1 00:00:01,040 --> 00:00:22,419 George. Thank you, Richard. 2 00:00:22,420 --> 00:00:28,670 That was a lovely introduction. I must say that without Robert, I couldn't have written this presentation for you. 3 00:00:29,030 --> 00:00:33,499 He very much embodies the history of Japanese conservation here at the Bodleian. 4 00:00:33,500 --> 00:00:37,760 And you will. You will know why when I. When I start talking and. 5 00:00:39,820 --> 00:00:45,700 We're all familiar with the with the most iconic buildings of the of the Bodleian Library. 6 00:00:47,260 --> 00:00:53,020 And some of you probably know very well already the Western Library, which is the library for special collections. 7 00:00:54,760 --> 00:01:04,360 But tucked away, like many precious things are, is one of the principal collections of Japan in the UK, the Bodleian Japanese Library. 8 00:01:05,110 --> 00:01:10,690 The Academic Study of Japan was well established in Oxford University at the end of the 1970s, 9 00:01:11,110 --> 00:01:19,420 when the Nissan Motor Corporation provided an endowment for the creation of the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies in 1981. 10 00:01:20,710 --> 00:01:25,840 The centre's strength in social science complements the focus on premodern history, 11 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:30,760 as well as Japanese language and literature that is found in the Oriental Institute. 12 00:01:31,690 --> 00:01:41,709 In 1993, the new building of the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies was constructed at 27 Winchester Road on St Anthony's 13 00:01:41,710 --> 00:01:48,340 College premises and the Borderlands extensive holdings and Japanese of Japanese collections were transferred to it. 14 00:01:49,180 --> 00:01:52,030 This is when the Pavilion's Japanese library was formed. 15 00:01:52,930 --> 00:01:59,320 Later on, the Oriental Institute Library transferred their Japanese holdings to the Bodleian Japanese Library. 16 00:01:59,710 --> 00:02:05,260 But it was only recently that all Japanese special collections were transferred to the Western. 17 00:02:05,260 --> 00:02:08,020 So we have two spaces where collections are. 18 00:02:09,470 --> 00:02:16,670 These collections are curated and managed by Dr. Gillian Evison, who is Portland's keeper of Oriental collections. 19 00:02:17,180 --> 00:02:26,810 Mum Timmins, who no sooner do la head of East Asia and H.T. Chang, Chinese studies librarian, and Dr. Alexandre Alessandra Bianchi, 20 00:02:27,050 --> 00:02:33,980 who is our newly appointed Portland's Japanese librarian, following Izumi Tyler's retirement in 2017. 21 00:02:34,820 --> 00:02:38,209 It is with these colleagues that US conservators work very, 22 00:02:38,210 --> 00:02:46,760 very closely to ensure that the preservation of Japanese collections are to meet the best standard of practice. 23 00:02:48,400 --> 00:02:51,980 But let me tell you a little bit about conservation at the Bodleian. 24 00:02:52,750 --> 00:02:58,390 The Bodleian had been repairing its collections long before the creation of the conservation section. 25 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,440 There had been a binding room since 1864. 26 00:03:02,890 --> 00:03:07,090 The material was also sent out to local bookbinding firms. 27 00:03:07,810 --> 00:03:16,560 There was also a spacious bindery since the new premises were opened in 1946, staffed with both book, binders and book and book. 28 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:27,730 So. So was by then there was a dedicated map mounted in the Maps Department and so-called repairers attached to the Department of Western Manuscripts. 29 00:03:28,690 --> 00:03:35,080 One such repairer was Judy Segal, who began at the Bodleian in 1969. 30 00:03:36,420 --> 00:03:45,840 By 1973, she had developed a conservation workshop and one had changed old fashioned repairs to techniques developed in the Florence workshop. 31 00:03:46,140 --> 00:03:53,100 Flowing following the floods, using acidification, sizing and Japanese tissue repairs. 32 00:03:55,170 --> 00:04:02,219 In 1978, the Bodleian hosted the annual conference of the Society of Archivists and David Vaizey, 33 00:04:02,220 --> 00:04:09,930 then keeper of Western manuscripts and a keen advocate of conservation and who later became Portlaoise librarian, 34 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:15,360 gave three papers acknowledging the the start of a new era for our field. 35 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:24,870 In his own words, the British Library and the Bodleian Library have, despite their age, only just begun to see that conservation, 36 00:04:24,870 --> 00:04:30,479 as opposed to what in previous generations was called binding and mending must 37 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:35,730 be a fundamental part of the organisation and not just an optional extra. 38 00:04:36,690 --> 00:04:41,280 Vaizey was very much thinking along the same lines of Sir Thomas Bodley himself, 39 00:04:41,730 --> 00:04:47,040 who who established preservation as one of the four pillars of Pavilion's core foundations. 40 00:04:47,970 --> 00:04:57,810 Soon after, in 1979, Christopher Clarkson joined the pavilion as conservation officer, bringing a much wider remit to the conservation section, 41 00:04:57,900 --> 00:05:05,010 creating facilities for book conservation alongside alongside the workshop for the Treatment of Special Collections. 