I spent many hours wandering the ceramics galleries on the top floor of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, searching for examples of ceramics with inventive repairs. The refurbished galleries opened in 2009/10 and are filled with over 30,000 of examples of ceramics in floor to ceiling glass cases. The last time I was at the V&A the original wooden showcases were still in use and I took photos and made notes of the pieces that interested me. Now there are monitors in every room with photos and descriptions of the entire collection available online. The transformation of the old galleries to the current design is so dramatic that I think I gasped out loud when I stepped off of the elevator on to the 6th floor and saw the seemingly endless rows of vitrines for the first time!
I have just come across you site- LOVE the acknowledgement of beauty found in the repairs of ceramics. Please let me know of any people or sites actually still do/teach the metal strap/drilled repairs. I would love to have the resources to find out more about this technique.
thanks so much for your posts.
I just discovered your blog while writing my thesis on a riveted majolica lebrillo. I am curious if you came across any riveter? I know they are still using this technique in China for repairing porcelain.
I am really impressed by your passion for this historical repairs. Thanks for posting all this!