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Textile Conservation at The Met

Behind the Scenes

Textile Conservation at The Met

Learn about the science, art, and exhibition techniques of textile conservation at The Met.

 

Detail of a jar made by the enslaved potter Dave (later known as David Drake).

Behind the Scenes

Examining Storage Jars from the American South

Scientific research on food residue found in nineteenth-century stoneware vessels produced by enslaved artisans sheds light on the contents once stored inside.
Conserving the King Arthur Tapestry

Behind the Scenes

Conserving the King Arthur Tapestry

Follow the conservation treatment of “King Arthur” from the “Nine Heroes Tapestries” series, among the oldest in The Met’s collection.

A pair of dazzling gilded and enameled cups and saucers adorned with floral designs, a coat of arms, and monogram.

Materials

Electrolytic Etching

A process that eats into designated areas of a material's surface through the application of acids or an electrical current.
A flat cigarette case and a tall match case in a matching wood grain pattern rendered in deep red, black, brown, and gold metals.

Materials

Mokume-gane

An ancient Japanese metalworking technique, translated to mean wood eye or wood grain, by which layers of contrasting colored metals are fused together with heat and pressure and worked to produce a patterned mixed-metal laminate.
Detail of a silver tray featuring the design of a frog seated at the edge of a grassy pond with a queue of mosquitos approaching from a setting sun on the horizon. The surface has a hexagonal-shaped texture. The grass and mosquitoes protrude in a low relief on the tray surface. The front is more heavily sculpted and plated with mixed metals that are silver, gold, and copper in tone.

Materials

An Introduction to Metalworking at Tiffany & Co.

How did Tiffany & Co. become an innovator of metalworking techniques in the nineteenth century?
A three-quarter view of a patinated copper and silver chocolate pot in the shape of a pitcher with a handle, spot, and ivory handle. Silver banding emphasizes the handle, spout, and rim of the lid and neck. A lobster rendered in high-relief silver adorns the body of the pot.

Materials

Patinating Copper

A process by which chemicals are used to purposefully induce the formation of a thin colored layer on the surface of metal, referred to as chemical patination.
A silver, blue, and maroon cylindrical cup with a handle rests on a matching saucer. The cup and saucer are reflective and adorned with an inlay design of a checkerboard pattern of wavy triangle shapes.

Materials

Electrolytic Inlay

A decorative technique that uses an electric current to deposit metal particles from an electrolytic solution into designated recesses on a metal object.
A pair of black iron candlesticks with a tapered conical base appear side-by-side. They are adorned with various sinuous floral motives that are modeled in low relief on the surface and surfaced in a variety of silver-, gold-, and copper-toned metals.

Materials

Damascening

To produce a design or pattern by inlaying a softer metal into a harder one — often gold, silver, or copper into a darkened steel background.
A short but elongated silver teapot with an ivory lid finial adorned with abstract floral motifs rendered in maroon, orange, taupe, and turquoise enamel.

Materials

Champlevé Enameling

A decorative technique that fuses a powdered glassy material into a recess in a metal surface through the application of heat.
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