prehistoric pottery

DAM conservator Kristy Jeffcoat describes how the DAM team looked below the surface of a 3,000-year-old Peruvian pot.

Stirrup-spout bottle, 1400–400 B.C., Jequetepeque Valley, Peru. Gift of Robert J. Stroessner.

Taking a Deeper Look at New World Art

Can a pre-Columbian pot be in perfect condition? Curators and conservators alike ask this question often. Is it possible that the pottery has survived being used and then buried for thousands of years? Or are past restorations covering up old breaks and repairs?

Take for example this Peruvian Stirrup-spout pot.  Margaret Young-Sanchez, DAM curator of the pre-Columbian collection had questions about the pots mint condition.  She asked the DAM conservation staff to take a closer look.  Examination with a binocular microscope and light as well as testing areas with solvents revealed past restorations using paint but none of the answers were conclusive. What was really needed was a way to see through the layers to the clay body itself.

X-radiography is often used to detect what is going on under the visible layer we see with our own eyes.  It can detect breaks and fills that are hidden by past restorations.  X-rays taken of the stirrup-spout pot showed that the pot had indeed been broken and repaired in several areas.  With this information DAM conservators were able to remove the restoration paint and plaster to find a section of red clay not original to the pot. This information allows us to better understand the history of the piece.

Today, you can see this pot on the fourth floor of the North building. It is located in the main pre-Columbian gallery across from the Gold and Silver alcove. It has been restored back to what it looked like before we started the examination process.  The conservation staff was able to do that because we have such detailed documentation in the way of written reports, radiographs and 35mm color photography, discussing in detail the previous restorations and damages.

This conservation message is generously supported by the William H. Donner Foundation.