Natural Light Aging of furniture, textile and bone in historic environments.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23738/CCSJ.160211Keywords:
light mamagement, historic houses, bone, ivory, textiles, wood, colour change, pollutionAbstract
This study examines the sensitivity of historical objects to long-term light exposure in UK historic houses managed by the English Heritage Trust, using real objects under natural conditions. By monitoring light levels with Elsec sensors and Hanwell Luxbug loggers, and measuring colour changes with Minolta 2600d and Ocean Optics 2000 spectrometers, the research documents the effects on textiles, wooden furniture, and bone and ivory artefacts. Objects were periodically measured over several years to document colour changes, with measurements taken after 1, 2, 3, 6, and 11 years for furniture and textiles, and after 19 years for ivories, while bone objects were measured after over 70 years of display. Bone and ivory objects were not measured periodically, but by comparing exposed and unexposed surfaces. Results indicated that light doses in most rooms were approximately 60% of the maximum values specified in light plans. Wooden furniture showed minor perceptible changes, with the most fugitive area indicating a change after just over 21 years. Textiles exhibited varied colour change, with some colours on carpets and banners showing high sensitivity, similar to blue wool standards. Bone and ivory objects demonstrated relatively minor colour changes. Results suggested that pollutant, especially ozone concentrations could contribute to observed colour changes, without specific dye analysis these effects remain inconclusive. The findings highlight the challenges in managing light exposure and the need for precise, long-term measurements to develop conservation strategies. The measurements support the potential for more flexible light management practices. Results suggests that current guidelines may be overly conservative for bone.
References
Ashley-Smith, J, Derbyshire, A., and Pretzel, B (2002) “The continuing development of a practical lighting policy for works of art on paper and other object types at the Victoria and Albert Museum” in Bridgland, J, (ed.), Preprints of 13th triennial meeting of the ICOM Committee for Conservation Rio de Janeiro. London: James & James, pp3 - 8.
Billmeyer, F. W. (1983) “Color Science: Concepts and Methods, Quantitative Data and Formulae, 2nd ed., by Gunter Wyszecki and W. S. Stiles, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1982, 950 pp. Color Research & Application, 8(4), pp. 262–263. doi: 10.1002/col.5080080421.
British Standards Institution (2014) PD CEN/TS 16163 Conservation of Cultural Heritage — Guidelines and procedures for choosing appropriate lighting for indoor exhibitions. BSI Gunnersbury.
Brommelle, N. S. (1964) “The Russell and Abney report on the action of light on water colours,” Studies in Conservation, 9(4), p. 140. doi: 10.2307/1505213.
Bullock L. and Saunders, D. (1999). Measurement of cumulative exposure using blue wool standards, Preprints of 12th Meeting of ICOM-CC, Lyon, 21-26.
Canadian Conservation Institution. (2010) Care of ivory, bone and antler. Notes 6/1
Cannon-Brookes, S. and Perry, M. (1996), Daylighting dosage prediction for side-lit interiors in museums, galleries and historic buildings. In: Bridgland, J. (1999) ICOM 12th Triennial Meeting Lyon. Maney - Heritage, p. 920.
CIE Publications - CIE 157 (2004), Control of Damage to Museum Objects by Optical Radiation.
Colby, K. (1992) “A Suggested Exhibition /Exposure Policy for Works of Art on Paper”, Journal of the International Institute for Conservation, Canadian Group 17: 3-11
Derbyshire, A., and Ashley-Smith, J. (1999) “A proposed practical lighting policy for works of art on paper at the V&A.” In Bridgland, J. (ed.), Preprints of the 12 ICOM-CC Triennial Meeting Lyon. London: James & James, pp. 38 – 41.
Eibl, M. (2015), The development of the museum building from the perspective of preventive conservation, PhD, Technical University of Munich.
Ford, B. and Durzi, J. (2013) “Microfading: the state of the art for natural history collections,” in Collection forum, pp. 54–71.
Ford, B. and Korenberg, C. (2024) Manufacturing Variations in ISO Blue Wool Fading Standards under Microfading Exposure Conditions. Studies in Conservation, 69 (3), pp. 209–220https://doi.org/10.1080/00393630.2023.2184555
HERIE, Radiation module. Available at: https://www.herie.pl/ RadiationCalculations/single (Accessed: 25 July 2024).
ISO/CIE 2019. ISO/CIE 11664-1:2019 - Colorimetry — Part 1: CIE standard colorimetric observers (no date). Available at: https://www.iso.org/standard/74164.html (Accessed: July 19, 2024).
Katakura, T. et al. (1988) “Concentration of nitrogen dioxide in the museum environment and its effects on the fading of dyed fabrics,” Studies in Conservation, 33(1), pp. 87–89. doi: 10.1179/sic.1988.33.1.87.
Lloyd, H. (2002), Strategies for visitor management at National trust properties. In: Postprints of 4th European Commission Conference, Research for protection, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage, Strasburg 2000. Luxemburg office for official publications of the European communities, pp.166-171.
Mardaljevic, J., Painter, B. and Andersen, M. (2009) “Transmission illuminance proxy HDR imaging: A new technique to quantify luminous flux,” Lighting Research & Technology, 41(1), pp. 27–49. doi: 10.1177/1477153508097670.