42 00:05:05,700 --> 00:05:17,400 Chris also redeployed bindery staff to repair post 1840s material and introduce our farcical system for rehousing loose papers which we still use. 43 00:05:17,490 --> 00:05:20,160 And it is very, very successful, I must say. 44 00:05:21,780 --> 00:05:28,979 He also implemented a boxing programme with a variety of enclosures for deferring collection needs and became 45 00:05:28,980 --> 00:05:36,270 involved in all aspects of display of collections with a strong philosophical foundation created during that time. 46 00:05:36,540 --> 00:05:43,350 Our Conservation Department has gone from strength to strength, overcoming the challenges imposed by times of change, 47 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:49,020 engaging with and supporting the digital shift, attracting and supporting philanthropy, 48 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:58,110 producing original high end research, teaching welcoming visitors and well moving out of the new Bodleian Building 49 00:05:58,890 --> 00:06:04,440 to help design and return to our award building and beloved Western Library. 50 00:06:05,250 --> 00:06:14,700 And all of these without losing sight of one of our most crucial as one of the most crucial aspects of our work, the conservation treatment. 51 00:06:14,700 --> 00:06:19,260 So the physical treatment, the interventi treatment of our physical collections. 52 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:26,550 Today, I feel very proud to say that we are considered as one of the leading conservation teams in the world. 53 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:34,219 Within this period of the seventies and eighties of strong international growth of the conservation 54 00:06:34,220 --> 00:06:39,440 field and beautifully encompassing the development of our Japanese library and collections, 55 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:45,410 the Conservation Department commenced a more systematic approach to the treatment of Japanese collections. 56 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:53,720 Before then, the binding and repair of some Japanese books may have been undertaken in the Libraries Bindery along with other collections. 57 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:59,809 But it wasn't until the establishment of the conservation section in 1978 and 58 00:06:59,810 --> 00:07:05,510 the appointment of Izumi Tylor as curator of the Japanese collections in 1981, 59 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:11,180 that a more strategic method was taken to the conservation of Japanese special collections. 60 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:17,990 A key strength in this process has been the close links between curators and conservators. 61 00:07:18,470 --> 00:07:21,950 Decisions are made jointly. Since then, 62 00:07:21,950 --> 00:07:25,939 the conservation of Japanese collections at the Bodleian has been greatly enriched 63 00:07:25,940 --> 00:07:30,950 by links established with Japan and in particular with the National Diet Library, 64 00:07:30,950 --> 00:07:36,380 Tokyo and the Sami Shikoku Skrull Mountain and Conservation Studio in Kyoto. 65 00:07:37,010 --> 00:07:43,400 The library also benefited from the advice of the Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan 66 00:07:43,790 --> 00:07:49,489 and received financial support from the Japan Foundation and from the Sumitomo Foundation, 67 00:07:49,490 --> 00:07:57,840 respectively. Context with concert conservators of Japanese art on paper and Japanese art on paper. 68 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:04,890 Institutions have continued for many years with the Hirayama Studio, British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. 69 00:08:05,280 --> 00:08:08,190 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Freer Gallery. 70 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:17,720 And the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston may highlight a collaboration that has endured the test of time and changes. 71 00:08:18,200 --> 00:08:26,659 And this is the borderlands with the National Day Library in Tokyo, which began in 1990, following discussions between Izumi Tyler Conservators, 72 00:08:26,660 --> 00:08:36,690 Lucy Blanchard Blaxland and Robert Minty and Mr. Accuracy, Chief of the Conservation Division at that time in 1992. 73 00:08:36,710 --> 00:08:47,420 We soon saw a very positive retort returned from these conversations when a project funded by the Japan Foundation enabled Mr. Seiji or Yama, 74 00:08:47,750 --> 00:08:52,670 a conservation specialist from the National Tide Library, to spend three months at the Bodleian. 75 00:08:53,600 --> 00:08:56,630 Working with Izumi Tyler, Tyler and Robert Mintel, 76 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:02,720 a survey of the Japanese collections was undertaken to identify preservation and conservation needs. 77 00:09:04,310 --> 00:09:11,900 During this fruitful time, the conservation of high priority items was undertaken and conservators received 78 00:09:11,900 --> 00:09:16,220 training in Japanese conservation techniques with Japanese tools and materials. 79 00:09:17,450 --> 00:09:24,049 In 2001, Robert Minty received the fellowship grant awarded by the Foundation for Cultural 80 00:09:24,050 --> 00:09:29,750 Heritage Tokyo to practice for a year at the prestigious Studio Museum, 81 00:09:29,810 --> 00:09:35,510 Shikoku. But the body in collaboration with the National Tide Library didn't stop there. 82 00:09:35,870 --> 00:09:44,120 As in 2004, Chris Clarkson and Robert Minty received the fellowship grant awarded by the Foundation for Cultural 83 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:49,670 Heritage Tokyo to practice for a year at the prestigious studio with Sammy Sugar Okuda again. 84 00:09:50,700 --> 00:10:00,030 Sorry. Yes. To practice conservation and teach European techniques at the conservation studios in the National Diet Library. 85 00:10:00,960 --> 00:10:10,320 There were a lot of visits and a lot of tours, and there was a great exchange situation that was created at that time, which has now continued. 