"Peintures des arabesques" J. B. Plerscha we dworze Mokronowskich w Jordanowicach - historia, technika wykonania i problemy konserwatorskie

In 1782 Jan Bogumił Plersch used the tempera technique to execute painted decorations of the walls, ceiling, wardrobes and two doors in the octagonal study in the Mokronowski manor house in Jordanowice. The decoration involves arabesque-grotesque ornaments and candelabra arabesques composed of masks and medallions with allegorical figures depicted against a light-hued backdrop. The general purpose of the conservation was to halt the destruction and degradation of the historical polychrome by gluing loose fragments and reinforcing strata of the floating coat, to gether with the construction foundation (by using organic silicone compounds), and halting the unhampered migration of salt within stratigraphie layers. It was necessary to employ desalination compresses. Subsequently, the polychrome surface was cleaned and secondary stratification — repainting, darkened retouching, putty and patches — were removed. The execution of the supplementation was adapted to the degree of the destruction of adjoining strata, with due care not to introduce measures that could prove to be excessively strong, cohesive and binding. It became indispensable to use wide-porous plaster. Aesthetic conservation encompassed both the ornaments and the background of the decoration as well as the reconstruction of n o n -ex tan t fragments of the polychrome. Due to the extensive devastation of the original painted layer it was necessary to conduct numerous consultations and detailed co-ordination concerning the character and range of the reconstruction. The reconstruction of the painted stratum was carried out upon the basis of an analogy with preserved fragments in the study, archival material and comparisons with other realisations by J. B. Plersch. Conceptions of aesthetic solutions were presented on boards. Owing to the decorative nature of the polychrome, it was decided to resort to emulation retouching in a minimally lighter tone.