What happens when an old restoration breaks? Sometimes you want to save it as part of the history of the object.
Here is an interesting blue-glazed buff earthenware charger bought in Holland which is almost 35% plaster restoration.
This restoration might have been done about a hundred years ago and I would say it was a nice restoration.
Then, the charger was broken into fragments again. Whoever tried to repair it was not finding it very easy to glue together the plaster restoration. Perhaps a few people attempted it with various glues.
So, what do you do now? The plaster is very nicely shaped with nice replication of the pie-crust edge and embossed punts. Before I did some surface cleaning on the majolica fragments, the blue colour looked well matched.
I'll be posting progress on this object as I treat it. The first step will be to remove paint and shellac from the original material. Then it will be stabilized - the joins, both majolica and plaster, will be reinforced and filled.
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April 15
This 2nd picture shows the same charger surface-cleaned, reinforced, filled and the plaster repair re-saturated on the surface.
The change of vibrancy of colour is perhaps not as marked in real life. The lighting and camera used were different, I must admit; but there is a marked improvement in detail both on the original material and the repair. The surface dirt had been giving it a sickly cast.
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April 22
Here's the charger after touching up the in-fill and an overall microwax.
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