbles, but the old losses in the silk are still visible. These losses will be filled with tiny inserts cut from new silk.

Nishio Conservation Studio has a wide variety of traditionally woven silks, enabling them to choose one that closely matches the weave and thickness of the original. These silks have been artificially “aged” by ultraviolet light to make them as flexible as the old silk. They are hand-dyed to harmonize with the original.

The shapes of the losses in the painting are traced with transmitted light, through clear Mylar (polyester film) onto the replacement silk. This ensures that the fills of new silk will fit exactly, without any overlap of the original.

The shapes are cut with a sharp blade and pasted into the losses from the front of the painting. Because the specially prepared silk is very expensive, all scraps are saved for future conservation projects.

These details show new silk fills in place, but not yet been inpainted to match the surrounding area.

These details show filled areas after inpainting with watercolor to match the surrounding area. Watercolor is never applied to the original silk or paint.

Here we see the same area before treatment, after lining the silk, and after the fills have been toned with watercolor to harmonize with the surrounding silk.

before treatment

after lining

after toning

Losses and abrasions in the original paint were not inpainted or restored because such modern additions could never be removed in the future without damaging the original paint. They could also interfere with our understanding of the original brushwork.

This painting was originally designed to be a rigid panel, rather than a hanging scroll. It was mounted to a specially constructed support made of a lattice work of wood covered by many layers of Japanese paper.

The last stage of treatment was to design a frame appropriate to the period and style of the painting. With proper care and handling, the conserved and remounted painting may be enjoyed for many generations to come.

The Ackland Art Museum thanks the many sponsors of the conservation of our Asian paintings:

The Sumitomo Foundation

The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation

Shirley Drechsel and Wayne Vaughn

Office of the Provost of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Docents of the Ackland Art Museum

If you would like to sponsor future conservation projects, please contact Ackland conservator Lyn Koehnline at

koehnlin@email.unc.edu