86 00:10:11,010 --> 00:10:21,120 But I will explain that at a later stage. The visit also gave an opportunity for our team to see the conservation and storage of Japanese 87 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:26,610 collections and to visit other conservation studios and materials suppliers in Tokyo and Kyoto, 88 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:37,320 as well as Pebble paper makers in Gifu. Furthermore, our Conservatives have attended very prominent Japanese paper conservation courses held in Japan, 89 00:10:37,650 --> 00:10:43,440 organised jointly by the Ikram and the Tokyo National Research Institute of Cultural Properties. 90 00:10:44,430 --> 00:10:47,820 And more recently, in December 2016, 91 00:10:48,420 --> 00:10:57,540 the National Diet Library held the 27th Preservation Forum at the Tokyo Main Library under the theme of preservation in digital age. 92 00:10:58,320 --> 00:11:03,180 I had the privilege to be their keynote speaker and gave a lecture on the role of the conservator 93 00:11:03,180 --> 00:11:09,360 in the digital era with a special focus on our borderlands digitisation programs such as Polonsky. 94 00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:18,780 The lecturer also stressed that despite the emphasis placed on the virtual library, physical collections are the subject of the digital world. 95 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:23,880 Ultimately, they are important to the people because they define our identity. 96 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:31,830 Therefore, we have a duty to continue meeting high standards of preservation and to maintain and enhance the resources to make this happen. 97 00:11:33,310 --> 00:11:37,750 Also during that trip, I had a very successful meeting with Professor. 98 00:11:37,780 --> 00:11:42,460 He took us to Hawaii, former president of the Japanese Friends of the Berkelium, 99 00:11:42,910 --> 00:11:50,350 Dr. Larnaca Makoto, who is the current President, and Mr. Junichi Soma, Secretary and Treasurer. 100 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,879 This was a great opportunity to discuss future possibilities, 101 00:11:54,880 --> 00:12:00,160 to continue enhancing our links with overseas friends who are keen to support the Bodleian. 102 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:05,620 We are very thankful for their loyalty and continuous effort to be part of the Bodleian 103 00:12:05,620 --> 00:12:10,780 family and this presentation is very much an acknowledgement to their support. 104 00:12:14,230 --> 00:12:19,600 One wonderful outcome of my visit to Tokyo was the setup of an exchange program 105 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:23,380 for conservators at Berkeley and the National Diet Lab Library of Japan, 106 00:12:24,160 --> 00:12:28,450 which is aimed to share their expertise in various areas of conservation. 107 00:12:29,110 --> 00:12:34,330 We expect this program to be mutually beneficial for conservators at both institutions, 108 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:39,490 widening their skill base on Western and Japanese collections and preservation methods. 109 00:12:40,150 --> 00:12:45,520 As a result, Portland hosted the first exchange conservator in this program, Ms. 110 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:51,669 Kana Yamaguchi, preventive conservator who worked closely with her preventive conservation team, 111 00:12:51,670 --> 00:12:56,530 learning about our environmental monitoring system and digitisation workflows. 112 00:12:57,340 --> 00:13:01,989 And just in a month's time, our preventive conservator, Alex Walker, 113 00:13:01,990 --> 00:13:08,380 and assistant book conservator Allie seven Evans will be spending two weeks with our colleagues at the MDL, 114 00:13:08,830 --> 00:13:13,479 where they will be learning about environmental control methods, preservation, collaborations, 115 00:13:13,480 --> 00:13:21,180 disaster planning and salvage of damaged materials, digitisation and carrying out practical training with the Western Bindings section. 116 00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:26,680 We are most grateful for these fabulous programs that MDL have prepared for us, 117 00:13:27,550 --> 00:13:31,480 and we hope that the relationship will continue so steadily for many years. 118 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:43,050 We have we have prepared a table full of materials today that relate relate to the work that we that we do. 119 00:13:43,670 --> 00:13:47,909 And at this point, it's worth to say that some of those we cannot pass round. 120 00:13:47,910 --> 00:13:51,899 But I will show them to you later on if you come closer to the desk. 121 00:13:51,900 --> 00:13:55,350 And also Revit will lend me a hand in answering questions about them. 122 00:13:55,890 --> 00:14:00,330 Some of them are delicate. Some some of those things can be toxic if open. 123 00:14:00,330 --> 00:14:04,559 So we would prefer to keep you safe and the materials on the desk. 124 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:07,799 And that's the reason why we wouldn't be passing them. 125 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:15,540 But the papers are okay to touch, so I will be passing them around now before I start talking about my next slide. 126 00:14:17,340 --> 00:14:24,870 Feel the three. Feel free to feel the three kinds of papers that I am showing you today, 127 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:32,040 because they they constitute the foundation of Japanese paper making all our collections. 128 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:40,019 All the collections that we hold here at the Bodleian are made with possibly very, very similar papers of these kind of papers themselves. 