Discolored Japanese prints

I am currently undertaking research on Yoshitoshi Tsukioka's
(1839-92) prints. Two of his prints entitled "Snow: Actor Onoe
Baiko" (1890) and "Ichikawa Danjuro IX in Kanjincho" (1890) in
LACMA's collection showed grey colour staining on each mount, which
appears to have transferred from image areas on each print. Each of
these pigment areas now appears either grey or black.  The areas of
transferred staining from images are: grey background in the "Snow";
black flower pattern of collar of the costume in "Kanjincho"; and
grey Sanskrit of the costume in the "Kanjincho". During my research,
I have come across yellow Sanskrit or partially darkened Sanskrit on
other "Kanjincho" whereas the Sanskrit of LACMA's is now grey. I am
looking into the identification of this pigment and the relationship
between the pigment and the staining seen on the mounts.

I was wondering if anyone has seen these staining phenomena on
mounts from Yoshitoshi prints or other artists? If so, I would very
much appreciate if you could give me detailed information such as
title, date, publisher, the areas of transferred image, what pigment
colour corresponds to the image transferred, condition of the mount,
types of the mount, and environmental conditions which the print has
been kept and so on.

Chie Ito
Mellon Fellow-Paper Conservation
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles CA90036
323-857-6167


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 18:27
                Distributed: Thursday, December 16, 2004
                       Message Id: cdl-18-27-024
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