Conservation Treatment and Non-Destructive Investigation of Six Japanese Woodblock Prints by Utagawa Kunisada: A Multi-Interdisciplinary Project at the Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art

ABSTRACT

In 2017, the Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art (Genova, Italy) acquired a group of ukiyo-e polychrome prints designed by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865). The collection was donated to be preserved and to be made accessible to the public, promoting the planning of a specific conservation project. The aim of this paper is to summarize the results of the whole project, highlighting its successful multidisciplinary approach that involved historians, curators, conservators, and conservation scientists. The project was supported by analytical imaging and non-invasive spectroscopic analysis. The collected data enabled a more targeted approach to the conservation of the ukiyo-e prints. The treatments were calibrated through the knowledge of the surface morphology of the prints, while the identification of colorants made it possible to assess sensitivity to wet treatments, pH, and exposure to light.

ZUSAMMENFASSUNG

Im Jahr 2017 erwarb das Edoardo Chiossone Museum für Orientalische Kunst (Genua, Italien) eine Gruppe von polychromen Ukiyo-e-Drucken, die von Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) entworfen wurden. Die Sammlung wurde gespendet, um bewahrt und der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich gemacht zu werden, was die Planung eines spezifischen Konservierungsprojekts förderte. Ziel dieses Papiers ist es, die Ergebnisse des gesamten Projekts zusammenzufassen und dabei den erfolgreichen multidisziplinären Ansatz hervorzuheben, der Historiker, Kuratoren, Konservatoren und Konservierungswissenschaftler einbezog. Das Projekt wurde durch analytische Bildgebung und nicht-invasive spektroskopische Analysen unterstützt. Die gesammelten Daten ermöglichten einen gezielteren Ansatz zur Konservierung der Ukiyo-e-Drucke. Die Behandlungen wurden durch das Wissen über die Oberflächenmorphologie der Drucke kalibriert, während die Identifizierung der Farbstoffe es ermöglichte, die Empfindlichkeit gegenüber Nassbehandlungen, pH-Werten und Lichteinwirkung zu bewerten.

KEYWORDS:

• Ukiyo-e; Japanese woodblock prints; Asian art conservation; Japanese colorants; paper conservation treatment

SCHLAGWÖRTER:

• Ukiyo-e
• japanische Holzschnitte
• asiatische Kunstkonservierung
• japanische Farbstoffe
• Papierkonservierungsbehandlung

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art in Genova was built to house one of the most important collections of Japanese art in Europe. The collection was donated as a bequest by Ligurian engraver Edoardo Chiossone (1833–1898), who moved to Japan in 1875 at the invitation of the Japanese Imperial Government. The artist spent the last twenty-three years of his life in Tokyo, where he is still buried. For more information see: Failla D., ed. 2002. Masterpieces of Japanese art from the Edo period to modernisation: [Museo d'Arte Orientale ‘Edoardo Chiossone’; 25 July 2001–16 June 2002]. Milan: Silvana Editore.

2 Because of their colour variety, polychrome ukiyo-e prints are also often named as nishiki-e prints, literally ‘brocade picture’. The conventional date that marks the start of polychrome printing in Japan is 1765, the year in which Suzuki Harunobu (1724-1770) designed an illustrated New Year calendar, at the request of a poetry group in Edo. Before nishiki-e prints, colour was added by brush or printed with up to three wooden blocks.

3 Beginning in the 1760s, a contrast emerged in Japan between an art intimately tied to tradition, a privilege only for the upper social class, and a new artistic trend, which on the contrary reflected more the taste of the citizens: ukiyo-e art. Indeed, ukiyo-e art represents the values of an emerging culture, developed within an urban social dimension, who distanced itself from severity and rigour by enjoying the pleasures of life.

4 Time period including the beginning and end of Japan's traditional censorship system.

5 In 1842, as a result of the tightening forms of censorship implemented by the Tokugawa government, a sumptuary law was enacted, limiting the maximum number of colours per copy to eight and establishing a fixed price of sixteen mon. This constraint only lapsed in the late 1840s, consequent upon the relaxation of Japanese sumptuary laws.

6 Known items with same subject for print 1: Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University (006-2294, 006-2298, 006-2304); Edo-Tokyo Museum (91220410); Portland Art Museum (2018.8.1). Print 2: Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University (006-2292, 006-2296). Print 3a: Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University (100-2793); Tokyo Metro Library (M242-028-01 (03)); Museum of Fine Arts Boston (00.1007a). Print 3b: Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University (100-2792); Tokyo Metro Library (M242-028-01 (02)); Museum of Fine Arts Boston (00.1007b). Print 4: Museum of Fine Arts Boston (00.1007b). Print 5 Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University (101-2750).

7 Produced and traded by Brenta S.r.l. For more information see https://nasier.it/en/home-eng/ [Accessed 30 September 2023].

8 The starch paste is traditionally used in the Japanese woodblock printing technique to facilitate the transfer and fixing of the inks on the paper.

9 The hydrogels were developed during the (FP7) NANOFORART and (H2020) NANORESTART projects. The two European projects were coordinated by the inter-university consortium CSGI (Research Center for Colloids and Nanoscience), established in Firenze in December 1993. For more information see: http://www.csgi.unifi.it/products/about.html [Accessed 30 September 2023].

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Valeria Pesce

Valeria Pesce is a young professional who graduated in 2022 from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan with a Master’s in Conservation of Paper, Books, Photographs, Film and Digital Media. During her studies, she gained work experience as an intern in conservation and research departments at the National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic and at the National Library of Norway, Oslo. Thanks to the support of the Erasmus + program for recent graduates, Valeria interned at Restorient studio in Leiden, the Netherlands, where she trained in traditional East Asian paintings and mounting techniques. In 2023 Valeria joined the Gretchen and David Welch Conservator in Training program at the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC, where she is interning in the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research (CSR).

Silvia Bruni

Silvia Bruni is associate professor of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Milan (Italy). Her research activity, reported in several international papers, is mainly devoted to the application of chemical analysis techniques to the study of cultural heritage materials, both of artistic and archaeological interest, with special emphasis on the development of non-invasive analytical methods.

Margherita Longoni

Margherita Longoni is a post-Doc researcher at the Chemistry Department of Università degli studi di Milano, working on the development of innovative analytical methodologies for the study of Cultural Heritage materials.

Maria Chiara Palandri

Chiara Palandri, book and paper conservator, IIC Fellow. Palandri works as senior book and paper conservator at the Conservation Department of the National Library of Norway and is professor in conservation of cultural heritage, leading the Paper, Books, Photographs, Film and Digital Media Conservation Department at the Conservation School at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. She is supervisor for master theses in conservation and research on works of art belonging to Italian cultural, historical, and artistic heritage. Chiara Palandri is author of several articles and an active member in international projects in the field of conservation and history of techniques and materials. Among others: NANORESTART (NANOmaterials for the REStoration of works of ART – http://www.nanorestart.eu/), LitCit (Literary Citizens of the World. Tracing the transnational crossroads of books in Early Modern Norway), ECHOES (Enabling Cultural Heritage – Oriented European Strategies http://www.echc.eu/), The Printing Colour Project (http://www.printingcolourproject.com/). She is member of several organizations in the field of conservation and Vice President of IADA (International Association of Book and Paper Conservators).