Restauration Mosaïques |
Vaison-la-Romaine
France
The "Polychrome mosaic of the duck" of Vaison-la-Romaine was located in the cellar of a down-town trader! It has been removed in 2005 by the Workshop of Conservation of Mosaics of Arles. Cut in 13 pannels, the mosaic was stored in the archaeological museum Théo Desplans during 10 years.
The project of 2015 concerned the documentation, the consolidation and the conservation of the pavement in order to exhibit it in the museum.
The operations allowed to discover the peparatory paintings UNDER the mosaic, to consolide the differents pannels, to clean the surface completely covered by a contemporary "crust" and to transfer the mosaic on a new support.
The conservation operations took place in a room of the museum to let the public see the treatment.
Irst - IInd century A.D
Marble, Limestone
Carole Lambert (conservator), Marion Rapilliard (conservator), Christine Bezin (curator)
The mosaic in situ
Different pieces from the Mosaïque aux Oiseaux
Removal of the antic mortar at the reverse side of the mosaic
Traces of paintings on the bedding layer
Antic mortar totally removed before its consolidation
At the face, tesserae are very dirty
Cleaning of the surface
Main pattern, completely covered by a black "crust"
Discover of the main pattern, unknown until now
Clean fragments are stuck on their new support
Reintegration of tesserae samples taken during the removal
New mortar to fill the gaps
Paintings of the incomplete patterns
Mosaic exhibited in the museum
