Here we go again - IS IT ACTIVE OR INACTIVE? Icons are so old, they've often lost their appeal to wood destroying insects. In time the sugars turn to starchs. What you're usually seeing is old damage, frass, and galleries; especially if some of the finish or surface has been scraped off in the past. Powdered frass can drift out of the piece as it is moved about. I have yet to see actual activity in ancient icons. If an "old" icon has activity, it may be a forgery and of more recent vintage. Even old statuary covered in gesso often has old beetle galleries and packed frass beneath the gesso, which is exposed when some removes (or a tourist picks off) the gesso.
Tom Parker -----Original Message----- From: Appelbaum & Himmelstein <aa...@mindspring.com> To: pestlist@museumpests.net Sent: Wed, Jun 9, 2010 1:32 pm Subject: [pestlist] This is a message from the Pest Management Database List. To post to this list send it as an email to pestlist@museumpests.net To unsubscribe please look at the footer of this email. ----------------------------------------------------------- I need some info asap. My question is about low-temperature treatment of icons - egg tempera on wooden panels. I would like to hear from anyone who has done "freezing" on these or similar items - polychrome sculpture, for example - and how it turned out. Any signs of enhanced cracking? Any indications of the thoroughness of the kill? Many thanks. Barbara Appelbaum -- Appelbaum & Himmelstein 444 Central Park West New York, NY 10025 Conservation of Works of Art 212-666-4630 aa...@mindspring.com www.AandHconservation.org ------------------------------------------------------------- To send an email to the list, send your msg to pestl...@museumpests.com To unsubscribe from this list send an email to imail...@museumpests.net and in the body put: "unsubscribe pestlist" Any problems email l...@zaks.com
