Special Projects – Local and International

Conservation Treatment of the Charles Dyce Collection for the National University of Singapore

Artlab Australia was very pleased to be engaged by the National University of Singapore Museums to undertake the treatment of the Charles Dyce collection. The collection consisted of 22 handwritten manuscript pages and 32 watercolours, written and painted by Charles Dyce (1816-1853), a Scotsman who worked and travelled in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia during the 1840s.

The works were written and painted on a variety of papers, and arrived attached to a variety of mounts and mats. The works required cleaning, stabilisation and repair, as well as preparation for an exhibition now showing at NUS Museums, curated by Irene Lim Lay Peng ( Sketching the Straits – see http://www.nus.edu.sg/museums/charles_dyce_lecture_series.htm for more information and details on how to order the exhibition catalogue).

Treatment of the collection commenced at Artlab Australia in May of 2002 and was completed in January 2003. In September of 2003, Alice Cannon (Conservator, Paper and Preventive Conservation) travelled to NUS Museums to present a paper at the opening of the Charles Dyce exhibition, about the treatment of the collection.

About the collection

This image shows the collection being unpacked from their crate, after their arrival in Adelaide for treatment.

About the artworks

One of the watercolours after treatment. An inscription on the verso of this work read Travelling in Java/The Resident's Carriage/Buitenzorg June 1845 . Using transmitted light, a watermark was detected in this paper during the examination stage of the treatment.

This watermark indicates that the paper was made in an English paper mill, J. Whatman's Turkey Mill, a paper mill well known for its quality art papers. Often watermarks (if present) can help to date artworks more exactly.

An example of one of the ink and wash drawings in the collection. The work is titled The River from Monkey Bridge and is an image from the Singaporean series of works.

Many of the artworks had foxing spots throughout the paper. This image is a close-up of a foxing spot.

Animal glue had been used to adhere many of the artworks to their backing sheets.

What's this?

About the manuscript pages

This image shows the manuscript pages before treatment. Many of these pages had decorative borders and illustrations.

Both artworks and manuscript pages had become distorted and cockled, for a number of reasons. This picture was taken using raking light.

The manuscript pages were made from very brittle paper and had sustained the most physical damage. This page was the first in the Singapore section of the manuscript, and had a decorative border down one side, painted using watercolours.

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