Current Reports－Conservation Science for Japanese Paintings－

Abstract

Traditional Japanese paintings are composed of fragile materials: silk and paper as bases, and uncoated pigments simply adhered with animal glue. Conservators have treated them with tradi tional materials and methods, which were selected consciously using their sense and experiences. In this paper, the characterization of one such traditional material used as a re-peelable adhesive is reported firstly. The material, called furunori, and prepared in each studio by storing for about ten years, has some particular characteristics: high flexibility, high re-peelability, and low moldly. Recent studies clarified its chemical properties and the mechanism of its generation; therefore, the preparation of a polysaccharide similar to furunori was successful, based on these results. On the other hand, synthetic materials such as polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), acrylic resin, etc. had been widely used after the second world war, as consolidants for Japanese paintings. In some cases, the PVA deteriorated and changed its condition such that it was difficult to remove it from the paintings. In this paper, it is secondly reported that the application of a PVA-degrading enzyme was capable of removing the deteriorated PVA on Japanese paintings. As mentioned above, scientific approaches in this field are conducted based not only on traditional methods, but also current cases, and they will be further utilized for the conservation of Japanese paintings.