129 00:14:40,020 --> 00:14:45,120 So have a feel for them in the lack of real collections today. 130 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:58,840 So before I show you some project highlights that we have worked on over the years, 131 00:14:59,410 --> 00:15:07,569 I would like to point out that an essential fact in conservation the treatment of Japanese collections requires an appreciation 132 00:15:07,570 --> 00:15:14,470 and understanding of the materials and techniques used in the production and the authorship of their structures and formats. 133 00:15:15,130 --> 00:15:22,570 For example, Japanese papers or Washi, while being the word for Japan, Japanese or Japan and Shi for Paper, 134 00:15:22,930 --> 00:15:31,660 have their own unique qualities and characteristics of strength and flexibility due to the type and length of fibres used in their manufacture. 135 00:15:32,080 --> 00:15:41,110 They can be made from Kozo, can be Matsumoto shrubs, which are the ones the papers that you are handling now. 136 00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:48,760 Why she Japanese paper is excellent to produce book covers and then papers or for books, leaves and boxes. 137 00:15:49,210 --> 00:15:58,180 Furthermore, the strength of Washi makes it ideal as repair tissue, and therefore it has been widely adopted in Western paper conservation. 138 00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:14,830 All the materials typically, typically, typically found in Japanese collections are paper dyes such as Yasha Combs, 139 00:16:14,950 --> 00:16:18,010 which we will show you in a short while. 140 00:16:19,690 --> 00:16:28,839 They are the natural yellow brown dye extracted from combs of the elder tree, which is used to to in Japan since the eighth century. 141 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:33,280 And it is used to tie dye papers, for example, in scroll mounting. 142 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:43,150 Traditionally, Yasha Combs would be used to tie dye some of the layers of paper that would compose the scroll black writings or sumi, 143 00:16:43,420 --> 00:16:45,760 which are traditionally carbon based. 144 00:16:45,780 --> 00:16:56,950 So origin from carbon, so extremely stable inks and achieving very deep blacks as well, mixed with nickel or animal glue as a binder. 145 00:16:58,540 --> 00:17:01,750 Painting and printing colouring substances such as indigo. 146 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:08,000 So as you know, Indigo appears in different places in the world in a very disconnected way. 147 00:17:08,090 --> 00:17:16,000 So while the Mexicans were using that, the Maya were using Indigo already in very ancient times, 148 00:17:16,420 --> 00:17:24,850 the Chinese and the Asian cultures were already producing Indigo too, and that was apparently without without any connection between them. 149 00:17:24,850 --> 00:17:28,089 So these are materials that are very, 150 00:17:28,090 --> 00:17:37,660 very old and had been discovered at different times by different people in different cultures and are represented in our collections. 151 00:17:39,460 --> 00:17:45,340 Other materials can be silk binding threads, for example, and so many others. 152 00:17:45,340 --> 00:17:49,870 There is a myriad of materials that we want to learn about. 153 00:17:49,900 --> 00:17:54,580 We don't know about all of them yet, and we keep building our library of materials. 154 00:17:54,580 --> 00:17:59,170 We keep studying them through our collections. So each collection item is a challenge. 155 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:02,140 Each of them will be a bit different to the other. 156 00:18:02,470 --> 00:18:08,650 And those are the differences we're interested in because they don't just pose a challenge for conservation treatment, 157 00:18:08,650 --> 00:18:13,120 but they also pose a question about, do we have this material? 158 00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:17,259 Do we have it represented in our library of materials? We purchase samples. 159 00:18:17,260 --> 00:18:25,900 Sometimes we make them ourselves with Japanese experts or with other experts that would like to teach us and would be able to come and work with us. 160 00:18:26,230 --> 00:18:37,150 And so we're building slowly. It's not a wonderful it's not a very big yet collection of of materials, but we are building it very, very consciously. 161 00:18:37,150 --> 00:18:42,040 We're not in a hurry. Each time we add one material to those shelves, 162 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:49,540 we make sure that we understand exactly what we are adding and how that material needs to be looked after because it is 163 00:18:49,540 --> 00:18:58,630 in our collections and because we must know before we put our hands at work to treat an object and to change it forever. 164 00:18:59,050 --> 00:19:04,600 Even if it's for stability, we need to make sure that we understand what we are doing. 165 00:19:04,600 --> 00:19:12,999 And so with that, with that fact comes the study of materials, not just the physical study, 166 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:21,040 the making of them, but also the analysis, the the ability to to identify them in, in our collections. 167 00:19:24,220 --> 00:19:32,920 The majority of books in our special collections still have their original bindings, and the most frequently encountered problems are broken threads, 168 00:19:33,220 --> 00:19:39,580 damaged covers, wormholes and damaged seal corner protectors at the spine edges of the books. 