This lovely early Ming xuan-de pitcher had old cracks in the handle and the spout support. We sealed these cracks first to give as much strength as possible to its slender curves, then we filled and airbrushed the cracks, recreating the spreading softness that the underglaze blue cobalt glaze acquires when it is fired. It is a challenge to soften these color edges, and to perfectly recreate the subtle range of blue shades that the cobalt takes on as it ...
There were two small pieces broken from the rim of this vase – in the style of the Wedgwood fairyland pieces from the 1920’s. The challenge here was to recreate the purplish metallic lustre glaze that graded into a gold. We have five different ways to restore gold finishes – from various shades of gold leaf, to 23 karat Japanese gold powder, to shell gold, to finely powdered mica. Each of them is useful in different settings. This type of ...
This plate is valuable to the family that owns it, and did not require expensive invisible repair in order to fix it durably and inconspicuously. The missing part of the rim, as well as smaller chips, was filled with a color-matched optical epoxy, and then touched up to match the decorations. Such repairs are generally visible from closer than two feet, but even at close range they look neat and professional and do not distract the eye from the meaning ...
Many of the objects are not “valuable” in a standard way – in fact we see this supposed “value” vary widely over the years – following the fashion of the art market. Value is often defined by the importance of an event – like a wedding or a birth – or by the importance of a person – a grandmother or ancestor. We often do not do expensive, invisible repairs on such pieces, but fix them durably and inconspicuously so that ...