Stone sculpture

Barbara Applebaum wrote:

>This is another subject for discussion: at what point
>should a conservator recommend a decent burial over treatment, and
>what criteria are appropriate for attempting to resurrect a corpse?
>This leads to questions about describing the prognosis of a
>treatment realistically to a client who has little ability to
>visualize a possible outcome, even though it is important that he or
>she not be surprised in some possible unpredictable way at the end.

Barbara's manuscript on methodology should be very useful as it
poses concepts we need to decide upon, or at least bring into
debate. Her question:' At what point should a conservator recommend
a decent burial....."? is particularly tough as each object has its
own set of circumstances. However, once an objects condition is
fully documented, should we go to extreme lengths to save something
in some form, rather than to lose it altogether.?

Craig Deller
The Deller Conservation Group, Ltd.
Geneva, Illinois  USA
Conservation Services for Historic Furniture & Objects

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 12:30
                Distributed: Friday, September 25, 1998
                       Message Id: cdl-12-30-003
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