National Trust (2011), The National Trust Manual of Housekeeping, Butterworths Heinemann, Oxford.
Padfield, T. (1964) “The rate of fading of natural dyes,” Studies in Conservation, 9(sup1), pp. 126–132. doi: 10.1179/sic.1964.s022.
Padfield, T. and Landi, S. (1966) “The Light-Fastness of the Natural Dyes,” Studies in Conservation, 11(4), p. 181. doi: 10.2307/1505361.
Pretzel, B. (1992) “The Analysis of Comparative Colour Changes Occurring in a set of 19th Century Albumen Photographs by Lady Hawarden”, In: Conference Proceedings: The Imperfect Image - Photographs, their past, present and future, Windermere, 1992, The Centre for Photographic Conservation, London, pp. 165 - 181, Plate 9, ill. ISBN 0952139308
Pretzel, B. (1993) “Practical Preventive Conservation.” In Norman Tennant (editor) Conservation Science in the UK. Preprints of the Glasgow meeting, London: James & James: 106-110
Pretzel, B. (2000) “Determining the colour fastness of the Bullerswood carpet,” Studies in Conservation, 45(sup1), pp. 150–154. doi: 10.1179/sic.2000.45.Supplement-1.150.
Pretzel, B. (2008) “Now you see it, now you don’t: lighting decisions for the Ardabil carpet based on the probability of visual perception and rates of fading,” in Bridgland, J. (ed.), Preprints of the 15th triennial meeting of the ICOM Committee for Conservation in New Delhi, New Delhi: Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd., pp. 751–757.
Pretzel, B. (2021) “Surface alteration of Japanese lacquers on exposure to (UV-free) light,” in Bridgland, J. (ed) Transcending Boundaries: Integrated Approaches to Conservation. Proceedings of the ICOM-CC 19th Triennial Conference, Beijing, China. Paris: ICOM-CC, pp. 17–21.
Pretzel, B., Tsukada, M, and Ogura, S. forthcoming. “On the nature and propagation of uncertainties in colour difference measurement”.
Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (2016) Limiting light damage in museum objects: Light Lines
Rozbicki, T and Rozbicki, K (2014) Spatiotemporal variations of tropospheric ozone concentrations in the Warsaw Agglomeration (Poland) Annals of Warsaw University of Life Sciences – SGGW Land Reclamation No 46 (3), pp. 247–261
Ruess, M.; Scott, G. and MacKinnon, F. (2013), Conservation of exhibitions: making a maintenance programme. In: Preprints of ICOMCC 14th Triennial Meeting, Lisbon, pp.693-699.
Russell, W. J. and de Wiveleslie Abney, W. (1888) Report to the Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education on the Action of Light on Water Colours: Presented to Both Houses of Parliament by Command of Her Majesty. HM Stationery Office.
Tetreault, J. (2003) Airborne Pollutants in Museums, Galleries and Archives: Risk Assessment, Control Strategies and Preservation Management.
Thorn, A. (2013), Predicting the solar impact of the restored glazing regime of the Domed Reading Room, State Library of Victoria. In: Preprints of ICOM-CC 14th Triennial Meeting, Lisbon, pp.716-725.
Thickett, D.; Rhee, S. and Lambarth, S. (2007), Libraries and archives in historic buildings, in Museum Microclimates, Copenhagen: Bogtryk, Hvidovre, pp.145-156.
Thickett D. (2017), Managing natural light in historic properties. In: Homen P.M. (ed) Lights on… Cultural Heritage and Museums, LabCR/FLUP, Porto 2017, pp 245-264.
Weschler, C. J., Shields H., Naik, D.V., (1989). Indoor ozone exposures. Journal of the Air and Waste Management Association, 39, 1562-1568.
Wilhelm, H. and Brower. C. (1993) The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs: Traditional and Digital Color Prints, Color Negatives, Slides, and Motion Pictures. Reservation Publishing Company: Grinnell, USA ; http://www.wilhelm-research.com/book_toc.html
Whitmore, P. M. and Cass, G. R. (1988) “The ozone fading of traditional Japanese colorants,” Studies in Conservation, 33(1), pp. 29–40. doi: 10.1179/sic.1988.33.1.29.
Whitmore, P. M. and Cass, G. R. (1989) “The fading of artists’ colorants by exposure to atmospheric nitrogen dioxide,” Studies in Conservation, 34(2), pp. 85–97. doi: 10.1179/sic.1989.34.2.85.
Whitmore, P. M., Bailie, C. and Connors, S. A. (2000) “Micro-fading tests to predict the result of exhibition: progress and prospects,” Studies in Conservation, 45(sup1), pp. 200–205. doi: 10.1179/sic.2000.45.Supplement-1.200.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 David Thickett, Boris Pretzel, Bhavesh Shah, Naomi Luxford
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The "Cultura e Scienza del Colore - Color Culture and Science" journal is registered at the Court of Milan at n.233 of 24.06.2014.
The journal is an open access journal, free for readers and authors and has joined ROAD, the Directory of Open Access scholarly Resources, since 2014. Articles published in the “Cultura e Scienza del Colore - Color Culture and Science" journal are open access articles, distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The copyright is retained by the author(s).
