We are experienced in cleaning and restoring all kinds of different works of art, ranging from 12th Century reliquaries to ivory mirrors. We have successfully worked on different, unique and often difficult objects in the past.
We restore portrait miniatures on vellum, ivory and enamel.
Here you can see two pictures of a small portrait miniature by Christian Friedrich Zinken.
The first picture shows the miniature in the state that it was brought in. The miniature showed several cracks and chips and a few pieces were missing.
The second picture shows the miniature after we had restored it. We carefully glued the original parts back and filled in the gaps.
We restore gold boxes dating from the 18th Century and later.
We have experience in boxes with:
- enamelled and ivory miniatures
- hard stones and gems
- cameos and mother of pearl
- engravings
- three colours of gold
- enamel over engravings and engine tuned patterns
We also restore wax cases, watch cases and other formpieces.
Some examples of gold boxes and watchcases we restored:
Below are two pictures of a watch by Jaquet Droz.
The left picture shows the watch in the state that it was brought in. The case showed several cracks and chips and a few pieces were missing.
The right picture shows the watch case after we had restored it. We carefully glued the original parts back and filled in the gaps.
Our company has more than 30 years of experience in restoring and conserving Limoges enamels. Many collections have enamels or enamelled objects that were restored or conserved by us.
Some examples of Limoges enamels we restored:
Large dish in grisaille technique representing the Rape of Europa (1565-1575),
Currently in collection of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Limoges, France.
Provenance: Collection M. Hubert de Givenchy, Paris. / Galerie J. Kugel, Paris / Collection Yves Saint Laurent
Literature: B. Descheemaeker, Emaux de Limoges de la Renaissance provenant de la collection de M. Hubert de Givenchy, Paris, 1994, no. 16, pp. 78-81.
We are experienced in restoring and conserving early enamels (enamels dating from the 15th Century and older).
Some examples of early enamels we conserved:
The crozier of Egmond, a Parisian crozier dating from the 14th Century, in possession of the diocese of Haarlem and currently in Museum Catharijneconvent in Utrecht (NL).
When the crozier was brought in, the enamels in the crook showed lots of cracks and chips and contained lots of loose parts.
We secured the loose parts and cleaned the enamel and the silver underneath.
Literature:
– M.M. Gauthier, Emaux Du Moyen Age Occidental, Fribourg 1972, p. 272
– R. Houbraken, Een onderzoek naar de herkomst van enkele veertiende-eeuwse kromstaven, Veldhoven 2009
Below are some examples of dials we restored for our customers.
The first three pictures show a dial of a clock from the property of the Dutch Royal family. On the first picture the dial is shown before restoration; the other two were taken after we had restored it.
Pictures 4 and 5 show a complicated dial for a French pocket watch by Adamson.