169 00:19:40,390 --> 00:19:47,500 Books with broken threads can usually be resolved with without this binding the book itself as 170 00:19:47,500 --> 00:19:55,880 the textbooks are still held together by their not naka doji or inner binding twists and ones, 171 00:19:55,900 --> 00:20:06,360 I saw someone make them. These are absolutely wonderfully made twists of Japanese paper that are that achieve well. 172 00:20:06,370 --> 00:20:11,860 They have a strength and incredible strength and they are stepped through the spine edge of the book. 173 00:20:11,890 --> 00:20:17,380 And they are they constitute the real spine of the book, the real skeleton that keeps it together. 174 00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:23,970 So when are the sewing threads, when other when other binding materials break and fail? 175 00:20:23,980 --> 00:20:34,670 Those are usually those are lasting covers and warm holes can often be repaired in situ without these binding to in 176 00:20:34,690 --> 00:20:43,720 filling holes with an appropriate Japanese paper and corner protectors can be repainted or replaced just as easily. 177 00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:52,200 More complex problems, though, require much more intervention. 178 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:58,320 And meanwhile, the complete is binding of a book or an album or the disassembly of a scroll. 179 00:20:59,780 --> 00:21:08,270 Structures can be very complex. So not just the materials that constitute the information, not just the colours, not just things, 180 00:21:08,690 --> 00:21:15,320 but the actual supporting materials can be of a complexity that needs to be understood. 181 00:21:16,810 --> 00:21:23,139 We also need to understand historic repairs and value them as appropriate. 182 00:21:23,140 --> 00:21:29,500 So historic repairing conservation, not just in Japanese with Japanese materials. 183 00:21:30,190 --> 00:21:34,360 That is something that we need to assess and analyse as something that we might 184 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:39,010 want to keep because it forms an integral part of the history of the object. 185 00:21:39,340 --> 00:21:48,879 So there is always those questions floating about when we wonder when we are when we are studying an object before we propose a conservation 186 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:58,660 treatment of the problems commonly encountered are fragile paint layers which require consolidation to stabilise them and prevent further losses. 187 00:21:59,410 --> 00:22:07,900 This is the case of Nara, John, which is what you are looking at on the screen, not Asian or NARA. 188 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:19,150 Picture books are a genre of lavishly illustrated literature, hand produced in book or scroll format in Japan from the 15th to the 18th centuries. 189 00:22:20,380 --> 00:22:29,020 Literature in Nara belongs predominantly to the Ottogi Sushi, the generic name for a collection of popular short stories, 190 00:22:29,350 --> 00:22:38,170 which were in circulation around the more dramatic period, which is from 1336 to 1573. 191 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:45,999 The narration in the Badlands collection are 21 volumes that date from the meat end period. 192 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:52,570 So this is the 17th century which are produced with ink colour and gold leaf on paper. 193 00:22:52,870 --> 00:22:58,459 Do you think you still. Acquiring those papers. 194 00:22:58,460 --> 00:23:00,650 And so one of them one of those is camping. 195 00:23:02,140 --> 00:23:10,690 The volumes also have leaves decorated with silver leaf and indigo dyed paper covers decorated with gold paint. 196 00:23:11,590 --> 00:23:19,300 Ten out of these 21 volumes were concerned by Robert Minty, my co-writer for today's Lecture in 2017. 197 00:23:19,930 --> 00:23:31,149 Thanks to the generous funding that we were given by the Sumitomo Foundation, the treatment focussed on consolidation of fragile paint layers, 198 00:23:31,150 --> 00:23:38,800 which is one of the most complex treatments in conservation in particular areas of powdery or flaking. 199 00:23:38,950 --> 00:23:44,200 Go from a white Japanese pigment made from crushed oyster shells. 200 00:23:45,610 --> 00:23:51,159 And I've got to go from here, which you are very welcome to come and admire at the end. 201 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:55,540 But this is the box where it comes from, right where it comes in. 202 00:23:56,230 --> 00:24:03,280 And so we crush it. So we crush shells and we make these beautiful. 203 00:24:03,460 --> 00:24:11,560 Why Figment? Robert tested this material, so he found it with different adhesives. 204 00:24:11,890 --> 00:24:20,350 And he he tested four for stability and also for different techniques, different conservation techniques for consolidation. 205 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:26,469 And that gave us an indication of what would be the best material to use for the consolidation. 206 00:24:26,470 --> 00:24:32,500 So can you imagine? I'm not sure. I think there's an image later on which I will I will show you. 207 00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:43,120 But can you imagine working under magnification, looking at the paint layer of these modern books, looking at something like this? 208 00:24:43,990 --> 00:24:53,049 This is an area of loss and with a very, very fine brush, sometimes treble zero, which is as fine as you can go, or four zero as I think you can. 209 00:24:53,050 --> 00:24:54,190 You can go as fine as that. 210 00:24:55,230 --> 00:25:04,889 Only a few hairs under magnification, applying an adhesive that's been carefully selected to reinforce the edges of that loss. 211 00:25:04,890 --> 00:25:08,070 So it so media doesn't come off any more. 212 00:25:09,450 --> 00:25:16,769 When we are requested items for loan, sometimes they appear to be in very, very good condition. 