I started doing touch-ups and restorations on pieces from my own pre columbian collection. Some had been damaged in shipping. Some others had already been repaired or touched up.....badly. Once I realized that it was basically just another paint finish and that I had been doing that for years, I tried my hand at it. If I do say so myself, I've gotten pretty good at it.
I was recently asked to make a little house call. This fellow had a bit of a rough trip during a move from Maui to Los Angeles. He had a major crack originating between his shoulder blades, extending over his shoulders and ending in the neck in front. Amazingly, his head never fell off! If it's possible to describe part of a ceramic object as "hanging by a thread", it was. Because this is such a large and valuable piece, the owner didn't want to chance moving it again so off I went. Happy to report, all is fine and the patient has recovered nicely.
Happy to be whole again.
I also repaired the base of this Mayan incensario. Since it is heavy and rather brittle it was also damaged in the move. The matte finish on this one made the repair a little less complicated.
I never really thought to take "before" pictures any of the other pieces I've restored. I will from this point forward and post them here.
Just found pictures of this Mayan piece that needed a little work.
......and finished.
