AIC 53rd Annual Meeting

Historically, museums are perceived as repositories for definitive knowledge on the objects they exhibit. As a result, artworks that conservators and curators have the most questions about often remain in storage and out of public view. At the Walters Art Museum (WAM), a shift towards showcasing objects with unresolved histories has fostered engagement and curiosity from visitors.

The unexpected results of a recent technical study of a Chinese lacquer screen prompted a reassessment of whether and how it could be displayed. Inscribed with the date 1681, the four-panel screen depicts the hermitage of fourth-century scholar Xie An. This type of lacquerware was popularized during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (1661-1722). Kuan cai, meaning “incised colors,” refers to the technique in which compositions are carved into a smooth lacquer surface and filled with colored paints. Kuan cai screens were first produced for the domestic market in Southern China in the seventeenth century. They are commonly known in the West as “Coromandel screens” or “Bantam work,” referring to two popular European-run trading ports in Southeast India and Indonesia from which they were first exported. 

Kuan cai screens are made from a complex layered system of wood, clay-based grounds, fabric and paper preparatory layers, lacquer, and oil-based paints. Due to their composite nature, damage from fluctuating environments, mechanical forces, and light is common. The WAM screen entered the collection in 2012 but has never been exhibited. Prior to acquisition, it underwent multiple restoration campaigns which now partially disguise the original surface. The goal of this technical study was to determine the composition of the screen’s original and restoration materials to draw inferences on dating and historic context. Multiband imaging, microscopy, radiography, fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF), scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), pyrolysis gas chromatography/mass spectrometry using tetramethylammonium hydroxide (THM-Py-GC/MS), and cross section analysis were completed.

While the screen was initially attributed to the seventeenth century, our results support the hypothesis that it was created during a later period. Radiography revealed an atypical construction with numerous nails attaching six horizontal cross bars on the verso. XRF showed the presence of zinc white in areas of white polychromy, while barium was detected in several passages of the screen in a variety of colors. Barium-based pigments were not available until the eighteenth century, raising questions about the screen’s dating and the extension of restoration. The absence of vermilion, orpiment, copper-based, and other commonly reported pigments was curious. 

WAM has established a precedent for displaying objects with pending questions. In the 2024 exhibition “Objects of Curiosity: What Will We Discover?,” visitors engaged in an ongoing conservation and curatorial investigation of artworks whose origin, authenticity, or utility were unknown. Taking inspiration from this exhibition, to tell the story of the lacquer screen we are developing didactic materials that reveal its layered history of use and repair. This approach to telling the stories of artworks situates visitors as active participants, rather than passive receivers of resolute information.