213 00:25:16,770 --> 00:25:21,959 But when we use magnification, we many times see things like that. 214 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:26,820 And that's why sometimes we would say, well, before this goes, before this is moved, 215 00:25:26,820 --> 00:25:31,230 before these is handled, any further and further damage can take place. 216 00:25:31,590 --> 00:25:36,360 We need to do something about these. So consolidation, that's the name of the technique. 217 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:44,310 And that was very much the central technique, the central treatment that we applied with an eye on volumes. 218 00:25:50,710 --> 00:25:55,330 So for this project, samples of one which I just showed you briefly, 219 00:25:55,600 --> 00:26:01,180 were prepared in a traditional way by grinding and adding an animal glue gelatine binder. 220 00:26:01,930 --> 00:26:06,640 These were painted out in thick layers to replicate paint layers found in the manuscripts 221 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:12,010 and used to observe their tendency to flake and the effects of various consultants. 222 00:26:12,550 --> 00:26:18,520 A number of materials were tested to find the most effective in establishing the paint layers and the 223 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:26,799 chosen consolidated AC with based adhesive called funerary was applied by fine brush under magnification. 224 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,910 So as I was explaining to you, these are Robert's hands. 225 00:26:32,550 --> 00:26:38,100 And I think I don't know how many hours or days or how can we count this, but it was over a year. 226 00:26:38,130 --> 00:26:47,850 Definitely working on these projects, some projects that will give you an indication of the scale of conservation treatments for complex problems. 227 00:26:48,450 --> 00:26:53,790 Sometimes we've worked on projects that would last just over two years, three years. 228 00:26:54,150 --> 00:26:59,580 Sometimes we'll work on a project that we can turn around in one day or even four a week, for example. 229 00:26:59,580 --> 00:27:09,670 So this is this is one of the complex ones that I'm sure you are showing you here and this study of pigment and find their combinations. 230 00:27:09,690 --> 00:27:16,980 We have that here as well. And Robert will be able to show it to you at the end when you come close to the desk. 231 00:27:23,770 --> 00:27:32,530 Our team takes a scientific approach to understanding our collections, and non-destructive analysis is often involved in our projects. 232 00:27:32,980 --> 00:27:43,420 In the case of Narayanan, we used X-ray fluorescence to determine the white pigment to confirm if the white pigment was calcium based. 233 00:27:43,450 --> 00:27:51,400 As we as we thought, as we have guessed, discounting other pigments such as Led White, which was also used in Japanese tradition. 234 00:27:52,660 --> 00:27:57,790 Each pigment has, of course, a different type kind of chemistry and configuration. 235 00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:06,159 They are very different substances. So when we apply any material that is going to mix with the original materials of the manuscript, 236 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:12,520 we don't want to do that without having confirmation of what we have enhanced chemically. 237 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:22,450 Pigments and other materials will react very differently to to what we add to what we put in that manuscript that is new and alien to it. 238 00:28:24,030 --> 00:28:28,620 So we need to be very careful. And sometimes scientific examination is crucial. 239 00:28:28,890 --> 00:28:34,200 We wouldn't we wouldn't move without without having that scientific confirmation. 240 00:28:36,410 --> 00:28:40,070 And this is an image after conservation. The one here on the left. 241 00:28:41,030 --> 00:28:44,060 This is the not. I hunt volumes in their new books. 242 00:28:44,570 --> 00:28:52,750 Each of them in a new folder. And this is a project that really helped us understand this manuscript much better. 243 00:28:53,140 --> 00:29:01,030 This one and similar one, similar ones from the same period are one of those ones simply that have similar pigments on them, similar kinds of media. 244 00:29:01,630 --> 00:29:05,950 We were also able to establish that further research would be needed, 245 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:13,180 in particular focusing on the beautifully produced and leaves a sample or an image of which you can you can see here. 246 00:29:14,140 --> 00:29:17,980 Can you have a guess of how these were produced? Anyone? 247 00:29:21,360 --> 00:29:25,260 I'll give you a clue. Those. Those floral motives are embossed. 248 00:29:26,790 --> 00:29:35,300 We think. Well, this is we felt we thought he was quite right. 249 00:29:35,310 --> 00:29:39,870 We hadn't we hadn't seen these in the collection before, had we read it. 250 00:29:39,870 --> 00:29:47,040 And we felt he was as beautiful, as rare. And we know now that it was produced with silver. 251 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:53,430 So this is silver leaf and the end leaves are completely covered with it. 252 00:29:53,790 --> 00:29:57,720 And then, of course, the decorations were what produced. 253 00:29:58,260 --> 00:30:03,180 So with treating the manuscript, we didn't really have time to focus on this. 254 00:30:03,180 --> 00:30:07,320 But this opens a new page in the research of of this particular collection. 255 00:30:08,550 --> 00:30:10,800 We tried to produce original research. 