‘I don’t do things by halves’ Conservation of the James Bruce drinking horn by Lydia Messerschmidt ACR
Whilst working as lead conservator for the current ‘Legacies of Empire’ exhibition at the War Museum in Edinburgh Castle, Artefact Conservator Lydia Messerschmidt came across her biggest conservation challenge to date: a metre long drinking horn; dirty, cracked and broken in two. It was a long way from its original condition over 250 years ago, when James Bruce took it as trophy in former Abyssinia.
In this presentation Lydia will showcase the various conservation techniques she applied and indeed stretched to the limit, in order to transform the ‘beyond repair’ object into a highlight for the exhibition. She will speak about the ethical challenges involved and how this conservation project demonstrates that learning more about the history of the object is an essential part of the decision making process.
The talk will be followed by a Q&A session.
Speakers
