Lotus in Ink

On arrival

Condition

The work came to us with foxing spread across the full sheet, the rust coloured spotting that develops when paper is kept in warm, humid conditions for a long period. On a composition like this one, where the ink sits in isolated masses against a wide open ground, there is nowhere for that discolouration to hide. It read as an overall yellowing rather than as isolated marks.

The ground had also taken on a general tone, several shades warmer than the paper the artist worked on. Seen beside the restored sheet the difference is obvious, but a work discolours slowly enough that an owner living with it rarely notices until the two states are placed side by side.

The ink itself was sound. That is usually the case with a well made ink work: the carbon in the ink is stable, and it is the paper carrying it that ages.

What we did

Treatment

Treatment began with a written condition assessment and testing on a small area, to confirm how the ink and the artist's seal would respond before anything was applied to the sheet as a whole. The seal is the point of greatest risk on any Chinese ink work, since the red pigment is far more soluble than the ink.

The sheet was then surface cleaned and the foxing and staining reduced through a controlled washing process, worked in stages across the paper so that the ground lightened evenly rather than in patches.

With the paper clean and dry, the work was remounted onto a fresh backing. The original backing had done its job and had reached the end of it, and a work that is going back onto a wall needs a support that will hold it flat for the next stretch of its life.

The finished work

Outcome

The foxing and the staining are gone, and the ground has returned to the white the artist painted on. The ink reads as it was meant to, dense against a clean sheet, and the seal is untouched.

The work was returned flat and stable, ready for reframing and installation in the client's offices.