256 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:19,110 We tried to produce research that is actually going to to be useful also for other conservation colleagues, curators elsewhere. 257 00:30:19,770 --> 00:30:23,879 And so far in my Google searches and asking around, 258 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:32,610 I haven't really seen a project that focuses on focuses on the degradation of silver silver leaf in Japanese collection. 259 00:30:32,610 --> 00:30:39,150 So there is an open question and there is a potential research project that we we might go for in the future. 260 00:30:41,020 --> 00:30:49,270 Moving on. This is another manuscript. These images show the Schwinn Jo manuscript being remounted and framed for display. 261 00:30:50,590 --> 00:30:56,740 Some of you perhaps have heard about this Schwinger, which is one of Pavilion's major treasures, 262 00:30:57,100 --> 00:31:06,100 and it was produced in 1613 following negotiations between Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu and the East India Company. 263 00:31:06,670 --> 00:31:10,090 And it has been held at the Bodleian since the 1680s. 264 00:31:10,630 --> 00:31:15,790 It is the only copy in existence, and it gave English ships trading privileges in Japan. 265 00:31:16,540 --> 00:31:21,070 So such is the importance and allowed Englishmen to settle there. 266 00:31:21,610 --> 00:31:30,760 William Adams, the military leader on whom the main character in James Clavell 1975 novel Shogun is based, 267 00:31:31,150 --> 00:31:34,690 was the first Englishman known to have visited Japan. 268 00:31:35,650 --> 00:31:41,920 He made the trade agreement with John Sarris, captain of the first English voyage to Japan on board of the Globe, 269 00:31:42,550 --> 00:31:52,870 and his logbook for voyages made between 1614 and 16 1619 to China and Japan is also part of our collection. 270 00:31:53,800 --> 00:32:02,560 A special event was held at the Bodleian Library in 2013 to mark the 400th anniversary of the first trade agreement between England and Japan. 271 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:12,100 Precisely. A mini symposium featuring a series of talks was organised on The Stranger in particular and the subject of international relations, 272 00:32:12,550 --> 00:32:16,990 and the manuscript was displayed to the public in the old library press column. 273 00:32:19,060 --> 00:32:25,810 Before these, the stranger had already been conserved for its display in Japan in 1990, 274 00:32:26,500 --> 00:32:30,700 and this involved bringing it to a flat format rather than rolled. 275 00:32:31,240 --> 00:32:35,170 I'm sorry that I didn't have images of these. We did look for them. 276 00:32:35,620 --> 00:32:46,030 But we do know that that transformation between a scroll that is sometimes very stiff and rolled take it to a flat format, 277 00:32:46,090 --> 00:32:50,469 relaxed, and making sure that it displays properly. 278 00:32:50,470 --> 00:32:56,530 And it's also stable and it cannot be damaged by by different agents. 279 00:32:56,950 --> 00:33:08,620 That process is complex, and particularly when we have layers of adhesive or layers of supporting materials behind it that we need to remove very, 280 00:33:08,620 --> 00:33:13,780 very carefully while the object is damp, so even more fragile. 281 00:33:15,280 --> 00:33:23,680 Imagine a piece of dump paper with something firmly attached to it, sometimes by very thick layers of adhesive, and imagine having to remove that. 282 00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:31,060 So that's what we are talking about. And as you can see, this is a pretty large size manuscript. 283 00:33:33,290 --> 00:33:42,530 And another project was the Tashima Project, which is aimed at a period at hands or in my kimono, 284 00:33:42,830 --> 00:33:51,290 that describes the tale of the fisherman, Rasheem Otero, who was transported to an underwater palace as the guest of queen or to him. 285 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:53,450 The story is interesting. 286 00:33:54,170 --> 00:34:03,620 On his return, he finds that hundreds of years have passed in his home village and people tell him that Shima himself had disappeared at sea, 287 00:34:04,610 --> 00:34:11,750 I think, 300 years ago. I think the story says he was about 300 years ago, and so would Ashima. 288 00:34:11,780 --> 00:34:18,950 After opening a magic, mysterious box that was given to him by Princess of Bohemia, he is on the ice. 289 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:27,140 So it is quite a quite a sad story. And I'm pretty sure that the philosophy behind this is phenomenal. 290 00:34:27,230 --> 00:34:33,380 And there is a lot of learning to to to to be acquired from the story in Japanese culture. 291 00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:34,940 However, 292 00:34:34,940 --> 00:34:48,530 the scroll in which you know which is of was produced within can colour on paper measuring about nine metres long was also we were also sorry for it. 293 00:34:48,890 --> 00:35:00,590 It was in poor condition and it had beautiful panels full of calligraphy and illustrations due to its age and natural degradation. 294 00:35:00,590 --> 00:35:08,420 It was in very, very poor condition, as I said, and the full conservation treatment was needed by a specialist scroll manta. 295 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:14,060 So this is one, another one of the complex projects that we've been working on along the years. 296 00:35:14,720 --> 00:35:20,870 So we were just not a bit sorry for the poor fishermen or Ashima, but also for the manuscript. 297 00:35:21,260 --> 00:35:28,850 And we we tried our best, we worked on it and the result was really stunning in order, however, 298 00:35:28,850 --> 00:35:34,470 because it is a such a treasure in order to ensure that we were we were taking the most informed approach. 