Gamelan conservation

[Sam Quigley <quigley@martigny.ai.mit.edu>]

The following abstract is of a text that was delivered at the Objects
Specialty Group Session at the annual meeting of the American Institute
for Conservation on June 10, 1994.  It was requested that the themes of
the session, i.e. Compensation of Loss (in-filling and the like) and the
question of the artist(s) original intent -- especially with regard to
living artists or traditions -- be stressed.  The Objects Specialty Group
is planning publication of all the presentations in the near future,
including the illustrations which do not accompany this version of the
text.  The title of this publication will be, "Postprints for the
Nashville, TN, 1994 Conference of the Objects Specialty Group, American
Institute for Conservation." 

The full text of the article is too lengthy for posting to a distribution
list and may be obtained by sending a message to:

mailserv@nrm.se

with the first line in the body of the message, unindented, containing
the command:

SEND GAMELAN.TXT.

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The text has been made available with the permission of the Objects
Specialty Group of the American Institute for Conservation."

                      *          *          *

Title:

Curatorial Considerations Guiding the Conservation of a Javanese Gamelan
Orchestra, Sam Quigley, Associate Curator and Keeper of Musical
Instruments Department of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture, Museum
of Fine Arts, Boston

Abstract:

In 1990 the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston acquired a complete
nineteenth-century Javanese gamelan. Most probably the oldest such
ensemble in North America, it includes about 60 individual instruments
comprised of bronze keys and gongs supported by elaborately carved and
painted teakwood cases. Owing to its age and the damp conditions in which
it was stored for the past several decades, much of the casework had been
infested and required extensive compensation, in order to restore the
instruments' musical functionality.  The type and extent of compensation
was guided by both physical and musical considerations.