Human Flower Project
Meticulous Achievement: Qing Vases
On January 25, 2006, a visitor at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England, tumbled down a staircase and collided with three huge, and fragile, works of art. The Qing vases, dating from the late 17th or early 18th century, each weighed 100 pounds. The Fitzwilliam staff and conservators painstakingly gathered every chip, reassembling the Chinese vases and touching up the painting. The vases are now back on display (in a protective case, this time) in the museum’s Flower Paintings gallery. And the museum’s website provides a fascinating illustrated account of their injury and restoration. This image shows a conservator “clicking” a painted peony shard back into place.
This story makes us wonder if perhaps ceramic artists have favored leafy and floral designs because they simultaneously camouflage flaws and facilitate mending. Imagine how hard (impossible?) restoring all-white vases would have been!
Photo: Fitzwilliam Museum