299 00:35:34,820 --> 00:35:39,170 We contacted the Department of Arts and Crafts of the Government of Japan, 300 00:35:39,680 --> 00:35:45,110 who recommended that the conservation work to be undertaken by Philip meredith at the 301 00:35:45,110 --> 00:35:50,600 Far Eastern Conservation Centre in Leiden with funding from the Sumitomo Foundation. 302 00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:58,010 And so we followed the advice and the hand scroll was concerned by Mr. Meredith in 1996, 303 00:35:58,010 --> 00:36:07,130 97 with a cane, and that was with participation from Robert Minty at various stages of the treatment. 304 00:36:07,730 --> 00:36:15,860 This was, as I said, not a very straightforward process and involved the complete disassembly of the scroll consolidation of paint layers. 305 00:36:15,860 --> 00:36:21,559 Like in the narration example that I've showed you earlier on the removal of old linings with 306 00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:27,320 it just described that that damp piece of paper with adhesive that wants to stick everywhere, 307 00:36:27,740 --> 00:36:31,430 removing of bits of paper, all repairs, the lot, 308 00:36:31,430 --> 00:36:37,549 etc. relining so lining again after the removal and the cleaning of all those old 309 00:36:37,550 --> 00:36:45,590 materials reassembly and then mounting it in a in a new wooden wooden scroll box. 310 00:36:47,850 --> 00:36:51,230 So there are six images, but this is also one. 311 00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:56,010 This is just the very small this is the tip of the iceberg that I'm showing you here. 312 00:36:59,190 --> 00:37:05,790 One final project that I would like to show you is the conservation of SAG Harbour and excuse me, 313 00:37:06,720 --> 00:37:14,280 which are printed texts of the Kansas School of Note Theatre dating from the 1608 to 1615. 314 00:37:15,410 --> 00:37:25,490 These three volumes are important examples of woodblock printing printing with moveable types which were unusual in Japan during that period. 315 00:37:26,750 --> 00:37:32,060 Saga Bun is made with calls of paper. Another one of the samples that you've you've been handling. 316 00:37:33,580 --> 00:37:37,570 And bound with a traditional thread binding of Fukuda Toshi. 317 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:42,080 It has tight paper covers decorated with powdered mica. 318 00:37:42,620 --> 00:37:48,790 Powdered mica, as you can imagine, this is another another material so exotic to us. 319 00:37:48,800 --> 00:37:53,090 It was not used in Western manuscripts or Western art. 320 00:37:53,100 --> 00:37:56,570 Again, something that we want to explore and study. 321 00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:01,770 How do we work with powdered mica? How do we treat it? And. 322 00:38:03,620 --> 00:38:11,959 It. It needed complete risk. Sorry, depicting the figures of cranes and waves, which I'm not sure if you can work out from these images. 323 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:19,700 I can see the waves here and those possibly are the cranes flying over the waves. 324 00:38:21,410 --> 00:38:26,030 The volumes required substantial repairs to that soft fibrous paper, 325 00:38:26,390 --> 00:38:33,950 complete re sewing and the new sheets wraparound cover, a technique called Missouri, 326 00:38:34,220 --> 00:38:43,730 was used to gently humidify and flatten the leaves of the book between sheets of Japanese paper and rhythm flat on a Japanese drying board, 327 00:38:43,850 --> 00:38:50,750 which we called carry body. So that is something that at Japanese conservators would make themselves. 328 00:38:52,250 --> 00:38:59,570 And it requires again, it involves Japanese paper, a wooden structure to build the panel. 329 00:38:59,900 --> 00:39:09,260 It requires parsimony, Jews, to be painted on it over and over again until it it has enough stiffness as well 330 00:39:09,260 --> 00:39:17,540 as some porosity which helps transpire and help the the collections dry on it. 331 00:39:20,740 --> 00:39:25,750 And that was the last example that I wanted to show you today, that those are just as I said, 332 00:39:25,990 --> 00:39:32,800 these are just a small representation of the work that the Conservation Department's been doing along these years. 333 00:39:33,310 --> 00:39:41,800 However, I'm thinking about them about conservation of Japanese collections in a more strategic way and a larger scale. 334 00:39:42,250 --> 00:39:51,340 Gillian. Gillian Evison Alessandra and I have already started discussions about the condition survey and digitisation of the Japanese collections. 335 00:39:51,700 --> 00:39:58,390 So that is the present and the future, not only as a way to provide the best access to them, 336 00:39:58,870 --> 00:40:06,940 but also as a method to update our conservation records and help as determined current and future treatment priorities for the collection. 337 00:40:07,570 --> 00:40:17,140 So the story continues, and this is why I showed you an image which isn't from our collections, but it doesn't matter. 338 00:40:17,590 --> 00:40:23,830 This is a crane which in Japanese tradition symbolises longevity, everything that lasts. 339 00:40:24,220 --> 00:40:36,520 And I just wanted to just say simply that we hope that our collaborations with our fantastic curators, our conservators, other institutions, 340 00:40:36,730 --> 00:40:45,400 the friends of the Bodleian, the Japanese friends of the Bodleian Library, will continue, as the crane predicts, forever, as long as we can. 341 00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:50,739 And I will see if I can pronounce these. 342 00:40:50,740 --> 00:40:55,690 But go say to Arica Togo's. I must have been thinking Japanese.